- Overview
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The book portrays the dance of life performed on the stage of today.
- Book Intro
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Dancing for Eating
With a rustle, clothes brush each other. The old lady from the vegetable shop holds a bunch of green onion in one hand and picks up a plastic bag with the other. An express delivery lady, who delivers document envelops, accelerates her motorcycle. A street cleaner sweeps the ground with her broom. Everyone is working so hard – the lady delivering food, the lady who sells sugar-filled griddlecakes, the shoeshine lady.
The picture book Dancing for Eating describes ordinary people who do their best in their jobs to make a living. There are some moments in life that we don’t really pay attention to because we are too busy and such moments are too familiar. But no life stays still, and that is why my neighborhood is always bustling.
“A day without work is a day without food,” said the Zen master Baizhang Huaihai. This may sound like too much, but the most important meaning is about "making a living." We need to eat to stay alive, so we cannot stop making a living. We must do it until we die: it is insignificant, yet divine. Sometimes, the movements of those who work to make a living look like a rhythmical dance. When an old lady in a laundry shop elegantly stretches her arms and legs, her movement is like the arabesque of a ballerina. The sharp, yet soft movement of an old lady working in a vegetable shop remind readers of sword dance.
An old lady carrying food trays piled on her head for delivery, an old policewoman controlling traffic in a well-disciplined manner... The skilled movements of experienced workers are very similar to those of dancers, so much so that they look like dance moves.
The simple movements of workers seen in the workplace are perhaps genuine dance performances for communicating with the world. The dance of life performed on the stage of today. The world dances every day, even though we barely notice it.
- About the Author
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Jeong Inha
(Japanese) 歩いて、ゆっくり眺めて、絵を描く。絵が好きで本が好きで絵が描かれた本を作る人になった。主に子供の絵本を作業していて雑誌と社報、表紙にも絵を描いている。書いて描いた本は『ご飯・踊り』『料理料理あいう』がある。個人作業物を集めて『優しい街』『豆腐と絵』『地味な瞬間』など独立出版物を作ることもあった。
- Selection
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Happy Reading in the Morning, 2018, Recommended book
Gyeonggi-do School Librarian Council, 2018, Recommended book
Book Culture Foundation, 2018, Selected book for Bookstart