THE ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY Fall 2017 | Baruch College | Macaulay Honors

First I’d just like to say how grateful I am that we got to go to this performance. I had an English paper due the next morning that I needed to do, and I got stuck on the train on the way over because the power was out on the Manhattan bridge and I was really not feeling like going to a fancy performance but I changed my mind once it started. The first performance was really cool, although I wish that I had had a better understanding of the story/context. I used to go to Broadway shows fairly often when I was a kid because my grandpa did lighting for them and would get free tickets, but I haven’t been to many in the past 5 years and I forgot how magical it can be to see a live performance. I like to concentrate on a particular actor and thinking about how intentional all of their movements are, how every movement they make has been rehearsed so many times.

I liked the second part, Rites of Spring better than Café Müller because it was more visually appealing. I didn’t really need to understand the story to appreciate watching it. It was so cool to see how through the performance the people in dresses got dirtier and sweatier until the crepe material they were wearing was nearly transparent. I think that it maybe had something to do with how women are considered “dirtier” the more sexually active they are, but men (the people in pants) are seen as strong and powerful the more sexually active they are.

Anyways it was a really incredible show and I’m so glad that we got to go.

As I entered the BAM theatre, I was taken aback by how beautiful the ceiling was. The art work in the bar was also so amazing. It looked so lively. When I sat down, I felt as though I would fall face front. We were so high, and it seemed so steep. I found myself constantly leaning forward to watch the show. It made me feel on edge. In all honesty, I did not enjoy “Café Muller”. I do not like repetition in my life. I do not like feeling like I am doing the same thing every day, I do not like hearing the same words repeated to me, and I do not like to repeat myself. The repetition in this piece almost made me want to close my eyes and go to sleep. The description itself claims that the piece centers around “perpetual disappointment”. I know that the piece is about a sleepwalker, but I think it resembled more of an asylum. The man in the all black suit reminded me of an asylum-keeper who wanted all the patients to act in the “same orderly fashion”. It was quite eerie to me. Also, when I heard the man and woman continuously hit each other on the wall, I could feel their pain. Their internal and external pain must have been very exhausting especially since it was perpetual pain and disappointment. In stark contrast, I enjoyed “The Rites of Spring”. As I saw all the performers were dressed in the same neutral tone it brought several ideas to my head. The first thought that crossed my head was of as short film I watched in high school. This film put animals that kept following each other side by side to busting humans in a train station. The point of the film was to show us how humans are always so similar to each other. Our actions and movements are quite unoriginal at times. When we are all running around in the subway catching our trains, we all basically look the same. If it were not for physical appearance, what would be the difference between us humans and the lamb? Furthermore, does that have anything to do with us also being animals? The second thought that I had was similar to the first. I read an article once speaking of how people, especially teenagers, tend to wear the same things. This has never been truer. Although, we do not have a uniform we are uniformed. We all have our Nikes and Adidas in the same color all in the name of “fashion” and “trends”. However, what are we besides branding tools? Back to the ballet, the theme of uniformity continued as men and women were in separate groups dancing in sync. There were no direct differences between these people. Then, there was a hot pink object in the center. This object seemed to bring fear and curiosity. Then, the object changed one of the women from being a part of the uniform clan. This part intrigued me as it related so much to our current situation in society. Men flaunt the concept of virginity as if it is a prize. It also displayed the notion that if someone wanted to, were forced to, or were naturally different, they would be ostracized by society. This is evidently why most people choose to stay in the perpetual cycle of unoriginality and similarity.

Darkness. That’s the first thing I recall about our visit to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Thursday night.

I remember walking in to a very crowded lobby, trying to fight my way into an elevator, locating my seat, and the lights being switched off. As per standard performance procedure, a few seconds passes before the show starts. However, in this instance, I think a minute or more may have gone by.

Nothing was happening. Everyone was just sitting in anticipation. I was growing impatient. It was awkward.

And then suddenly, light appeared. Slowly but surely, the stage became visible. We were now looking at a series of randomly placed tables and chairs.

That’s what all the suspense was for? Really?

I was less than impressed, but as time passed I realized that the simplicity of the set wasn’t really what was important.

