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It was a 1)warm summer night in the sleepy Dutch town of Leiden. Along with a handful of grad students and faculty members from Leiden University, I was standing in the courtyard of my professor’s beautifully restored 16th century 2)townhouse. We had just finished an amazing dinner (he was as good a cook as he was a carpenter and theoretical physicist) and the conversation was turning to stories of the great ones.
This often happens when scientists get in a certain kind of 3)reflective mood.
The gathered professors were telling stories of their encounters with 4)luminaries like 5)Richard Feynman,
6)John Wheeler, 7)Chandrasekhar or Leiden’s own
8)Jan Oort. The 9)profs 10)wistfully recalled being
11)schooled at the feet of great masters, now past. Then my own professor stopped and turned to the students, who were 12)eating the scene up.
“You’re next,” he said, pointing his beer at us. “Soon it’s your turn and your responsibility. You are going to be the ones who have to do something new. Don’t 13)screw it up!”
That wonderful evening in Leiden came back to me on Saturday when I attended an inspiring performance by FuturPointe Dance. FuturPointe is a relatively new troupe who mix styles ranging from modern to Caribbean to Latin to ballet. It was stunning and beautiful and
14)funky—a 15)riot of color, rhythm, movement and mixed media.
In the midst of it all I was struck by the balance of tradition and innovation. The troupe’s leaders, Guy Thorne and Heather Roffe, were striking. This was Rochester New York after all and in Rochester new dance troupes stand 16)in the long shadow of 17)Garth Fagan.
Garth Fagan is one of the most successful 18)choreographers in America. If you have seen the stage production of The Lion King, you have seen Fagan’s dance. His troupe has been based in Rochester for decades and each season we are lucky enough to see his pieces before the rest of the world gets its chance.
Many of FuturPointe’s dancers have been in Fagan’s school or in his troupe (as students or as teachers). FuturPointe knew they would be rising in the shadow of Fagan’s influence but they have made that a strength rather than a weakness.
While echoes of Fagan’s style could be seen in the fluid athleticism of FuturPointe’s choreography, it was, ultimately, their style and theirs alone. It was right at the moment when I saw that brilliant explosion of creativity that I also saw the connection with science and culture as a whole.
Creativity is, after all, the essence of science and art. Each generation starts as students, gets their training from their elders and then has the 19)baton passed to them. The command of the elders is simple:
“Do something new 20)dammit! Go someplace we didn’t see.”
In science, art and culture as a whole, the complete abandonment of tradition and technique rarely produces anything substantial. Only when we build on what we have learned, only when we digest and 21)metabolize its lessons, are we ready to 22)strike out on our own and build a new perspective.
That new perspective must be won or we sink back into the worst kind of
23)conservatism, an 24)insular, 25)backward-
looking 26)imitation.
FuturPointe’s performance reminded me that respectfully moving past our past is always the living generation’s responsibility. It’s a 27)debt we owe to both those who came before us and those who will inherit what we create. We should expect nothing less from ourselves in all domains of human activity.
