Hey wow, I'm a wee goth! My family name "Gorsline" is an American corruption of "Gosselin." My ancestor was Jacob G., who came from Dieppe and had a farm in what is now the borough of Queens. According to a subsite of LEXILOGOS, that name is common in Normandy and is a diminutive of gosse < gos < gaut, German Goth.

(Thanks to Languagehat.)

posted: 11:59:24 AM  

Kitty porn, 2004-style.

posted: 11:15:53 AM  

The Taylors bring three relatively accessible pieces with them on this tour. The D.C. premiere is Klezmerbluegrass, a fusion of multiple folk styles set to traditional klezmer music arranged by Margot Leverett. There are hints of Indian temple dance, American hoe-downs, and dervish whirls. "Klezmer Waltz" is a quiet dance of longing for seven men; it features a simultaneous backward roll for all of them, with arms linked. There is also an echo of the marching bent leg that we see in Company B. It is followed by a circus of movement with laughing clarinet, and then there is another soft passage for five women. Santo Loquasto has atractively if incongruously costumed the dancers in red mesh, long skirts for the women lined in blue.

Eventide (1997) is a surprising choice for the middle slot on the bill, being a subtle pastoral flirtation for five couples set to Vaughan Williams. It is composed of muted tones of brown, accompanied by a fine Loquasto backdrop of a sylvan scene. Much of this dance depends on a slow circle of a dancer's foot on the floor, but the uptempo sections please as well. Amy Young and Andy LeBeau enjoy a romp ("Christmas Dance") and Lisa Viola and Richard Chen See show off some fancy footwork and speedy turns ("Moto Perpetuo").

We go farther back into the repertory for the closing piece, Arden Court, a dance from 1980 for six strapping young men and—well, the men are so young and strapping that we hardly notice the three young women, Nymphs and satyrs set to 18th-century William Boyce. There are two nifty carries in this dance: one for six in a tight circle that puts all three women aloft, and one that has the women doing something like that bicycle turn that we learned to do on the jungle gym at school. It is such a pleasure to watch Amy Young dance: she always looks like she's having the time of her life. She has a big grin and a glint in her eye as if to say, "hey, watch this!"

posted: 10:59:14 AM  

Some educated guesses and I'm 11 for 15 on the Guardian's Christmas quiz.

(Thanks to ArtsJournal.)

posted: 9:40:49 AM