"In the Midst" Stories

WINTER STOLTZFUS

Typically I don’t like to tell people what to think about when they hear a song I have written. That’s kind of the trouble with music videos. You have one image of a song and it’s usually limited to that. It doesn’t leave the same amount of room for that God-created wondrous thing we call imagination. So if you don’t want to know the story and prefer to just listen, stop reading here!

If you want more of the story, read on. When I first wrote the song it was commissioned by The Grant Street Dance Company for a concert. The original title of the song was Ivory Dance, and that first recording was very much an improvisation. I never really thought it would have much of a life beyond that dance concert in 2001. Several years later I sat down and played it again and an entirely new vision came into view.

It was winter and the snow covered most of the fields, but a few remnants of the harvest still stood. Down the hill was the farm pond, all freshly shoveled by the Amish boys who were resting at halftime from the Ice Hockey game. She came from the barn already wearing her white skates and stepped out onto the ice. A scarf was wrapped on her head as a covering. Her black sweater was worn over the simple cape dress in traditional Amish style, nothing fancy.  At first one of the boys thought she was intruding, but an older boy stopped him and said “just watch”.  She began to dance on the ice as though it was the only thing she ever knew.     There was no wish for gold medals, Olympic dreams, or fame. This was far higher and deeper than that, it was simply for the love of it. Triple toe loops, Axels, Layback Spins, Salchows, somehow they were just natural to her.  And so this lone Amish girl dances a beautiful story on a frozen stage. And if you close your eyes, you will see her.