BOLERO by Maurice Ravel

I'm sure you've at least heard this piece. Torvill and Dean (the most famous ice dancers) won the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics with this song. The song is Bolero and it is amazing.

While away at school, I happened to come across the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra website and they were set to perform Bolero. It was during finals and no one was interested in going with me, so I went by myself. I remember running into my friend, Jeff, on campus. I was all dressed up, even wearing heels to walk around SF. I only had my clutch and an umbrella with me. He was like, Where are you going? To the symphony, I said. During finals? Yes. And, it was totally worth it.

I was the youngest person there by 50 years. The tickets were pretty cheap because it was a matinee. I had never been to the symphony before, and I really did not know what to expect. They played, I think, four songs total. Bolero came after the intermission. Bolero is about 20 minutes long. It starts out quiet, a whisper. And, then it builds and builds and builds until you can actually feel the instruments pulsate through your body. It really is like sex. The whole song takes its time, priming you, readying you, steadying you, rocking you until the triumphant climax. My body swayed to it and I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to embrace the whole orchestra.

I got a cup of coffee after, and walked back to the train by myself. I couldn't stop thinking about Bolero. I was kind of sad after. It was all done, and I knew that even though I ended up buying a Maurice Ravel cd, listening to it on a stereo would not be the same as in person. Sometimes, I do listen to it on my computer or something. If you see me sitting in the library with head phones on, and suddenly I'm all hot and bothered, you can figure out what's going on.