那是个炎热的夏日夜晚, 荷兰莱顿小镇上非常宁静。我和几个莱顿大学的校友以及老师们一起，站在我教授家的庭院里。教授的家是一间建于16世纪的联排别墅，完好无损，非常漂亮。我们刚刚吃完大餐（教授烹饪水准一流，不但是个优秀的物理学家，连木工活也做得很好），我们聊天的内容转向了伟人的故事。
科学家们陷入某种沉思的时候，常常会谈到这些话题。
聚会里的教授们说起了自己与伟人们邂逅的往事，谈及了诸如理查德·费曼、约翰·惠勒、钱德拉塞卡和莱顿本地的简·奥尔特等名人。教授们喟叹起自己当年拜师这些伟人门下的情形，而如今一切都已成为往事。然后我的教授停了下来，转向正听得津津有味的学生们。
“你们就是下一个名人，”他一边说，一边用啤酒杯指向我们，“很快就轮到你们来挑起大梁了。你们要成为能够创新绩的人。可别把事情搞砸了！”
星期六那天, 我观看了由“未来足尖舞”表演团演绎的一个颇具启发性的舞蹈演出。观看之时，我想起了在莱顿那个令人难忘的夜晚。“未来足尖舞”还是一个较新的表演团，其舞蹈风格多变，有现代舞、加勒比舞、拉丁舞及芭蕾舞。舞蹈集色彩、节奏、动感和多效为一体，炫美耀目，时尚前卫，令人惊叹不已。
舞蹈最打动我的地方是传统与创新之间的平衡与协调。表演团领队盖·索恩和希瑟·罗菲极其引人注目。毕竟这是在纽约州的罗彻斯特啊，这里的新生舞蹈表演团都得在格氏·费根那深远的阴影下成长。
格氏·费根是美国最为成功的舞蹈指导之一。要是你看过舞台剧《狮子王》，那么你肯定见识过费根的舞蹈作品。他的表演团几十年来都以纽约州的罗彻斯特为据点，每个表演季来临之时，很幸运地，我们总能先于世界上其他人欣赏到费根的作品。
“未来足尖舞”的许多舞蹈演员都曾经在费根的学校学习或者在其表演团呆过（作为学生或是老师）。“未来足尖舞”知道自己得在费根的阴影下崛起，但他们没有将这当作弱点而是当作自己的优势。
尽管从“未来足尖舞”编舞的流畅和矫健中能看出费根风格的影子，然而归根到底，他们有自己独特的风格。就在那一刻，我看到了创意的精彩爆发，也是在那刻，我领悟到创意与科学文化作为一个整体之间的关联。
毕竟，创造力是科学与艺术的本质。每一代人都是先从学生做起，从前辈那里接受培训，然后接过传到他们手中的接力棒。前辈的要求很简单：
“给我弄一些新东西出来！去一些我们没见识过的地方。”
科学、艺术和文化领域是相通的，完全抛开传统和技艺几乎不能做出任何实质性东西。只有当我们在所学的基础上进行消化吸收，才能创造出属于自己的东西，树立新的观点。
务必要获得新的观点，否则我们将陷入最为糟糕的保守主义，即孤立、倒退的模仿。
“未来足尖舞”的表演提醒了我，活着的一代人必须怀着敬意传承过去，迈向未来。这既是前人施与我们的恩德，也是我们对继承我们的后代所应尽的责任。在人类活动的各个领域，我们都不能小看自己。
This often happens when scientists get in a certain kind of 3)reflective mood.
The gathered professors were telling stories of their encounters with 4)luminaries like 5)Richard Feynman,
6)John Wheeler, 7)Chandrasekhar or Leiden’s own
8)Jan Oort. The 9)profs 10)wistfully recalled being
11)schooled at the feet of great masters, now past. Then my own professor stopped and turned to the students, who were 12)eating the scene up.
“You’re next,” he said, pointing his beer at us. “Soon it’s your turn and your responsibility. You are going to be the ones who have to do something new. Don’t 13)screw it up!”
That wonderful evening in Leiden came back to me on Saturday when I attended an inspiring performance by FuturPointe Dance. FuturPointe is a relatively new troupe who mix styles ranging from modern to Caribbean to Latin to ballet. It was stunning and beautiful and
14)funky—a 15)riot of color, rhythm, movement and mixed media.
In the midst of it all I was struck by the balance of tradition and innovation. The troupe’s leaders, Guy Thorne and Heather Roffe, were striking. This was Rochester New York after all and in Rochester new dance troupes stand 16)in the long shadow of 17)Garth Fagan.
Garth Fagan is one of the most successful 18)choreographers in America. If you have seen the stage production of The Lion King, you have seen Fagan’s dance. His troupe has been based in Rochester for decades and each season we are lucky enough to see his pieces before the rest of the world gets its chance.
Many of FuturPointe’s dancers have been in Fagan’s school or in his troupe (as students or as teachers). FuturPointe knew they would be rising in the shadow of Fagan’s influence but they have made that a strength rather than a weakness.
While echoes of Fagan’s style could be seen in the fluid athleticism of FuturPointe’s choreography, it was, ultimately, their style and theirs alone. It was right at the moment when I saw that brilliant explosion of creativity that I also saw the connection with science and culture as a whole.
