Dancing in Chicago

Life's magic moments. So many. How often do you take the time to reflect on the kind of magic moments you want to create in your life on a consistent basis? I don't mean the memory of your child's first word or your first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, but magic moments you can more predictably create daily.

For me, one such magic moment is the pleasure of watching self expression through dance and capturing it visually, sometimes behind a lens and sometimes on canvas. Dance. Movement. Expression. What a joy to shoot human expression.

I stayed with a friend recently who is in the design and branding business. In his guest room, I discovered piles (and piles) of worldwide fashion and design magazines. I couldn't resist browsing through them for a few creative ideas -- ones I could use artistically as well as professionally.

There it was, a wonderful reminder only a few hours before basking in one of my favorite magic moments -- human expression through dance. The excerpt jumped off the inside page of a high-end glossy tabloid. Life is not about the number of breaths you take, but the number of magic moments that take your breath away. Hear hear.

Seeing human expression lights a torch within me. How can you do anything but smile ear to ear -- and for a long time -- when you see this kind of movement, this kind of joy, this kind of energy?

Below are some magic moments I witnessed in Chicago's Balboa Park this week at night. Dancers were energized by the rythym of local band Occidental Brothers Dance Band International.