Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

I absolutely loved the ballet. It was my first time ever seeing one and I’m so grateful I got the chance to. Ballet has always seemed so boring to me. I always imagined it with little passion, just a show of specific moves. But now I get it. Now I understand that ballet is about pure beauty, the ideal human form.

It reminded me of classical Greek art. The Greeks, and the Romans after them, were in pursuit of the ideal human form. Polykeitos’ Spear Bearer, Da Vinci’s Vitruvius Man’ Michelangelo’s David: all were striving for that ideal human form. And that’s what ballet is about. These people sculpt their bodies and make them do impossible things in the most graceful way. The limited number of specific moves is for a very important reason: those moves are specifically designed to show the human body at its best.

When the dancers raised their arms like a contrappasto statue, they were gorgeous. Their form was absolutely stunning. during the first intermission Elizabeth asked me what I thought and without even thinking I replied it made me want to cry of beauty. It was like seeing a gorgeous Van Gogh (who, by the way, has made me cry on more than one occasion). The dancers were so beautiful. And through their hard work I could see the passion in it all. That even though it was so set in stone, even though there was no room for interpretation or change, it was beautiful And passionate.

The 9-11 Memorial is absolutely gorgeous. It is so grounded, so massive, so simple, and so magnificent. You can’t help but feel something in the presence of all those names lining two waterfalls where the World Trade Center buildings once stood.

I think part of the reason the memorial is so powerful is because it envelopes all of your senses. You can see exactly where the buildings were. You can see the names, feel each and every name of each and every person that lost their life. You feel the breeze, the water spraying up onto your face from down below. The sound of the constant falling water takes you out of time, out of place, and envelopes you. It forces you, in the most gentle, unassuming way possible, to reflect, to be silent, and to feel.

The massiveness of the whole thing is also very awe inspiring. Those huge basins full of water and the endless pit in the centers of both really impact you. I felt like the buildings were falling. I could feel the emptiness above me where two buildings full of people should have been. That falling water is like the buildings forever falling.

And I know we could all feel it. We were all so taken by the memorial. And when we saw a woman’s name and “her unborn child” I know we all felt that loss. When a memorial can do that to so many different people, it is definitely a successful memorial.

Our trip to the Ballet was incredible. I’ve been to a few ballets in my life as well as modern dance, but this one really blew me away. I was really moved by the first piece. It was so perfect, so refined and graceful. I was actually brought to tears by how beautiful the dancers were–they managed to be energetic and full of life yet at the same time peaceful, at ease, and absolutely radiating poise and perfection. It was like watching a flower bloom before my eyes. I felt that using the binoculars to focus in on one or a few dancers added a tremendous amount to my experience of watching the dancers. I liked being able to see their individual faces and small imperfections with their moves (although VERY rare). There are no other words to describe that performance other than beautiful and graceful.

The second piece, although perhaps not as perfectly wonderful and beautiful, I enjoyed a lot anyway because of the storyline. I thought it was great how they were able to show so much emotion and character using only their bodies. And the set was phenomenal. I literally gasped when the curtain came up because I was not expecting such a lavish, beautiful set.

The last piece had a lot going on, which was wonderful. I liked that the costumes were very simple so that you could focus a lot more on the choreography itself rather than the costumes. I loved the duets. You could tell that these people worked for so long and rehearsed this piece so many times that they were probably sick to death of it, but they still managed to make it look so natural and spontaneous. It’s almost hard to believe that these dancers actually had to learn this choreography, and that it wasn’t just second nature to them! It truly takes an immense amount of skill and practice to achieve such a level of grace and perfection.

Thursday night’s ballet performance was the first one I’ve ever been to. Out of all the Macaulay events we’ve attended, this one was my favorite. The way they all moved their bodies in ways I didn’t think were possible and the fact that they were all in sync adds to the amazement. For the past 4 years of high school, I was part of the multi-cultural dance performance. The hardest part of the performance wasn’t learning the steps but getting everyone in sync, so the fact that ALL the performers were in perfect motion with each other added to my amazement.
I really loved the first act. The classical ballet dancing at a ball, with a king and queen, and nobles was absolutely breathtaking. The costumes were amazing. Also, whenever the women looked they were standing still, they really weren’t. They were moving their feet and standing on their toe for quite some time.
The second performance was just ok for me. I think it’s amazing that they can tell a story through body movement and no verbal speech, but I didn’t like the story that much.
The third one was interesting because i believe it was more modern. However, I don’t think i enjoyed it as much as i did the first one. The first one was marvelous.
The overall ballet experience was amazing and I would love to attend another one. I believe dance is the best form of art and the ballet proved it for me.

Thursday’s visit to the ballet was an incredible experience. Before attending the ballet, I never respected dance very much, especially not ballet. I never thought their job was particularly difficult from all other dancers i’ve seen. But boy was I wrong. From the first performance, “Themes and Variations”, I was mesmerized by the performance. The costumes were amazingly designed, as well as the set. But I was truly blown away by the dancers. The whole performance, I was intently looking through my binoculars at each dancer, looking at how they moved. They moved with a precision I have never seen. The dancers were incredibly in sync with one another. What was more was the pure athleticism of each dancer. They had an amazing balance of strength, and balance, combined with elegance and grace. Looking through the binoculars, I could see the dancers sweating profusely by the end of the first piece, but they never showed it, and always had a calm demeanor on their face. By the end of the first piece, I was thoroughly engrossed in the performance, and couldn’t wait for the rest of the performances, all of which were just as powerful and beautiful as the last.