Saturday, October 25, 2008

Dancing around the world



Some of you may have seen this video already, but it's worth watching-- silly, yet at the same time inspiring and heartwarming.

Backstory: a few years back, a guy named Matt Harding was traveling around the world and decided to film himself dancing (badly) in each place he traveled. One thing led to another, and he's repeated the stunt a few times, with help from his Internet fans (and been able to dance in some really unusual places thanks to them!) He's also been sponsored by Stride Gum, who basically told him, "We like what you do, and we don't want to mess with it, but we want to help you do more of it." (Awesome corporate sponsorship!)

The song accompanying the 2008 video is called "Praan", and is based on a poem by the Indian Nobel laureate Rabindrath Tagore called "Stream of Life" in English. From Matt's website:

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life
that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life
that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

Very appropriate, in my opinion.

No comments: