THE ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY

So I went to see a production which, in initial description, can not sound anything but ridiculous. A friend of mine, Richie, has been dancing for over twelve years, and at the age of 19, the director of his  Queens community center finally made him the head choreographer for the children’s dancing groups. This year, he decided to choreograph a dance to Britney Spear’s “Gimme More” single on her new album, Blackout. Now you’re right, there are a number of things that could go wrong here. Britney’s music, often reflective of her personality, might not be the best the most ideal coupling. This first assumption that we had, and that undoubtedly you will as well, was justified more and more plainly on one boring night, as a group of us sat on the steps in front of our friend’s Chelsea home and watched Richie show us his routine. Obviously, it was extremely provocative and inviting, to say the least. Exactly how he was going to pull it off with a group of five and six year old boys and girls was going to be ridiculous and incredibly funny. About a month ago, I found myself sitting under the bar stand, peeking in on one of the rehearsals. The moves that many would consider trashy were made cute by these little kids. They didn’t have their costumes (which I later found out to be black and gray sequined bodysuits/skirts with a thick sequined headband) and so they were dressed in long warm pants and sweaters. This is an afterschool thing, so no frill necessary. They imitated Richie’s moves in their adorable pastel sweats. Another observation I made is how kids stick their tongues out when they concentrate, not really out, but out of the corner, as if trying to lick their ears. The entire dance lost its oversexed edge which was neutralized by an eager innocent attempt to copy without understanding it. This made me think about how we classify, criticize, and censor our exposure to art, or art itself. In cutting out a detail because of vulgarity, we are actually ashamed because we are conditioned to see and name it vulgarity in ourselves. Most kids didn’t understand the promiscuity of the song and treated it like any other, while older generations, criticized, basing their allegations on nothing more than personal experience.

To continue on a trend, I went to the live taping of David Behrman’s piece Long Throw at Roulette, a performance space in SoHo that specializes in minimalist, experimental music. What I found was that, as much as I enjoy analyzing abstract works, some things are just too avant-garde for my tastes.

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Last Friday, the Whitney had its weekly Whitney Live performance series, this time performed by Moving Theater and the International Contemporary Ensemble.  To summarize the performance, I quote the Artists’ Statement in the program: “Impermanent Collection attempts to bring attention to how performance is experienced in the context of a museum.”  And very basically, that’s what they did. Each of the performers chose a piece from the Whitney’s permanent collection to base a dance solo off of; these solos were filmed and was juxtaposed with the live performance that I saw. The live performance interacted significantly with the museum building itself, going off the designated stage onto the stairwell, and for the final section actually took place outside, in the space below the sidewalk.

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For those of you who missed it, there was a concert given by the Hunter College Choir and Orchestra on December 5th, with a repertoire of American music. My impressions are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, last one of the semester you guys!! And the coolest!! I visited the Museum of Tibetan Art a long time ago, when I was in the seventh grade. I loved it then, and the more and more I thought about it, the more and more I felt that I must go back, because at such a young age, there was no way I could have appreciated everything about the exhibit, as much as I loved it.  In any case, I did go back a couple of days ago, and I really did see everything that I had missed at 12. First of all, the location of it. It was so beautiful. It had the appearance of a Tibetan temple tucked away in a small mountain.  Behind it, there was a pond filled with lilies and beautiful red fish.  Inside smelled strongly of incense as the sound of a Tibetan chant took me away to a distant land.  All shades of red flooded my vision as I walked in.  Art from Mongolia, Tibet, China, and Nepal were most prominent throughout the exhibit.  Statues of Buddhas, all kinds of buddhas, were everywhere!!

I did not have too much time to explore the museum that day because I had an interview to go to. However, I did end up buying a beautiful handmade bookmark made of leaves and grass. On the bookmark were the words, “Laugh and there will be peace,” which is a philosophy I am proud to say that I practice!!!  The words were in Sanskrit and Chinese as well as in English.

It was beautifuL!!  An amazing experience.

