Category Archives: Week 5

Dancing with the Stars

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I am not a dancer. I cannot dance, never been to any dance concerts, never had an interest in dance, definitely cannot critique dance.

Going to the Fall For Dance event at the City Center was probably the first time going to a dance event. Not going to lie, I didn’t want to go. I thought it was going to be pretty boring and well I guess I had the same attitude I did for the opera.

There is a first time for everything, and I guess my judgement has been wrong. I actually thought the first dance was pretty messy, as I had responded in Joshua’s post. I felt like I couldn’t follow everyone.

The second dance, the ballet, made me want to fall asleep. I’m sorry if that got anyone mad, but I guess I just didn’t really like ballet and that.

But wait.

It gets better.

Post intermission was when everything went wild. Absolutely loved Sebastian Ramirez and Honji Wang’s performance. I was totally not expecting that. It was actually a little ambiguous at first, the performance was so good between the two. A few of us even got to take pictures with the stars of the performance after the show (Check Chloe’s post out!).

The last performance was even more unexpected. It went from one man just doing his dance moves, to a group of people dancing with the guy at the end not conforming. I guess they were trying to get the point across, conformity is not always the case, the best (Could that be why the first one i felt was messy?) The best part was when they started to pull people up to dance in the front, and we all thought that the girl in the plaid shirt was our very own Sam! 🙂

In any case, the night turned out to be great and after pictures with Ramirez and Wang, it was Halal Guys! Like Erica said, go to the iconic 53rd and 6th, “it is all part of the New York experience!”

 

~Christopher Chong

High Line, Cloud Nine

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This picture was not taken on October 11th, 2014. It was taken on September 23rd, 2014.

The day was gloomy, and instead I decided to choose another picture I took that was still within the time period of this class.

I invited a friend from Hunter College to explore the many places of NYC with me, and the two of us found our way to the place in the picture above.  They say that you are not a “true” New Yorker until you have encounter yourself with this place, The High Line. The two of us held Starbucks as we walked from Hunter’s Brookdale Campus on the East side to the High Line on the west side, traveling for about 30 minutes on 23rd street.

The picture above was taken at the newest section of The High Line Park, which opened just two days before (9/21). I wanted to choose an interesting photo that has a very interesting point of view. This photo is taken from the perspective that we often don’t think much of, looking from one track and see it as it leads to somewhere. In this picture, the convergence of the two sides of a track makes the picture “come together”. I also wasn’t really trying to take the pictures of the mother/daughter in the background, but it definitely made the picture tell a story behind. Happy day for those two! The mother holding on to the daughter as she carefully walks on the track, attempting not to fall. The photo gives me a sense of warmth and it seems like there is always happiness down the road.

 

~Christopher Chong

The Great Figure

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First off, I could not help but notice to design and style of the poem. The poem is a single sentence, with no more than three or four words per line. This single sentence, however, is not simple. It contains incredible imagery, mostly attacking the reader’s senses of sight and sound. Yet, as much as this sentence provides, there is still much left to the reader’s imagination. Based on the information given, we can deduce some things pertaining to the situation of the poem. The figure, which is the focal point of the poem, is a number 5. These numbers on firetrucks represent the ladder of which the vehicle belongs to. So in this case, the truck belongs to ladder 5, which is located at 227 Ave. of the Americas, the Lower West side. From this, along with other information given in the poem, the reader can mentally create a setting for themselves.

 

La Casa Azul: A Place of Creativity

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The La Casa Azul Bookstore is a Hispanic bookstore in East Harlem that started 2 years ago. It is the only bookstore in East Harlem and the only Hispanic bookstore in NYC. It was inspired by Frida Kahlo’s home in Mexico. It’s really a creative space that mainly sells books written by Latino and Afro-latino writers. It features book clubs, book readings, open mics, dance classes, cooking classes, exhibits, and a lot more. The current exhibit “A Ribbon Around A Bomb: Who Am I Being + Becoming In This Space” portrays photographs of young women in the day and age, with their personal reflections of what makes them the lively and brilliant women that they are. All reflections started with “I am powerful because…”

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one of the photographs from the “Ribbon Around A Bomb” exhibit

This place is such a rarity. I was amazed to find it in the first place. I love the individuality and flair it has as a book store. It gives a platform to voices that aren’t heard often. It’s just a beautiful, bright place.

