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From ballet school in childhood, to nightclubbing in my 20s, private parties in my 30s, and dinner parties in my 40s, the dance floor has never been my calling. If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you know one hard truth: some people just can’t dance. I am one of those people. I am not shy, but when it comes to dancing, I feel awkward, and the two-left-feet description definitely applies to me. And yet, I love to watch people dance: the buskers, the popular dance videos on social media, the dancing in the piazzas that happens in Italy, and of course, the professionals.

I have seen many memorable performances over the years, but a specific ballet, Within You Without You, danced to music by George Harrison by the American Ballet Theater in Athens goes down as the most memorable. To experience a show at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus just beneath the Acropolis is unforgettable. The setting is unmatched: the illuminated Acropolis, the starry summer sky, and the impressive stone arches of the ancient theatre. But it wasn’t just the setting; the dancers, through their movement, were filling my eyes and stirring my soul. “Dance is the hidden language of the soul,” Martha Graham once said. And on that night in Greece over 20 years ago, the language was deeply emotional.

NUVO editor Claudia Cusano.

With this summer edition, Issue 105, we are celebrating dance. Guillaume Côté is set to take his final bow as principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada with the performance of Adieu: A Celebration of Guillaume Côté at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Over nearly three decades, Côté has “shaped a career that defies easy categorization,” Deirdre Kelly writes in “Guillaume Côté: The Dancer Who Can’t Stand Still,” beginning on page 56. “Onstage, his movements are precise but never mechanical, infused with a fluidity that feels deeply personal… His performances reveal an ability to dissolve the boundary between performer and audience… Beyond his technical brilliance lies a creative daring that pushes ballet into uncharted territory.”

We continue to celebrate all that is Canadian, showcasing Balmoral, the Montreal-based sportswear label; contemporary artist Sara Cwynar, known for her multilayered photographs and films; novelist Georgia Toews; chef Vish Mayekar of Vancouver’s Elem restaurant; and architecture and design firm Future Simple Studio, founded by Christine Djerrahian. Beyond our borders, we travel to Tuscany’s Il Pellicano hotel, where Marie-Louise Sciò is the creative director of the jet set summer hangout; and to Paris’s Grand Palais for Saut Hermès, the annual show-jumping competition where the French brand showcases its saddle-making roots.

I am not going to stop trying to dance. I just need to find the right partner, and I’m accepting invitations. Let’s tango—in the written word and on the dance floor.

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