The Arts in New York City

Entering college, entering this class, I could only think “‘Arts in NY?’  Are you serious?  Is this really a class?”  I love the arts, but I couldn’t fathom spending three hours a week studying it.  Thankfully this class put my fears to rest quickly.  I looked forward to seeing the exhibits and performances ever since we saw the series of Israel Horowitz plays in August.  The performance that affected me the most was Contes D’ Hoffman.  Before taking this course I had never seen an opera in my life and I’m afraid that I used to judge the opera based on the stereotypical image that was always portrayed.  You know, the one of the fat lady belting out high notes in a foreign language dressed in some weird costume.  In fact one of the first times I ever even saw something remotely close to an opera song was in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

I can say that Contes D’Hoffman was better than the Bugs Bunny opera cartoon (but only by a little, cause seriously, not much beats out the the wabbit).

So Contes D’Hoffman was an experience I’ll never forget, mostly because it opened my eyes to a different form of art.  I never would have gone on my own to see an opera, but now I can honestly say that the show has taught me not to prejudge art and that it’s okay to like opera.  The actors, the scenery, the costumes and of course, the music made the show a unique and entertaining story.  Even if we sat at the back of the room and needed to squint to see what was going on, it was worth it.

Now, I know I’m supposed to talk about which performance I was least affected by, but there’s a problem with that.  Sadly (or thankfully?) I didn’t get to see everyone’s least favorite performance of the semester, the dance piece by Ralph Lemon.  At the class after the performance I was lost, stuck listening to comments about a crying woman and animals.  And it sounded like the whole performance made no sense (well it sounded like that to me).  So I guess technically this performance affected me the least because I didn’t see it… Just kidding, ya I didn’t see it, but to say that it was the least affecting performance would be taking the easy road.  I think the exhibit “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players”affected me least because I felt disconnected from the exhibit.  I saw the photos, but they didn’t seem to really strike me in any way.

If I could have seen the Ralph Lemon piece I would have been more satisfied with this blog, because then I’d have at least those two to contrast.  But sadly I didnt’t and I can’t take back what’s already happened.  I can only look back and remember fondly the dancing doll, the menacing villain, the man with broken heart and his beautiful muse.

To have this topic as the “last” blog seems sour to me. Why should we find what is the most or least of something? All the performances and exhibits influenced us in their own unique ways. They all had something to express. Each expressed different ideas and some shared similar ideas. Talking about this reminds me of today.

After the snapshot event, I met up with a few of my fencing teammates at a ramen restaurant. We were talking about food and why they won’t eat pork or lamb and such. It struck me that each person experiences food different so we cannot fully compare ourselves to one another. Personally, I am fine with eating a lot of different foods. I am open to trying new things, but I do have my limits. For them, they have limits because of what they think or because of their beliefs. So for me, I cannot really compare the different performances and exhibits. No, I am not finding a way out of writing this blog. I am purely stating my opinion on it.

Rather I feel that the blog could have been a topic of our choice that related to the performances and exhibits as a whole. I find that more pleasing because, personally, I don’t think that this class is really ending. It is more of a beginning that exposes us to the city and the following seminars will further expose us to other ideas in the city and the world. That will be the topic that I will write about.

Every exhibit and performance was influential in many different ways: Andy Warhol and celebrity life, Jacques Offenbach (composer) and… love, Ralph Lemon and… expressing himself, Leon Levinstein and people, Israel Horovitz and racism, and the rest. Okay, the examples aren’t that great because they are very simplistic. If I went into depth, I would exhaust my brain. The brain is not meant for thinking, that is why we yawn (but I do not yawn much, somehow it is suppressed which is not good). Anyway, each performance has influenced me and as a whole they made me see the world in a lot more perspectives than I did before. Before, I viewed the world as cynical and horrible (in light terms) and humans as foreign and bestial (I, too, am a human, but I do not mind). I was really negative on the world and people, in general. But after experiencing all the shows, I am slowly understanding a bit more about life and its troubles. I can’t just bottle the ideas up in a small container. They need to grow and change. As I have grown and changed, my views of the world do the same and my understandings. Nothing is a simple, one-word answer. Everything is complex even though we may not want it to be.