The main purpose was to pay attention to the dancers, so that’s exactly what I did. I noticed a lot of repetition in their movements. Maybe too much repetition for my taste? But I also noticed a lot of raw emotion, and that captivated me.

While the performers movements were insanely abstract – throwing each other against a wall, falling off of chairs, rolling on the floor – they conveyed a sense of want and desperation. They conveyed earnest desire.

Next, was intermission. It was a nice twenty-five minutes to talk to my classmates and get a sense of what their impressions were. From what I gathered, most of them were mildly confused. Which, in all honesty, so was I. I saw the emotion but I was still having some trouble piecing the storyline together.

Then intermission ended and I became slightly more baffled than before. The stage was now entirely covered with dirt and a group of approximately 20 female dancers were standing on it. They were all dressed in these sheer slips and standing in a circle around a single red garment.

The performance progressed and male dancers joined the stage. Through their actions, we could see an internal battle of self-control taking place. The whole idea of this piece was to demonstrate a sexual awakening. The men and women kept advancing towards each other and then retreating. It was as if they wanted to give in to their desire but something was holding them back.

In the end, one of the females did give in. She changed out of her sheer slip and into the red garment and ended up in the arms of the lead male dancer.

Desire won over.

Overall, I have to say I didn’t really enjoy the performance. I was too busy trying to figure out what exactly was going on. However, I did appreciate the commitment of the performers. To get up on stage and do what they did takes a lot of courage and a lot of skill.

Just because I wasn’t the biggest fan, doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t thoroughly enjoy it.

-Alyssa Motilal

Arriving at BAM, I feel like a lot of us had little to no idea what to expect. Reading the Rites of Spring still left a lot of questions on what exactly we would be viewing and how it would make us feel / what we might think. Standing outside of BAM waiting to enter, I couldn’t help but appreciate how beautiful the building was. The building was older but still architecturally aesthetic. It had modern lighting and a nice welcoming feel to it.

Getting to our seats was a mess. There were crowds of people moving in every direction, and little to no guidance on where to go to get to our seats. We had to pack into such small elevators which reminded me of the Field building at Baruch! Our seats were high up but actually provided a good view of 90% of the stage. The seats were small and compact, but I expected that.

The feeling in the room was very…mature. The people around us all seemed very intelligent just by the way they dressed and the conversations I was hearing around me. Everyone seemed to have a deeper understanding of what we would be seeing. When the show started, I enjoyed the music a lot despite not always understanding the meaning behind everything. The music was able to indicate the emotions of the characters, and could make us feel excited or fearful, when necessary.

The actual dance left me thinking a lot about what was happening. It seemed like a love story at some moments, and other times it felt like an awakening. Café Müller felt like the characters were stuck in a cycle in which they could not escape. There were physical obstacles in their way the entire time, keeping them from achieving their individual goals. The Rites of Spring, however, felt like an awakening of emotions or a revolution in a way. There was a lot of tension in both acts, and I wasn’t always sure of why. It was very dramatic and sometimes drawn out, because nothing seemed to be progressing in any way, and if the point was for there to be a lack of progress, it had already been established. Both had a very distinct dynamic between male and female. There was never any real similarities between male characteristics and behavior, and female characteristics and behavior. I felt like I was being constantly bombarded with new things to think about and comprehend, and it was difficult to take in entirely, to say the least. Overall, I enjoyed trying to understand the show, and wish it made a little more sense.

As I entered the BAM Theater, I did not know what to expect. I have never been to an opera house before so walking into that beautiful opera house had me awestruck. On my way up the elevator, we stopped on the mezzanine level and there were spectacular lights and food displays that looked very high class. As we reached our balcony seating, I looked up and saw that the ceilings of the theater were amazingly high and the details of the architecture on the walls were beautiful. Soon enough the lights dimmed and the First Act began. The First Act was genuinely confusing to me. Even after doing the reading and trying to make sense of what was going on, I was still very confused. The man and woman who seemed to be the main focuses of the dance were repeatedly running into chairs, the walls and each other. The interpretive dancing could relate to the dynamic of a relationship, which is the only connection I could really make. The First Act was very confusing to me and I am not sure that I enjoyed it very much.

