Joseba is probably in his sixties now. The gymnasium is gone. The Basque Center is a memory.
Reading this PDF on my laptop screen in a Brooklyn coffee shop, I felt a strange distance. pdf azken dantza new yorken
For those unfamiliar, the Azken Dantza (literally "The Last Dance") is a solemn tradition in the Basque Country. Performed by elderly men or community leaders, it is a slow, ritualistic waltz performed at the end of a festival. It is a dance of farewell—to the day, to the season, or to those leaving the village. Joseba is probably in his sixties now
I recently stumbled upon a digital file titled simply: basque_azken_dantza_nyc_1998.pdf . Inside were scanned pages of a faded program, sheet music transcribed by hand, and a black-and-white photograph of dancers in white hermitage shirts holding hands in a small gymnasium in the Bronx. Reading this PDF on my laptop screen in
I walked down to the 14th Street subway station. I watched the digital arrival boards count down: Train arriving in 1 min.