Confessions of an (Un)Graceful Girl
I have always had trouble with walking, with carrying my body from one space to another—something about there being too much of it; long arms, longer legs. There are too many parts to make use of at once. I’ve been aware of this problem since puberty, and it’s one with no simple solution. I’m constantly reminding myself to sit up straight; to walk softer. These things are not in my nature, though I wish that they were.
Or I did, until I saw Frances Ha. It is not a movie about walking, although one can say it’s about movement. Frances, played by Greta Gerwig, is an aspiring dancer. She is not a professional by traditional standards, but she’s interesting to watch because she knows how to fill her body with meaning, how to use every part—down to the finger, down to the bone. Beyond that, Frances Ha is about female friendships and floating and Figuring It Out — all things I relate to and understand. But when I left the theater, I wasn’t thinking about friendship or floating or figuring. I was thinking about Greta Gerwig and her body and the way every part of her moved.
And for the first time, I wanted to move too.
I was always a tall little girl, but at ten or eleven, I sprouted. I gained a pair of dangly arms and a stick set of legs, all the better to tower with. And while I’d been a very cute, very outgoing kid, this change caused…
