Back from Big Apple
Finally home, the cold winter winds were kind of getting on my nerves and the last few days were especially nerve wrecking cos there was this whole hullabaloo about an imminent mass strike by all transit workers – which meant that all subways and buses would be down. Fortunately, it didn't happen, or the city would have been quite crazy.
After returning from Princeton, I spent most of my remaining time in the city lazing about, and shopping – vintage at east village and also at urban outfitters – I love their stuff. Indulged in this vintage baseball jacket that is too ostentatious to be worn anywhere outside of school – ha.
Watched Wicked, and it did live up to expectations and much much more. Its definitely a must watch. Avenue Q was a bit disappointing – not to mention jet laggified sleep inducing. Woman In White had a 15 minute technical error in the 2nd half – and it felt like I was watching live actors against a cinema screen, there was no set, only 3D animated landscapes on projected screens. Rent was expectedly great as mentioned – couldn't afford anymore Broadway shows.
One especially interesting off off off Broadway show I watched was recommended by Rubes – John Jasper's Prone. The audience was made to lie on plastic inflatable mattresses while looking upskirt (or up pants) of dancers while they perform their piece, can't do justice by describing it verbally here, but it's definitely an experience watching something different and intimate. I guess one of the main questions I was discussing with Rubes is how productions of this nature would have to dangerously tread the line between gimmicky and really essentially serving the purpose and theme of the performance. Prone manages this problem quite well, and came across sincere and subtle.
Beside Samira's Blackboards – which I embarrassingly have to admit, I fell asleep occasionally due to fatigue, other notable movies watched were
1. Transamerica – starring an amazingly androgynous Felicity Huffman showing of her lethal acting chops, felt it could have been pushed a little further though.
2. Memoirs of a Geisha – disappointingly extravagant, too much production design and too little heart.
3. Brokeback Mountain, my only regret is how expensive movie tickets were and not being able to watch it again – it should be able to make it to our shores uncensored. It was amazingly sensitive, and heart wrenching.
4. Songs from the 2nd Floor – by Roy Andersson – this I watched on DVD, while Rubes was attending classes. Was blown away by the asthetics – I want to make films like this!
Bought a 5 class dance card and did classes at Broadway Dance Center – mainly Tap and Jazz Beginners class – even in these classes sometimes I was struggling to catch up, the variety of teaching and dance styles were amazing. And after those 5 classes, I wished I could just afford to do classes for a year, under their ISVP scheme. What was most inspiring in these sessions were the amount of senior citizens taking the dance classes. There was a 60 year old man in the tap class, taps well, and has been tapping since 5. Wow. The jazz classes were made up of middle aged and older women who gave the youngsters a run for their money.
Besides all of these, watched a few more dance productions under Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave festival, very interesting staging. Impromptus had women bathing onstage in a pool of water hidden beneath a trapdoor, and dancers painting on the raked white floor with their bodies. Everywhere had the whole floor covered in pillar like structures which collapsed like dominos as the dancers interacted with them.
Sigh, so its been a very fruitful but tiring two weeks, now its time to take a break and just rest and chill for a while. Watching King Kong tonight with the guerillas, ha, Gorilla vs. Guerillas. Gotta start on some work for CCAs and other commitments. Will upload more pictures when I get back to hall.
