Lange illustrated this principle through the extraordinary zigzag of her own life. She went to college on an art scholarship to study painting, but when her desired drawing class was full, she signed up for a photography class on a whim. Her photography instructor introduced her to friends leaving for Spain to film flamenco gypsies — 'Yeah,' she said. In New York, a dancer from the Merce Cunningham company asked her to join an experimental theater group — 'Yeah.' A mime master's student led her to study with Étienne Decroux in Paris for three years — 'Yeah.' Back in New York, she discovered acting — 'Yeah.' A screen test for a film she didn't want to do turned into her movie career — she went because it was winter, she was broke, and her sister was sailing up the coast. 'There was no way I could ever have anticipated or planned the twists and turns my life took in those six short years.'