It is theorized that African music and dance evolved a highly complex rhythmic character rather than the melodic line of early European music due, in part, to its being performed outdoors.

Nearby, a dozen small children were inventing a dance. A musician contracted by the ferry line plucked vaguely at an oud, but mostly smoked.

First, I sprinted into a cast-iron lamppost while chasing a fly ball in a park in Washington; I actually saw a chorus line of stars dance before my eyes as I crumpled to the ground.