Three weeks ago, I went to see the Rite of Spring dance performance with my friends Carol and Elias. It was absolutely breathtaking, to say the least.  Put together by the Berlin Philharmoniker Orchestra, the performers interpreted the story behind Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.  Basically, the story was about a girl who danced herself to death because she thought that her dance would make the Spring come again.  In the performance, accompanied by the discordant music of the Rite of Spring, dancers dance to the screeches and chaos of the music.  As the music got louder and more unpredictable, the dancers waved their hands about their heads and jumped up and down to feed the chaos that was Winter. The choreography was absolutely wonderful as I was immersed in the dance and the story itself.  A figure in white appears, Mother Nature, as the music changes suddenly to a more suspenseful tone signifying the coming of death.  Someone needed to die.  Towards the end, a girl in black emerges from the folds of the curtains as she dances through the somber and penetrating music of death.  She was the martyr.  Everyone on the stage runs off in fear as the music dies. She puts her arms around her to show that she is now trapped in her own dance and cannot escape. The music grows and grows wildy as there is no place for her to go.

Finally, she collapses to the floor and dies.  Spring has finally come. The music turns back to a beautiful soft tune telling of birds and trees and Spring.

WATCH THIS PERFORMANCE!!!!! I guarantee you’ll love it.

Hey Everyone!!! I just wanted to say that Katie is so funny!!! “bust out some hollers” YOU ARE SO FUNNY!!

Anyway, I’ve finally completed the final three events that we needed to attend independently and the first one I wish to speak about is the Masked Ball held on November 15th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The ball was held in honor of a new Oceanic exhibit that had just opened up the day before. This wonderfully dazzling exhibit includes works of art from the Pacific regions of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

In any case, everyone going to college in the city was invited to this event, although there was hardly enough room to fit us all, and we all had to dress up in fancy dresses and suits, wearing masks. When we entered, it seemed as though we were entering an underwater kingdom because of the special lighting effects that they provided that night. There appeared to be blue water just floating about on the walls of the museum as tribal music played in the background. At one end of the hallway, there were some African performers demonstrating a native dance and native music as well. I thought that was really cool. It really made me feel as though I was right there in Africa, or in Oceania, or on the Pacific islands. Food was provided as well, though I don’t think it was all too great. The grapes, however, were absolutely phenomenal — I think at one point, I ate two huge bowls of grapes that the waiters put out….

Moving on, after about an hour of just exploring all the nifty effects and demonstrations, my friends and I decided to really check this exhibit out. It was called New Galleries for Oceanic Art. As we walked through the exhibit, we saw a lot of wooden sculptures and tiki men, all displaying the daily lives of the indigenous peoples of that area. For instance, there was one very simple sculpture of a native man sleeping in a very interesting position. There were others of the animals that inhabitants were accustomed to seeing as well. Pots and spears and quilts were also prevalent throughout the exhibit as they expressed the exotic culture of these peoples and how they lived.

Anyway, I really think this exhibit is one that everyone should go see since it is still open at the MET. I had a great time!!!!!!

I saw Moon for the Misbegotten a little while ago, and I thought it was really wonderful. Kevin Spacey played one of the main parts, and I really enjoyed his performance. It started off slowly, and while there were parts that were really boring, they were, overall, essential to the plotline. Eugene O’Neill is a genius in this way. He incorporates humor, theatrics, and hidden pieces in one play. I don’t want to give it away too much - I think everyone should have the chance to enjoy it. The play takes a few turns, from humor, sarcasm, criticism, happiness, etc. There are so many highs and lows to the play that it is pretty much a roller coaster of emotions. It’s a bit intense - but really, really, wonderful. Of course, it doesn’t have as much entertainment value as say, Rent or Spring Awakening, but I think that if you can appreciate fine art and acting, you will enjoy Moon for the Misbegotten.

On Dec 1st I saw “Family Matters” at the Dance Theater Workshop. I happen to LOOOVVVEEE dance and this is one of the most memorable experiences of the year. I don’t want to give much a way because EVERYONE needs to see this. If you can even tolerate dance, you will love this. The colors incorporated in this performance is very rich and there is a plethora of styles used in the dance. There is some ballet, swing, hip-hop incorporated. THIS WAS AMAZING… I loved it.

This is coming kind of late, especially sense sooo many people have posted about this production already. I hate to follow such a review like Jenny’s, which was amazing and very detailed. I saw the dress rehearsal of Love in the Tub on the Wednesday before its debut on Thursday. I saw it with my friends Simone and Dalya. It was a long day and we we tired but we promised our friends who were in the that we would be there. I went from the Whitney museum to the SNAP enhibit to me t Simone and Dalya. Both Simone and I had a psych test the following day and we were already running late for the 8 pm showing. Deciding to keep our promise, we hailed a can and flew back to Hunter and made it there just in time. The show was AMAZING. What made it all the more enjoyable is that I know these people and the transformation they made was amazing. I left there feeling like a proud parent.