Dancing the Wave Audacity, Equilibrium, and Other Mysteries of Surfing

by POIRIER, JEAN-ETIENNE

• ISBN13: 9781590300602
• ISBN10: 1590300602
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-29
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

There is no greater or more powerful or more pure human rapport with the elements than that experienced by a surfer dancing with the ocean. InDancing the Wave,Jean-Etienne Poirier brings alive the world of surfing by offering historical, anthropological, and cultural perspectives on this increasingly popular sport. By recounting tales of his own surfing adventures, he opens the door to this world beyond the summer sun and simple pleasures of the ride, inviting readers to reflect upon the true place of human beings in the universe. This book is for all board riders, for all those who are touched by the forces of the ocean, and for all those who wish to understand the boldness of surfers, who join power and elegance in that harmonious dance with the sinuous movement of the wave.

Author Biography

Jean-Etienne Poirier is an avid surfer, skier, and skateboarder, as well as a journalist and cultural anthropologist. He has consulted for international aid organizations, and he lectures on travel themes and mountain climbing.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Wanderings of a Gremmie	p. 7
The First Sideskids
One Mouthful at a Time
Viva Mexico, Cabrones!
Journey to Maine
The Utopian Wave
Trip to Boston
The Quest
Some History	p. 31
Prehistory
Contact with the Water
The Matter of Boards
Rocked by the Waves
The Visions of the West
A New Wave
The Final Impetus
The Beat of the Ride
The Return to the East
The 1980s: The Fun Years
Scanning the Future
Planet Surf	p. 61
Respect and Hope (The Storm)
The Waves, to Be Exact
Sirens and Other Metaphors of Nature	p. 71
Becoming One with Nature
Transformation and Death
The Immensity and the Minuteness of Nature
Women Surfers	p. 81
A Gremmie's Point of View
The Social Scene	p. 91
From One Extreme to the Other
The Opposite of the Conditional Approach
Philosophies of the Ephemeral
Gentle Warriors and the Quest for the Center
Between Two Bodies of Water
The Slide into Crime
A Taste for Ecology
Small-Time Politics and Localism
Gloom and Doom and Outright Terror
Artists of the Ride
Science and Impermanence	p. 121
A Theme of Astonishing Power
Thinking Movement
Alternative Consciousness and Play
Individuation
Rejection of the Summons, Relic of Nomadism
On the Notion of the Natural Man and the Citizen
The Motivation
The Intuitive Search for Hopupu	p. 135
A Mysterious Gliding
The Relationship with Oneself
Joy
Epilogue	p. 141
An Opening
Gliding in the Perpetual Present
Deconditioning, Exchanges, and Revolutions
Cultivating Confidence
Glossary	p. 151
Notes	p. 155
Credits	p. 159
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