Monday in the Park with Shira

It was ridiculously warm in New York City today--60 degrees Fahrenheit, 15.55 Celsius. (I can hear the grumbling from the Milwaukee and Toronto Jewish blogging contingents from here. Sorry.) What beautiful weather for Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the Jewish month (in this case, the month of Sh'vat)! So I bestirred myself from my desk and went out to the park a half block from my office, draped my raincoat--it was too warm(!)--over the fence at my favorite spot in a relatively obscure corner, plunked Shlock Rock's "Shirei Boker, Songs of the Morning" into my CD player, and got to "work." I'm happy to report that I now have all of "B'Yado" choreographed, except for the "bridge." Sigh. This is the fourth dance that I've choreographed,* and without fail, I've found the "bridge"--the part of a song that's different from the rest--the most difficult part to choreograph. It's always "a bridge too far." Go figure. Anyway, my hijinks were enjoyed by the squirrels, the pigeons, and the few souls enjoying the sunshine on nearby benches. I actually got some applause and a couple of compliments, which was nice (and a bit surprising, now that I'm using a CD player without external speakers and my "audience" can't hear the music). So now you know where a New Yorker with no extra money for rent gets a dance "studio."

In case you're curious, these are my favorite cold-weather "studios":

1. The synagogue sanctuary/all-purpose room (where the never-on-Shabbos audio equipment is installed) after weekday-morning services/Shacharit;

2. The stairway landing leading to the roof in my office building--I've never seen anyone else up there, though I have, occasionally, had to take a "pass" on practicing upon encountering someone else davvening Mincha (praying the afternoon service) on the landing just below it.

*The first three were "Ki V'Simcha," "Modeh Ani" (both of which you can find by scrolling along in the radio blog here)," and "Aniyah."