An Amazing, Beautiful Thing

The human body is an amazing, beautiful thing. Not mine particularly, but in general I mean. We recently had a marvellous demonstration of the truth of this (that's the body is amazing and beautiful) when the gymnastics team from Ollerup, Denmark, visited our town as guests of our local gymnastics club.

The bleachers at the high school gym were packed. On the visiting team were 30 gymnasts; half were men, half women. They put on a 45-minute spectacle that combined tumbling, gymnastics, precision drill, and modern dance, all to upbeat musical accompaniment that showed the choreography at its best.

The costumes were beautiful. In number after number, the gymnasts marched, strode, or floated into the gym in an array of colours perfectly suited to the music and mood of the dance. My favourite was the turquoise dresses for the dance with “pins”—wooden "bowling" pins that were swivelled, swirled, spun, tossed, caught, and occasionally dropped.

The men did a routine to the music of the "Pirates of the Caribbean." The costumes were clever, as were the tumbling, rowing, and riding the "waves."

My grandchildren were spellbound. They sat and paid rapt attention for the whole show and proved that it was possible for them to sit still.

And how excited they were when the team visited their school the next day for a demonstration. The boys both came home and immediately turned the living room furniture into mats and springboards. They wanted to show off their new moves that they had learned.

We've had no injuries yet, and the lamp is still standing!