#mar. 1

Sixteen signs in Times Square were turned out by one small switch operated by the sign designer Douglas Leigh, March 1, 1942. The city had enacted a nightly dimout that was meant to protect New York from both air and naval attacks by disguising the recognizable skyline. There were no lights above street level, outdoor baseball games were banned, and Times Square was a “gloomy cavern.”

She is Dancer.

She is flow. Her body moves and glides and bends at angles that shouldn’t be possible. She is legs kicking up and arms sweeping down. Pivot, twirl, pirouette. She is grace.

She is tempo. She is one-two-three, one-two-three. She is not too fast, not too slow: the Goldilocks move. As soon as her foot touches down her hand lifts off but she’ll never pause for breath until the end.

She is perseverance. She is “one more” and then “one more” after that. She is calloused feet and bruised knees and muscles stiff and sore, but she is not done yet. She has trained herself too well to end now, so she pushes herself to the very edges of improbable. Sometimes, she camps on the border of impossible.