The Arts in New York City

Enhanced Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I was sitting one day flipping through the channel when I saw a feature on the Rockefeller Tree Lighting. There were many celebrities present such as Carrie Underwood and Nick Lachey who had sung their own versions of traditional Christmas carols. I had planned on going to see the lighting on that Wednesday, but I had other plans for that night. Instead, my friends and I decided to go this past weekend to see the Christmas tree. It was remarkable. The tree was gigantic, more than 50 feet tall. It wasn’t hard to find because the lighting on the tree lit the entire area up and guided us to it like the North Star. It was elaborately decorated with all sorts of ornaments, but also had the traditional ones such as the two turtledoves. If you are ever passing by, you should go see the tree for yourself, especially at night.

Enhanced Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As I was waiting at Union Square for a friend to arrive, I saw a large crowd that had gathered just a few feet away from me. Curious to see what people were looking at, I walked over to check out what was happening. From what I could see on my tiptoes behind the crowd, there stood a mime. I had never really seen a mime perform apart from on television. It was humorous to watch the emotions of fear he displayed on his face as he pretended to be trapped in a box. His rigid arm gestures created the illusion of the box and the panic that he showed made the crowd laugh. It was beautiful to watch him move because his motions made something literally out of thin air. Out of his arm motions, he threw a lasso into the crowd and struggled to pull an individual in. I though that it was wonderful how he had such an imagination to create such a vivid show for the people.

There are dozens of magazines devoted to fashion; Elle, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar, just to name a few. Each magazine is filled back-to-back with advertisements displaying gorgeous people in gorgeous outfits. To me, the garments that covered these people were just clothes, not art. That was why I was a little bit surprised when my friend attending the Fashion Institute of Technology asked if I would like to go visit the museum at her school. (more…)

Right when I was about to step off from the street curb, a blazing yellow vehicle bearing sky-blue and pink decals raced past me. When I looked up, I saw that the streets lined up with several taxicabs that had the same colorful flower decals. Not knowing why there were all of a sudden flowers painted on taxis, I decided to research more about the reason for these newly designed taxis. Apparently, these flowery cabs are part of a temporary project called Garden in Transit. The Massey brothers, who founded an organization called Portraits of Hope, originally started this project. The intention was a sort of creative therapy for critically ill and disabled children. This event is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of New York’s first motorized taxi and lasts from September to December 2007. I think that the new design on the taxicabs is a nice change to the typical yellow hue taxi look. The yellow hue of the cabs already made the taxicabs stand out, but the flowers make it even more distinguished and noticeable among all the other vehicles on the streets. And the fact that the flowers were painted on by the sick children of the city makes the taxicab art even more beautiful. The reason for why a flower was chosen as the symbol to be painted on taxicabs was because it was the symbol of hope; hope for the children.

When I was younger, I used to take ballet classes in this small red building located in Chinatown. Other than dancing, I didn’t know that there was anything else to this place. It wasn’t until when my mother decided to visit the director of the dance program that I discovered the hidden museum in the back. The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) was tucked away in a limited section of the second floor of the same building I have been dancing in for a few years. (more…)

One day when I was taking a brisk walk under the blaring sun along the streets of Union Square when my eyes caught sight upon a large crowd surrounding a street performance. With my inquisitive mind, I decided to go and take a gander at what was happening. I saw a small circus tent on stage with a banner across it saying, “Circus Amok” and was bedazzled. Ironically, the show was called “Bee-Dazzled”. Just a small pun I don’t think anybody other than myself will find funny. Anyway, I didn’t understand much of what was going on since I started watching it mid-way. I saw a man in drag come out in a queen bee costume. Soon after, other people came out in worker bee costumes and danced around the drag queen. There were crazy acrobats cart-wheeling around the stage and enormous stilt-walkers. After watching the rest of it, I didn’t really understand the message that was trying to be sent. I just knew that it was about the disappearance of honeybees. To find out more, when I got home I looked up more about this particular performance and discovered that the disappearance of honeybees is supposed to resemble the war in Iraq. Circus Amok is a circus-theater company whose performances usually address issues about social justice. After learning more about the company, I only wished to have arrived at Union Square a little bit earlier to catch the entire performance and fully grasp the performance’s significance. Overall, it was a pretty weird show but at the same time captivating to the audience.

When I first received this assignment, the first places I thought of going to were the classic Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Modern Museum of Art. However, at the end I decided to try to do something different and more fun in my perspective. I traveled to 42^nd Street – Times Square and embarked on my journey through the wicked Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. This was my first time ever stepping in to the place even though I’ve lived in New York City all my life. The first room that I visited was filled with the traditional A-list superstar celebrities. There were actors such as Morgan Freeman and singers such as Bono. Britney Spears was also there in action with the other wax figures. What contributed to the atmosphere of celebrities in the room was the environment and scenery that encompassed the room. The ceiling was fashioned to resemble a night starry sky. The place where all these celebrities were was glamorous, matching their statuses. There were Roman pillars in the room along with a fountain in the center of it all. It was uncanny how real these wax figures looked. If I didn’t know beforehand that this was a wax museum, I would have been fooled by these figures. (more…)