Fall for Dance Short Critique

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I came to Fall for Dance thinking that the performances would be so fantastical and out of this world, but after the first two performances I was a little disappointed. I felt that they were classical and traditional in style, and the music had me nodding off a little. However, the last two performances were extremely captivating. I loved how much they played with the lighting in “AP15.” I could see how the dancers pushed their bodies to the limit, especially during the one part when one basically jumped over the other’s head. It takes so much skill and so much practice, and then so much composure to carry that out on stage. I also loved how some of the moves could still be playful and receive a bit of a laugh or a shock. It was really an enlivening dance. With the “Minus 16” dance, I enjoyed how informal it felt and how welcoming the dancers were towards the audience. It took me a while to even realize that the performance had begun. I honestly thought the man in front of the curtain was like one of those award show hosts that entertains the audience while the next performers get ready. But that inclusivity of the audience during the performance carried out through the end. During this performance, I realized how much voice contribute to dance. Dance performances can actually incorporate vocals alongside body movements; there’s no rule that says it can’t. That was something I’ve rarely seen if ever.

There was simply a feeling of good energy by the end of the night. I feel like that’s just something that dance evokes in people.

A Tree Grows in Queens

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This photo is the tree that grows in front of my house. This tree was planted when my youngest sister was born, making it around 14 years old and also the youngest on the block.

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I have no idea what kind of tree this is, but every year it is always the first tree on our block to change colors. This tree represents a changing of the seasons, that transitions so seamlessly and elegantly. Just by looking at a tree, you are able to tell what season it is; if it is bare, colorful, budding, or clothed in leaves.

I was home alone the whole weekend, so I spent it in my sisters’ room since it was bigger, and when I opened their blinds this explosion of color instantly hypnotized me. I was staring at a tree for about 5 minutes, just looking at it, standing there with the window blind chord still in my hand. When I snapped out of it, I took a look down the block and everything was still green. Quite an amazing contrast.

I was a bit nostalgic that day so I had spent it looking through childhood pictures since my whole family was out on a church retreat and I came home to an empty house. I went through all the baby pictures, from when it was just me and my older sister, to when my youngest sister was born. Our family kept growing and it was all a seamless transition from having only one sister, to now three, similar to this tree. This tree was planted the very same year my third sister, Acacia (ironically her name is a type of tree), was born. Every year, the tree grew significantly but we didn’t notice on a day to day basis until one of us pointed out that we were able to touch the top of the tree just last year, its growth was so seamless and unnoticeable. I didn’t notice how much all four of us had grown within the past 10 years. Maybe it was the air that day, the dark gloomy sky or just remembering how small the tree and all four of us were, but I really missed when all four of us sisters were at home together. My older sister and I are in college, leaving only two of us at home now, so there isn’t that daily commotion that used to pervade through our house. What was once a noisy and rambunctious daily life became a quiet one, and I really missed that. A new season of life started for me this year, and it came so quickly just like how this tree rushed to scream that fall was here, while the rest of the older trees seemed to want to enjoy summer longer. The older I get the more I want time to slow down.

–Chloe Chai

Man on a Fire Escape…

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Edward Hirsch’s “Man on a Fire Escape” captures a man who walks out onto his fire escape just in time to witness (a factory?) explode. Vivid descriptions abound for every part of that night, from the sunset coloring the sky to the flames warping the sky into many colors. I hope the people in and near the factories live. How why does this happen? Why did it happen today and not yesterday? Did someone bomb the place? Did the synthetic dye get adulterated with an acid? a sunset. (Tricky, tricky!) The key here was the phrase “almost unnaturally”—the day brightened; the factories burst into flame; the trees and shrubs, as well; the shadows of pedestrians, too; storefronts and cars and steel girders collapsing (disappearing) into the polluted waves—almost unnaturally.

Room of Return…

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Galway Kinnell’s “Room of Return” depicts someone returning from somewhere back to his home in West Manhattan. He describes his previous life, the view—both far and near, the sounds he hears, and his security surrounded by all these things. (“shelled by the dirty sea.”)

Fall For Dance

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I should start this by admitting that I know very little about dance, especially what makes professional dance good. I also went into this event expecting to dislike the majority of the performances, and “Concerto” did little to dispel these expectations. I found Lucinda Childs’s “Concerto” to be overly repetitive, as both the music and the dance seemed to loop. Fortunately, the rest of the performances were very entertaining. “Neue Suite” by Semperoper Ballett Dresden was a great performance because each segment was slightly different. The segments seemed to work from more classical ballet to more modern ballet, as both the dance and the music progressed. “AP15” by Sebastien Ramirez and Honji Wang was an outstanding display of chemistry. Both Ramirez and Wang were so in sync and were able to express a story through their dance. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s “Minus 16” was the most interesting performance because it was not a conventional dance. I felt this performance was designed entirely to convey a deeper message. While the other performances likely tried to convey messages of their own, they seemed more focused on sticking to a more conventional dance style. I would have to say my favorite performance on the night was “Neue Suite” because each segment was slightly different from the one before and each one took an incredible amount of skill.