The Second Act of the show began after a half an hour intermission. During the intermission, you got a sneak peak of the show because they had to set the stage for the dancing. Large dumpsters full of dirt were rolled onto the stage and spilled onto the floor. Once the stage was set, the dancers came out. This half of the show was much more appealing to me. I found there to be a story behind the dancing and the red dress that the men and women were fighting over. They started off the dance being afraid of the red dress but soon enough embraced it and wanted to be in possession of it. One woman eventually became in complete possession of it and became the focus of the dance. The music and dancing created a very intense atmosphere that I enjoyed very much and am thankful to have been a part of.

This was my first time in a opera house and I was awestruck with the number of people who were gathered around the BAM Opera House. Slowly making my way in allowing me to enjoy the large lobby and the warm environment that I felt when waiting to go up to the main event. Once I entered the main room, I couldn’t believe that this was exactly what I was seeing on TV. The scene was stunning and set the scene for what was to come. The architecture was beautiful and created a scene where I wasn’t in Brooklyn anymore. The seats were a bit high

The seats were a bit high up, but I guess that enabled me to see the choreography from a whole point of view and allowed me to enjoy the show from a distance. Although at some points when I stood up I felt I would fall off the balcony, that allowed me to understand that the performance wants to put its viewers on its tiptoes at all times. Café Müller had six distinctive disturbed and disturbing characters which appeared to be moving at all times and counterparts of another. At least three were blind due to their crashing into the chairs and tables. The claustrophobic environment where characters are flung across the floor by others who seem to have unlimited energy. The repetitive motions of slamming people into the wall and the facial expressions of the characters along with the organized yet seemingly unorganized motions create chaos along with unusual humor. Furthermore, this is the first time I was entertained through a lack of speech. The lack of speech was replaced my different music which created an even more disturbing and eyecatching scenes.

With a short break, I started to imagine the second show which I envisioned when reading about it prior to the show. The Rite of Spring begins with the setting of a scene of carefully placed dirt and allowed me to see how behind the scenes usually takes place. There was nothing spectacular about the dancing but as the show progressed I saw the story it was telling. Both men and women dancing in symphony in a constant battle to pair up and ultimately choose a sacrificial dancer. At first, I saw a red item that was passed around by all the girl dancers and created a mysterious thought of what the purpose of the item as if it constantly handed around all the dancers. This caught my attention and as soon I saw that it was a dress it allowed me to understand that it symbolized the fire that the women were dancing around and the girl was ultimately within in that fire as soon as she put it on. The captivating show was also speechless but there was intense music which wasn’t background noise but a part of the show. Both shows allowed me to view entertainment in a new lens and how stories could be told without speaking rather, with strict motions.

By: Alon Bezalel

As I took a seat in the theater, prior to the start of performances, I gazed in wonder at the soaring ceilings and incredibly detailed architecture. The building itself was some sort of haven located smack in middle of the metropolitan scene. As the the lights dimmed, silence ensued for quite sometime until Cafe Müller began. Initially, I was pretty confused by the dancers’ movements and I did not really understand the narrative of what the piece was trying to give over. But as the choreography progressed, and the music grew louder, I felt a certain compassion. I saw a girl and a boy fighting for something, I saw elements that stood against them. In sadness, I saw beauty. I saw fighting and I saw loss. But overall, I saw loyalty and courage, the courage to love and fight for it.

During intermission, my curiosity was piqued as several dumpsters of dirt were spread across the form, an art form in itself. But I wondered, where on Earth is this going? A few minutes later, when the Rite of Spring began, I was completely blown away. The tone of the second performance was so different than the first, not only in music, but in choreography and the number of dancers. They moved so in sync with each other, they became a unit. The contrast the red dress brought created a piece that truly touched me. The struggle to run and hide, and, ultimately, the loss and death that follows left an impression on me that was not soon lost. The entire experience was truly enlightening and amazing and I am so glad I had the opportunity to witness and be a part of it.

