NYC is a place brimming with different ideas and opinions, fueled with excitement and unpredictability, and characterized for it’s uniqueness and creativity. All of which, my hometown of Valley Stream, certainly lacked. Going to the city, is always a breath of fresh air for me, because I never know what types of people I’m going to see or what I might encounter! It’s with this sense of excitement and anticipation that I traveled to Brooklyn to see Birds With Skymirrors.

Unlike most of my classmates, I absolutely adored the piece. One could argue that I might’ve loved it because I’m blind as bat or that my leaving during a particular scene in which a nearly clad man walked on stage enabled me to enjoy the performance. But I loved the whole atmosphere. I thought the music was hypnotic, the darkness entrancing, the choreography mysterious (again, might be since I can’t see that it was a mystery what they were doing), and the whole concept just captivating.

Birds with Skymirrors didn’t have to do with class, money, wealth or greed or any of the usual topics we discussed in class or saw in the other works; but I think it was the most truthful to New York City than the other works. It was crazy, loud, and unpredictable – everything I think of when I picture the city. Even though Leni Ponifasio isn’t a NYC native, he produced a work of art that I think embraces New York City is the realest light.

All that Birds With Skymirrors was, is essentially what I think NYC is made of. Here, you never know what’s going to happen, you could get mugged or you could see Jake Gyllenhaal! There might be a barefoot man walking on the sidewalk, or a robbery happening down the street. NYC is filled with creativity and uniqueness from its street musicians to its nightlife. And just like the performance, NYC is definitely loud!

The excitement, creativity and uniqueness that I always associate with NYC, took on a whole other level in Birds With Skymirrors. Whether you liked it or not, you can’t negate the fact that the dance piece unique and creative. All I could think of when leaving that performance was, “wow, that certainly was the weird part of NYC my mother warned me about.”