This seminar was complex in itself because it made us think and ask questions. We had to voice our opinions and support them. The great thing is that we weren’t restricted on what we said which is something different because there is always a borderline. Even though we were given this freedom, I felt that we didn’t utilize it to its full extent because we were afraid of hurting others. But there can be other reasons why the freedom wasn’t utilized. We all fear something, like in Taxi Driver. I remember writing in a previous blog that we are all fueled by fear. I hope someday we will be able to break free from this sense of fear. I think the artists we have seen do not fear as much as we do because they are able to freely express themselves, especially Ralph Lemon.

In the end, (well, not really) I feel that there was a lot to take away from this seminar. All the experiences and people were great. I was glad in partaking of this journey. Now it is time to continue moving forward while taking what I’ve learned here with me. Mmmm… cake is a good thing to have to end the day. Ahahaha! This is exhilarating. Thank you, Professor Healey for these blogs. Even though I felt that they can be troublesome a few times, I am grateful for them.  By the way, there is no cake >;D

The most effective performance for me was “The Tales of Hoffman.”  I didn’t understand the cultural or social implications of the story, but I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.  Art’s main purpose to entertain, and “The Tales of Hoffman” could not have accomplished this purpose any better.  I loved the music the singers and musicians were amazing.  The set design was spectacular, and the story was great.  I was laughing one moment, and sad the next.  This up and down emotional ride is a big part of what makes going to a performance a great experience.  Real life has difficulty providing ups and downs of emotion.  Art is all about it.

It also affected me in that my enjoyment of it will lead me to go to the Opera in the future.  In class, we learned that the opera is struggling to gain a new audience.  The Opera is attended by an older generation.  Eventually,  this generation will no longer be able to attend the Opera.  As a result, the Opera must try to appeal to the younger people.  “The Tales of Hoffman” accomplished this goal.  It had cross-generational appeal which will likely help to bring in new audiences.  This Opera was unlike anything I had ever seen, and that factor will bring me back.  It was also very different than I expected.  I had preconceived notions, likely due to the typical audience that Opera was boring and antiquated.  The is the opposite of the truth.  Opera is fun and exciting, and enjoyable to even the most modern audiences.

In contrast, “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players” couldn’t have had less effect.  There was nothing bad about it, it just did not evoke any response from me.  To me, it just looked like a bunch of pictures of people doing normal things.  This may have been the point, I’m not sure, but I just couldn’t find any entertainment, political, or social value to the exhibit.

My lack of appreciation for this particular exhibit may be the love of excitement which so attracted me to the Opera.  I like art that is big, loud, and powerful.  “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players” had none of these aspects.  I don’t even really know what to say about the exhibit because it did nothing for me.  I guess there is something to be said for the fact that the art was about ordinary people, but that’s not what I’m looking for in art.  I see ordinary people all the time.  If I want to see Hipsters I can just go to Brooklyn or Montclair (a place I spend a lot time).  If I want to see handball players, I can go to a number of schoolyards within walking distance of my home.  To see hustlers, I need to just visit a pool hall.  The rest of the photography was just of people doing regular things, and this I can see anywhere.  I want art to make me say “wow!” and this exhibit did not.

I know this is how everyone has started their blogs this week, but it must be said: Wow, I can’t believe the semester is over and this is my last blog. I feel it was literally yesterday that I was trying to figure out what Professor Healey wanted me to write in a review of The Indian Wants the Bronx. I remember struggling to structure my blog correctly and make the blog flow in the way I wanted it to.

After that I remember, week after week, feeling so impassioned during a performance we attended that I would outline my blog in my head as the performance was going on.

The opera especially, I vividly remember sitting in that performance and being so entranced, yet simultaneously trying to focus on the things that inspired me so I could write about them.

Because of this class, I think about every piece of art, every movie, every play and every performance, I read or view. I think about them not just in terms of “Oooh I really like this” or “Oh man, I do not like this” but rather, I peel off the first layer and look deeper.

Every performance has been beneficial in teaching me how to see things, to really SEE things, for more than they appear to be. This class has broadened my perspective on many political and social issues. But most of all, it has forced me to question the fundamentals of art and the person behind the art.

Who is this artist? Why is he creating? Who is he creating for?

Once again this is expected, but the performance that effected me the most was, drumrolll please, Ralph Lemon’s creation.

His performance affected me the most because it was his performance that fundamentally questioned my view of art, and dance.

While watching it, I had to think: Is this a movie? Is this a play? Is this a dance number? Or, does this performance perhaps not fit into any one category that I can think of. The performance was essentially a microcosm of what I just spoke about, thinking about art in a radically different way than I was ever used to.

