I went to see Douglas Dunn’s Lazy Madge and saw not Lazy Madge but a wonderful impromptu solo by Dunn. The publicity had been bungled and many of us arrived at St. Mark’s Church at 8:30 for a 7:00 performance. The dancers were in a back room deciding if they had the energy for a second go. Finally Dunn came out, announced that the verdict was no and that there’d be six more performances in two weeks. But he must have seen our faces fall, because he then mumbled, “I’ll go change my shirt and dance for five minutes.” His dancing was especially touching since he let his tiredness show and even incorporated it into the dancing. More than ever before, his dancing was close to some center of thoughts and feelings.

It is not my habit to attend performances hoping something will go wrong. But after seeing that a wrong thing can be an opportunity for a renewed honesty, I now welcome mishaps.