Creativity is, after all, the essence of science and art. Each generation starts as students, gets their training from their elders and then has the 19)baton passed to them. The command of the elders is simple:
“Do something new 20)dammit! Go someplace we didn’t see.”
In science, art and culture as a whole, the complete abandonment of tradition and technique rarely produces anything substantial. Only when we build on what we have learned, only when we digest and 21)metabolize its lessons, are we ready to 22)strike out on our own and build a new perspective.
That new perspective must be won or we sink back into the worst kind of
23)conservatism, an 24)insular, 25)backward-
looking 26)imitation.
FuturPointe’s performance reminded me that respectfully moving past our past is always the living generation’s responsibility. It’s a 27)debt we owe to both those who came before us and those who will inherit what we create. We should expect nothing less from ourselves in all domains of human activity.
那是个炎热的夏日夜晚, 荷兰莱顿小镇上非常宁静。我和几个莱顿大学的校友以及老师们一起，站在我教授家的庭院里。教授的家是一间建于16世纪的联排别墅，完好无损，非常漂亮。我们刚刚吃完大餐（教授烹饪水准一流，不但是个优秀的物理学家，连木工活也做得很好），我们聊天的内容转向了伟人的故事。
科学家们陷入某种沉思的时候，常常会谈到这些话题。
聚会里的教授们说起了自己与伟人们邂逅的往事，谈及了诸如理查德·费曼、约翰·惠勒、钱德拉塞卡和莱顿本地的简·奥尔特等名人。教授们喟叹起自己当年拜师这些伟人门下的情形，而如今一切都已成为往事。然后我的教授停了下来，转向正听得津津有味的学生们。
“你们就是下一个名人，”他一边说，一边用啤酒杯指向我们，“很快就轮到你们来挑起大梁了。你们要成为能够创新绩的人。可别把事情搞砸了！”
星期六那天, 我观看了由“未来足尖舞”表演团演绎的一个颇具启发性的舞蹈演出。观看之时，我想起了在莱顿那个令人难忘的夜晚。“未来足尖舞”还是一个较新的表演团，其舞蹈风格多变，有现代舞、加勒比舞、拉丁舞及芭蕾舞。舞蹈集色彩、节奏、动感和多效为一体，炫美耀目，时尚前卫，令人惊叹不已。
舞蹈最打动我的地方是传统与创新之间的平衡与协调。表演团领队盖·索恩和希瑟·罗菲极其引人注目。毕竟这是在纽约州的罗彻斯特啊，这里的新生舞蹈表演团都得在格氏·费根那深远的阴影下成长。
格氏·费根是美国最为成功的舞蹈指导之一。要是你看过舞台剧《狮子王》，那么你肯定见识过费根的舞蹈作品。他的表演团几十年来都以纽约州的罗彻斯特为据点，每个表演季来临之时，很幸运地，我们总能先于世界上其他人欣赏到费根的作品。
“未来足尖舞”的许多舞蹈演员都曾经在费根的学校学习或者在其表演团呆过（作为学生或是老师）。“未来足尖舞”知道自己得在费根的阴影下崛起，但他们没有将这当作弱点而是当作自己的优势。
尽管从“未来足尖舞”编舞的流畅和矫健中能看出费根风格的影子，然而归根到底，他们有自己独特的风格。就在那一刻，我看到了创意的精彩爆发，也是在那刻，我领悟到创意与科学文化作为一个整体之间的关联。
毕竟，创造力是科学与艺术的本质。每一代人都是先从学生做起，从前辈那里接受培训，然后接过传到他们手中的接力棒。前辈的要求很简单：
“给我弄一些新东西出来！去一些我们没见识过的地方。”
科学、艺术和文化领域是相通的，完全抛开传统和技艺几乎不能做出任何实质性东西。只有当我们在所学的基础上进行消化吸收，才能创造出属于自己的东西，树立新的观点。
务必要获得新的观点，否则我们将陷入最为糟糕的保守主义，即孤立、倒退的模仿。
“未来足尖舞”的表演提醒了我，活着的一代人必须怀着敬意传承过去，迈向未来。这既是前人施与我们的恩德，也是我们对继承我们的后代所应尽的责任。在人类活动的各个领域，我们都不能小看自己。