Come for Ghostlight, stay for the comparison between how audiences comprehend dance and Shakespearean vernacular.

In this new movie — a throwback to the no-budget, crowd-pleasing, working-class, family-dramedy indies of the aughts — amateur thespians voice a take on Shakespeare’s writing that I’m sure has been shared by many an audience over the years:

“It’s beautiful language; I just wish I knew what it meant.”

This phrasing rather succinctly summarizes my relationship to dance: “It’s beautiful movement; I just wish I knew what it meant.”

And I find it interesting to think about audiences relating to Shakespearean text like I relate to dance; we glean what understanding we can, but there’s enjoyment to be had in the sheer act of appreciating the dance — be it phonetic, linguistic, or corporeal.