A Case For Platonic Dancing

Jul 22

Jul 22 A Case For Platonic Dancing

Becca Moore

Vol 6 Iss 4, Poetry, 2024

The most romantic part

of a Jane Austen movie

when the romantic leads dance

but it was Emma who said

“There may be a hundred

ways of being in love”

A dance could be learning

the steps of growing up

between us and expectations

put upon us by others

like to find our “other half”

to marry and have children

When I was ten years old

I was in love with overalls

because they made me feel cute

then a fashion tv show

said they are unflattering

so I stopped wearing them

Wish I had a spoiler alert

to let me know that my

other half wasn't a boy

it was the overalls

a girl didn't have to be

flattering to anyone

Whenever I'm in love

I should be in a dance

of gender euphoria

and aesthetic attraction

instead of stumbling

through these unfamiliar steps

My new dance includes going

on dates with a movie

not to one with a date

and my first date movie was

the new 2020 adaption

of Emma by Jane Austen

The joy of a romcom

even for aro ace me

is that no matter how

many missed steps there are

between the characters

there is a happy ending

I had not watched other films

or read Emma before

so I did not realize that

a step was missing until

I finally read the book

and found a unique dance

I didn't understand Frank

until I read it and thought

he and Emma were dancing

together in a bubble

while causing chaos to

everyone in their orbit

A woman and a man

on equal footing and flawed

requiring apology

they were each other's “other half”

in a sense of plot symmetry

instead of a romance

“There is a likeness in

their destiny” because

they both marry someone

better than themselves

they both stumbled badly

but are still loved and friends