GOOD programmers do it while coding – or try to get there. I’ve had it happen reading a good book. I’ve had it happen a few times during physical activity – On a bike (when I used to ride) or behind a rifle at the range. I can imagine it happening with dancing

Of course, I wasn’t particularly soft of foot, either.

My eldest practices the oldest open hand martial art, jiu jitsu and has won several world championships. He is also a very large man and conventional wisdom says that large men are slower. Those who say it have never really seen top forms from Western wrestling to the Eastern arts. The action, when it comes is blindingly fast all keyed from very quick perception of what your opponent is doing or tiny cues.

They “Gestalt“; a German word; verbed here, that also means form or shape. The dancer perceives the space they dance in, where others are in that space what the metronome of the music is saying and then they “just do it”, which is what Nike was saying all along.

I have watched, in slow motion and freeze frame, my youngest on the mat. He appears to be looking straight into his opponents eyes. But, yet, when a very small motion of the opponent’s right shoulder starts he, instantly, in less than two frames, begins his counter move to all the possibilities that may be derived from that tiny motion.

Look at Neo’s photo of the dancers. The perfection of the form; the arms, legs, height, the extension and the slight differences in head position. There is just something so compelling about the brain/body interface whether it’s watching a soaring bird adjust its’ feathers for optimal flight, a snowboarder making an adjustment to wind at the very top of a jump or two dancers executing perfectly synchronized jetes.

I took ballet for 8 years and, while I don’t regret giving it up (because I got to be too tall, and because my feet were really killing me), you have described the best of the dance experience beautifully — and also the learning experience, too.

This does remind me of a time in my youth where I would, occasionally, get lost in the logic of programming. I would be sitting writing line after line of code; procedure after procedure; without notes, without looking up; without a sense of time. Hundreds of lines, sometimes over a thousand, and upon later review – clear as a bell as to what they were intended to do.

This is not something I can do now, but I do remember holding the problem in my head, breaking it into parts, testing the parts conceptually for coherence, then capturing each part and the whole in code.

As I reread this, I am caught wryly admitting that this has no real comparison to the beauty of dance; at best, sort of geek’s distorted mirror of your experience. Still, your writing stirred this from the dredges, so I’ll share it.

douglas: A good point about homicide bombers.

I think it is important to understand that all human actions are embedded in a cultural context of values. The ballet dancers working so hard to achieve an aesthetic that appears to transcend some physical laws are part of an acceptable and admired tradition. The warrior who may use the Zone as a way to overcome the chaos of combat while achieving the mission can still; when the need for the transcendent state is is over; attend an university extension class, do calligraphy, enjoy a meal with comrades, observe the tea ceremony, experience a movie or listen to bird song.

Any tool can be misused.