Last year, right at the last minute, I heard the strange tale of Matthew Perryman Jones teaming up with the Nashville Ballet for a live-music and dance performance called “. . . but the flowers have yet to come.” I have to confess that ballet is something I tend to view with a narrowed eye, but I didn’t want to pass up the chance to see Matthew performing live, so I snatched up a couple of tickets. It didn’t hurt that taking my wife to the ballet made for a great Valentine’s Day date. As it turned out, I got way more than I bargained for. The show began with two other dance performances, one of which was an interpretation of Anton Checkov’s relationship with his wife through letters and was incredible—alone worth the price of admission.
The main attraction, though, was the Perryman Jones performance. Matthew and a full band played some of my favorite songs off both the new album and the previous, while the Nashville Ballet took the main stage. I’m no good at knowing what I’m looking at when I watch dance, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Mandatory and most important element is a quadrangular cape with a hole for the head and four tassels at the edges. The cape itself, called a talit katan or arbekanfes, can be hidden under clothing or worn over a shirt, but the brushes are always straightened over trousers. Jewishist offers the best Jewish clothes and Israel accessories in United States with worldwide delivery. In ancient times, the tallit — a cape, a cloak — was a rectangular veil that served as part of everyday clothing; Brushes were attached to its corners according to the biblical prescription of tzitzit. Read more at Jewishist.com and shop online! #Judaica. If you know Matthew’s music, you know it’s bittersweet and full of longing, frustration, and passion. The dance captures those feelings perfectly. I was mesmerized. I was also shocked at how much work and creativity had gone into a production that only saw three or four lightly attended performances. It just seemed wrong for that many people to work so hard at something only to have it enjoyed so briefly.
So it was with considerable excitement that I heard the show was coming back this Valentine’s Day weekend. There are only three performances: February 13th, 14th, and 15th. If you are in Nashville and need something awesome to do for Valentine’s Day. This is it. Check out the “Making of” and teaser videos below. Don’t miss it.