Finishing Positions... Closing the loop - From Ricky Seabra fan of Mom

This is my dear lifelong friend: Ricky Seabra.  I spent 4 years with him during my high school years in Brasilia, Brazil.   We have stayed friends ever since, over 30 years.......I chose this picture because it doesn't do him justice to just show him by himself.  It is entirely more appropriate to show him with art.  He is a professional artist and it would take a book to explain all that he has done and has been involved with.  Simply one of the most creative people I have ever known and undoubtedly one of the greatest humans on the earth that I have had the incredible good fortune to associate with and to confidently call a "friend". 

He appreciated my mother like few others did, especially as a teenager.  Mom taught us both dance.  We performed two dances: a Charleston and a Tap dance during a 4th of July celebration at the Ambassador's residence in Brasilia when we were 15/16 years old.  We had a blast.  Ricky not only had creative genes flowing in his blood but his Emotional Intelligence quotient is off the charts.  He is exquisitely sensitive to other people. 

A couple of years ago I wrote a very personal blog post about my Mother, called "Finishing Positions" upon finding photos of her that I had never seen.  It captures my reflection of the life lessons she taught me through dance.  Ricky was so kind to reply after reading it that I felt I needed to share his response with a post of his own.  What he shared is a reflection of the type of friends I have had in my life.... extraordinary people that love and feel deeply about other people, life and what are journey really is all about.  Obrigado meu grande amigo. Your words means so much to me.......

"Aaron, I want to comment on that picture of your Mom in your blog - how deeply it (along with your story) resounded in me.

Since the advent of YouTube I started to create folders in my YouTube account saving my favorite videos in various folders with names like: sesame street, politics, airplanes, bloopers, letterman episodes, commercials, most beautiful songs, great performances, etc. There are approximately 60 folders. One of these folders I called “Hawaii”.

I have a love for Hawaiian dance and music. And upon seeing that picture of your Mom I remember why I have this passion for Hawaii. You... your Mom and maybe even Cheryl (is that your sister’s name?) introduced me to Hawaiian dance for the first time. I remember you showed me some steps once. I believe it was in a garage at SQS113. You started doing the moves, arms held out sideways and fingers rubbing on thumbs. You told me your Mom knew it and had taught you some. It was very sensual. But I don’t think I thought in terms of sensuality back then. The grace is what blew me away. The fact that your Mom had taught this incredibly graceful dance to you blew me away as well.

I think I asked your Mom to show me some Hawaiian dance. I remember the garage again. I also have a recollection of your Mom doing a step for me in your living room. Maybe even with your sister. Now for some reason I am seeing J.J. and even Roland (you have a brother named Roland don’t you?) doing a Hawaiian move. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was so fascinated by it that I asked each and every Brown to show me what they knew of Hawaiian dance. (To me you were a family of artists and I knew it was because of your Mom.)

I loved reading about you describing your mother’s method – her speaking of the "details" of dance, the "following through", her "finishing", her need to convey the importance of “ending well”... this is what the true artist comes to Earth to do... to cause awe, enchantment and to give people revelation. All those only come with ending well. If I had known then what I know now I would have picked her brain a lot. All I can do now is make the same subtle readjustments (to my artistic life) she would have demanded of her students. “No... Elbow here. Fingers like this...” I listen to her and I make adjustments to my “following throughs”.

At three different festivals I have shown my favorite YouTubes to audiences in an event I call “Me Tarzan You Tube”. Among the videos I show are Hawaiian dance videos.

Last year I met a dancer in Teresina, Piauí whom I have grown to admire as an artist. And there are certain videos, certain gems that I find on YouTube that I only share with him, because I trust he will cherish them and do something brilliant with them. I showed him some of my Hawaiian videos once. One was of a Hawaiian mother and daughter dancing in their den at home.

And I want to share this one with you... and you’ll understand why. Something wonderfully full circle has taken place here. You know that children’s telephone game that kids or teenagers play at sleepovers or parties? Someone whispers a phrase into another person’s ear and that person has to repeat it to the next who has to repeat to the next and the next? You can only say the phrase once. The phrase becomes altered as it travels from ear to ear. Finally the last person has to say it out loud and the resulting phrase is usually a hysterical corruption of the original.

Well, your Mom initiated this game which has taken decades to play by whispering hula to you, you to me, me to Elielson. Only this time the message did not come out corrupted in the end... the message in the end is a reaffirmation of what an impactful, caring, generous and dedicated artist your mother was.

Um graaaaaande beijo no seu coração."

Check out video: http://vimeo.com/18977641