Things of Beauty

by Megan Kurashige

Shannon and I told each other that we wanted the next bit of dancing to be beautiful.

“Beautiful” is such a large and indistinct word. But there are certain stripes and flavors of it that are immediate, visceral, and absolute. You can look at something and know at once whether it is pleasing to your eye, whether you want to go on looking at it or listening to it, whether you feel better (fuller, lighter, happier, sadder…) for having experienced whatever it was.

Certain kinds of beauty are like eating certain kinds of food. You know, without having to think about it, that the taste is good. And then you think a little longer. You wonder about cilantro, peanut butter, chocolate. El Greco’s sky compared to Van Gough’s. Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

Beauty really is a slippery subject.

I asked friends for the first piece of music that comes to mind when someone says “beautiful.” Here are some of their answers.

1. The first movement of Jacqueline Du Pre’s recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85.

2. “Undenied” by Portishead

3. “The Last Beat of My Heart” by DeVotchKa

4. “Lotus Blossom” by Billy Strayhorn, as played by Duke Ellington

5. “My Shining Hour,” as sung by Joan Leslie

6. “Blue Moon” by Big Star

7. Ella Fitzgerald singing “Misty”

I added Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31, as played by Maurizio Pollini, and Schubert’s String Quintet in C.