Remi Wörtmeyer is my new favourite. This boy knows what dancing is. He is lyrical, he is elegant, he is graceful, he’s playful, he is expressive … He was such a pleasure to look at! Actually, you can say that about Sylvia as a whole. I loved to see the power women and oh boy, the boys were gorgeous! Marisa Lopez was great, Cédric Ygnace was versatile in his three roles, ceremonious as Cupid, funny like a very young boy as a shepherd and very seductive as Orion. Igone de Jongh had a difficult part, but she danced it beautifully. The ladies Lopez and De Jong are really back!  John Neumeiers movements are a mix of tradition and modern dance. Sometimes it’s like Michael Jackson going classical or the other way around. Extraordinary daring is letting dancers dance without movement. It is like using the rests in music. He makes dancers active in their rest. This was awesome. The costumes are beautiful and very feminine for the women (hope the boys will learn to focus to keep the skirts ‘decent’ in the turning movements). Treat yourself: go and see it!

It might as well be a hype, but for me it is a kind of paradigma shift: the neurosciences. It is fascinating. My origins are in ‘the makable society’ – nurture over nature. No differences between man and woman, just created by society. No biological difference between boys or girls. I remember lectures from professor Swaab. He was one of the first who did brain research. He taught us that homosexuality was not something you could choose for, but a sexual orientation that was developed in utero on which society after birth had no influence. We all, and certainly the gay community, kind of lynched the man. It was about 1989.

Now, 2011, I attend lectures neuroscience with a colleague who could have been my son and does not know anything of this eventful past. Modern neuroscience tells us stories about our humaneness, what we are able to and what not (at all). It might have important social and political repercussions. In education, in pedagogy, but also in religion, marketing and yes, investments.

I read about everything on the subject I can lay my hands on. And if you want to read an overview of all I can recommend you Mindfield, by Lone Frank. I am busy to revise a lot of my insights. It takes time and sometimes it is difficult. We are not the same as men, you know. But, my much younger colleague says, that is not a reason to pay you less for the same work. Oh, yeah, of course. Boys will be boys. They are far more analytical.
And girls…  If we stick together… don’t bother. It’s only natural.