Ralph Lemon’s performance was considered challenging, but why?

I think the answer to this is the fact that it made people question the parameters they have set up in their minds and deeply think about the thoughts that have been stamped into their train of thought, before they even began thinking.

Personally, it made me question the way I view things, it made me think about beauty and dance, and right and wrong.

What makes something beautiful?

Why do certain pieces seem beautiful and right, while other ugly and wrong?

These questions can go on forever, but what I think is important is the fact that Ralph dared to be different. He had the courage to think outside of what is expected, and truly create something unique. Is that not how all-innovative creations are created? They are done by people who step outside the comfort zone in a labyrinth of creative possibilities.

Because of this performance I will never think of dance in the same way again. I will really never think of anything the same again after this class: dance, theatre, photography, art, opera, and film…

This class has encouraged me to think about everything with a critical eye. This is what makes it so hard for me to pick a performance that was least effective. I really found something positive about everything we saw and experienced. They were really all enjoyable to me.

I guess I would have to say, Kissing Fidel and War, were the two least effective for me. It is because, unlike the movies or performances or exhibits, it was simply something we read, and there was less life to them. But then you could say that Metal Children and Ruined were also written plays.

Perhaps the fact that they were mostly, simply, dialogue made them less enjoyable to me. There was no engaging story line. If they happened to be plays than each would mostly take place in one simple scene the entire time. But the again, Little Foxes was basically the same setting the entire time.

It is harder to think of why something is bad than why something was enjoyable…

I think if a performance or an exhibit lingers in your mind long after it is over, it had made an impression. Just the fact that I reference the performances I enjoyed in this class in other classes, means they have made an impact on the way I think and have influenced my life. To be honest, I forgot we had even read War and Kissing Fidel. That is the number one reason why I consider them to be less effective. They did not linger more than a day, while Ralph Lemon’s performance still lingers inside of me EVEN today.

RUINED definitely was the piece that affected me most this semester. I think the reason why it was so powerful was because it was so real. Unlike The Metal Children or Little Foxes (which I enjoyed very much), Ruined was based on real people. It wasn’t just another fictional piece. It was real and instead of being set in the past, it was about an issue facing women living in this decade. Another reason why ruined was so powerful for me was because there are a few women I know and am very close to who are also victims of sexual crimes. The shame that women who are sexually attacked face from their families and from themselves is overwhelmingly powerful. It is amazing how one terrible event can alter someone’s life, reputation, and self-image forever.

While Ruined affected me the most, it wasn’t my favorite piece we studied this semester. The illustrious title of the “favorite” would have to go to Contes de Hoffman. The music was fantastic, and while I had no clue what was happening as far as the plot went, I loved it! I think I enjoyed it so much because of the magic of the experience. The elaborate costumes, bright lights, and lush velvet curtains all made Contes de Hoffman a “real” show.  Instead of looking for a profound message, I could sit back relax and enjoy the show. I could simply be entertained.

The runner up for the “favorite” had to be Fahrenheit 9/11. In spite of its heavy political agenda, I loved it almost as much as I loved Contes de Hoffman. I’ve never been the type of person who followed politics. I don’t read the paper or watch the news on a regular basis, mostly because politics has the same effect on my brain, as would aggressively prodding it with a red-hot poker. Michael Moore somehow, probably through his use of humor, managed to make politics interesting in his documentary. The fact that it held my interest is a testament to its outstanding quality as both a form of entertainment and as an educational piece.  I’m a pretty tough critic, which is why I intend to slaughter my choice for least effective piece of “art” viewed this semester: How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Outside?

The Ralph Lemon Dance performance was PAINFUL to sit through. While I had no clue what was happening in Contes De Hoffman, at least the music and talent of the opera singers could be appreciated. The Ralph Lemon Performance however had no redeeming qualities. This performance had no elaborate costumes, no music, and no talent or skill required to perform aside from maybe stamina. I suppose not many people could wiggle around aimlessly on the floor for more than 15 minutes without being bruised and out of breath. Ralph Lemon’s “social experiment” of sorts did not make me feel anything except conned. Luckily I hadn’t spent any money on seeing the performance, but still I feel that the Ralph Lemon performance had stolen something much more precious than my money: It had stolen approximately two hours of my time.