When the music takes my feet, I know I’m alive. The rhythms move me and no matter the pain, no matter the random nature of life and death, youth taken too soon, absurdity and insan­ity, there is life in dan­cing. There is life in the flirt­ing dance I do with Jésus, the Colom­bian man at the club. There is life in the duende of Jack­y’s voice, doing great covers of Manu Chao, the young man I met busk­ing on Bourke St, long hair, goatee, gor­geous Span­ish accent, just my type. There is life in the glint of the eye of Ugo, the young French guy play­ing bongos, who chats me up in three languages.

This is the heart of it. This is the key to the soul. 

And, appar­ently, this is a res­id­ency. So: next Thursday, people, El Dorado on Flinders St near Spen­cer, Jacky Rios on guitar, Ugo and David on per­cus­sion, me on dance and enthu­si­astic clap­ping… See you there?