Running from the station, I finally made it to BAM panting and frantically looking for the ticket to get in. As I descended the steep carpeted steps, I finally sat down and observed my surroundings. From top to bottom, I admired the carved walls and ceiling. The intricate flowers and cathedral like carvings in the columns and ceiling ornaments. Once the lights finally went out and we were surrounded by darkness, I immediately felt a heightening in my senses. I strained to see and listen to any indication of the beginning of the act.

Finally, Café Muller began and I was immediately intrigued. As the act progressed, I was overwhelmed by all the emotions and symbolisms that were overflowing. I especially felt the sense of desperation and disappointment throughout the dance. Each character was desperately looking to find something whether that was love, acceptance, or some sense of belonging. These characters were then left with disappointment whether it was being rejected or finding themselves lost yet again looking for their purpose. Overall, I was shocked to see how much pure emotion was evoked from me from this piece.

Even before the Rites of Spring began, I was already anticipating the pure sense of aggression from the process of setting the stage. Once the piece started, the music gave off the very sense of brutality and aggression I anticipated in the beginning. The moves, poses, and exhales from the dancers expressed the primal and almost barbaric tone of the piece. Like Café Muller, I felt a great sense of desperation. I also felt the lust and anxiety from the stage as the dancers were determining who was to be the one to be sacrificed. Overall this piece felt very primal yet involved a lot of symbolism involving lust and the sense of shame revolving around expressing your sexuality and being sexual.

Claire Ng

Going to the BAM Opera House was truly an honor. The ambiance was royal. I felt like we were going to see Shakespeare sitting in the balcony near us and a king and queen on the other. The opera house was very beautiful and its structure was mesmerizing. We were on the balcony, which was basically the third floor. It was scary because the seats were very, very steep and the room between your legs and the next seat down was little to none.

The performance was actually two different shows, Café Müller was the first one and The Rite of Spring was the second. Café Müller was something I honestly wish I understood better. There were provocative and thought-provoking scenes, like when the two main characters would continuously bang into the walls and some people found that funny. However, I felt a grave and grim mood that disheartened me. The repetition and acceleration of some movements were really captivating, for example when the man would come and set up the characters to hold each other in a different way, and once he left the woman would fall. Many aspects of this part were interesting and I really wish I understood it better.

Simply said, The Rite of Spring blew my mind. From the dirt to the synchrony, to the diversity of the dancers and their identical demeanor, I was incredibly impressed. Everything about this performance was breath taking. Although, I came to the conclusion that the lack of dialogue in ballet made it really difficult for me to understand the storyline and the message, I felt all of the emotions through the music and the dancers. The whole time, I was enraptured by how hard their movements were and how easy they made it all seem. The final dance by the woman in the pink dress was marvelous. I was disappointed to hear people commenting the dress malfunction, because this occurred due to the dancer’s intense dedication and professionalism. Her job is so difficult and the art she masters is painful and exhausting. I felt very honored to watch the performers’ hard work and the final product. It was amazing.

Ellen Stoyanov

My experience attending BAM was a little frustrating at first. Leaving the 96th St. Baruch dorms at 5:45 should have landed me at the BAM steps at around 6:30. Thanks to an electric outage on the Manhattan bridge and train traffic at Canal, I got stuck on the nonmoving Q train for about 30 minutes. Once the train finally pulled into a station, it was already 6:45 and there was no sign of the train moving ahead. I made the decision to quickly run to the 6 train and later transfer to the 5. After sprinting to BAM from the Atlantic station, I finally arrived at 7:10 as everyone was entering the building. Getting up to the balcony seats involved a squished elevator and steep steps.

Once we were seated and the lights were out the show began. I was honestly confused by the first act. The setting reminded me of the coffee shop or maybe a restaurant. It seemed like the girl with the black hair wanted to be with the guy in the blue button down but a man was not allowing them to be together.  It also looked like the kid in the suit was protecting the couple from obstacles or dangers of running into the chairs. The dancing seemed to be a mix of ballet and interpretive dancing.

The second part was more interesting because it involved more people and it was more of a ballet. There was a lot more interaction and emotion between the dancers. There wasn’t much color throughout. This piece was also more aggressive and Both of the pieces were a little hectic and had several things going on at the same time. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with everything. Both also had a lot of repetitive movements.