A more fitful second part found the soloist's busy phrases challenged by rowdy, mocking outbursts, until the music finally sighed once more into tranquillity.
Early performances of this year's show included a slapstick sequence in which the phrase "Busy bee, busy bee, what have you got in the hive for me?" is answered with a mouthful of water.
We have an America that in Bob Dylan's phrase is "busy being born, not busy dying".
Using lines from It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Carter told the cheering delegates at Madison Square Garden: "We have an America that, in Bob Dylan's phrase, is busy being born, not busy dying".
My 93-year-old father has been using the phrase "keeping busy" since his so-called retirement 31 years ago.
"1st Flash," another New York premiere, had many of his hallmarks: the manic, slapdash phrasing; the busy, gesture-laden choreography, full of set pieces designed to momentarily wow; the haphazard connection to music.
However, as Forsyth points out, this phrase is too busy obeying another rule I'd never heard of: the rule of ablaut reduplication.
Let's look at the phrase "I am busy". What does it mean?
Phrases like 'busy, busy, busy' and 'back to back meetings' simply imply that you are not coping and that you want sympathy for your heavy workload.
"I had heard the phrase, 'Don't get sad, get busy,' so I got busy and I got on the phone making some contacts out there".
Ms. Bour seems to insist that just as her dancers never stop moving within a phrase, they must also never look busy.