Anthony Cacchione

Experiences with dance at The New York City Center

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Lucinda Childs Dance Company : CONCERTO

Professor Drabik, I apologize for my abrupt, extreme, unqualified statement that the music accompanying the first dance was horrible. I took the time to listen to a recording of a 1980 performance of Mr. GĂłrecki’s concerto today. I admire the overwhelming volume of the orchestra and the ceaseless fugue on the harpsichord. There’s passion expressed in this music, and it is expressed well. I also discovered what I heartily, passionately disliked about how the dance group handled this passionate piece of music. It sounded like they took a snippet of it and choppily and glaringly looped it. Was it intentional, a workaround for an unexpected failure, or simply a lack of attention to the music? I suspect it was intentional, but then why?

Here’s a demonstration of the choppy looping they did:

I hope you now understand why I was disgusted with the music–not because of the musical content, but rather because of how it was arranged / excerpted.

Semperoper Ballett Dresden : NEUE SUITE

I saw in this performance a progression from classical to modern dance. I can see the emphasis it placed on physical interaction by the sinuous movement of the first dancers.

SĂ©bastien Ramirez & Honji Wang : AP15

This is the dance that I have no reservations about. Everything flowed naturally–the music was smooth and the pair of dancers were fluid. I haven’t seen many forms of dance before; all the performances I saw yesterday are new to me. This dance, however, caught my attention more than all of the others before it because of the complexity and the precise execution of the choreography. It was great.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater : MINUS 16

“The illusion of beauty
The fine line between madness and sanity
The coexistence of fatigue and elegance”

Is the nonconformist insane or sane?
I noticed that as the anthem wore on and the nonconformist kept falling over, the music developed more and more of a minor chord in its undertones. I think that symbolizes some kind of degeneration. So, which group is mad, the conformists to a degenerating system or the nonconformist? Or, is this a false dichotomy–in which case both groups could be insane to different extents?

I’m really interested in delving into the political undertones of this performance. It was completely hidden from my eyes while I watched the scene unfold. How clever!

Fall for Dance at New York City Center

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When I first saw the syllabus, this was something I definitely looked forward to. I always loved to watch people dance. Whether it was the street performers on the subway or impressive YouTube videos. Despite all of that, I was really exposed to dance by my friend who majored in Dance throughout high school and now a Theater major in Taiwan. She loved to dance and took master classes during her whole entire stay in the U.S. with my family. She is trained in modern, ballet, classical, Chinese opera, lyrical and jazz, and even choreographed many of her dance troupe’s performances. She would take any opportunity to dance. We would walk down the street and turn around to she her pirouette-ing or leaping or just moving her body in anyway that doesn’t resemble normal walking.

She taught me a lot about how disciplined dancers have to be. She would start classes at 7:00am and leave at around 9:00pm, or even later if there was a performance approaching. For the entire performance, even if I didn’t understand what the dancers were trying to portray, I was utterly amazed at what they could do with their bodies and thinking back to what my friend told me. These dancers pushed their bodies past breaking points and have achieved so much to be on the stage.

Dance is very much intertwined with the dances and choreography styles of each performance. The music that left the most impact on me was Lucinda Childs Dance Company’s Concerto performance. It had really jarring music that wasn’t my taste, but I can understand why the choreographers had chosen them. The music I enjoyed the most accompanied Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s performance of Minus 16. The music was fun, simple, and soulful.

What I also learned from my friend is the importance of lighting. Her dance troupe would always hire a different lighting designer to come and create the lighting for their specific dance. The way body movements looked in different lightings were extremely important, and even the mood of the dance is partially through the lighting. This was clearly seen in Minus 16, it was bright and well-lighted when they took audience members on-stage to dance with them, creating a really cheerful mood along with their ridiculous body movement. But in the dance when they were chanting, the lighting was from above and cast a shadow over their bodies as they were crouched over, because they wanted to create an intense mood.

The highlight of that night was seeing Sebastian Ramirez and Honji Wang outside the building after their performance. The large crowd was already gone and Sebastian Ramirez and Honji Wang were just talking to their friends. I had to get a picture with them, so I did!

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and then the rest of the class decided to photobomb.

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And a shoutout to my friend Sarah who came with us to the performance!

 

 

 

Man on a Fire Escape

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The question I have from the poem, “Man on a Fire Escape”, is why the man went out onto the fire escape. Even the man himself cannot recall why he left his bedroom in order to enter onto the fire escape. It does not seem anything special about the evening brought him outside, as “It was just an ordinary autumn twilight”. While it certainly seems insignificant, if the man does not go out to the fire escape then there is no poem. If he never goes outside, there is no ambiguous ending because he probably never sees the same images, certainly not the same way he does from the fire escape.

Room of Return

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In the poem, “Room of Return”, I cannot figure out why the character ever left his apartment. By the way he describes the room, it is clear he did not take his things when he left, so how could he have left for years without taking his belongings? While I cannot figure out why he left his apartment, it seems like he returns to the room because he sees something new in his city. As the second to last line shows, “Tiny glimmer again in this city,” the character sees new hope in his city.