Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
Baryshnikov @ Doug Varone‘s Dense Terrain at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ha ha, I know it’s only the back of his head, but I swear it’s him! Was sitting two rows down from me!! Interesting performance, not sure what to make of it… but it was very thought-provoking and full of meaning, interesting movement, dealt with difficulties of communication through language, was very dramatic, violent in parts, provocative music, somewhat political but not obviously so and message was not simplistic, used multimedia, reminded me a bit of Forsythe…
Once a few years ago my friend Raffy and I were walking across Lincoln Center Plaza and we saw Baryshnikov coming our way.
I said to Raffy: ‘Oh…it’s Baryshnikov!’, To which Raffy replied: ‘Holy shit. Oh, my god…should we say hello to him?’ Misha was getting closer. ‘I dunno…I think stars like their privacy.’ ‘Yeah, maybe we should just let him pass by’ At which point Misha drew even with us and called out a cheery ‘Hello!’…
Oh that’s so funny, Philip. Last night, there were a few giggles; he just kind of looked around at the few people around him, acknowledged that people were acknowledging him and kind of smiled and nodded as if to tell people to go back to what they were doing and never mind him! It’s probably hard being famous… 🙂
but more news… I think I saw Angel tonight on my way home from the ballet!!! I looked at him and he looked right back at me and smiled, but I’m shy, so I just kept going (quickly) on my way!
The NY TIMES today totally blasted the Varone piece.
I saw Varone’s choreography for the Met’s production of LES TROYENS a few years ago and it was awful: shallow and tedious.
Angel used to come into the store quite often when I worked at Tower…he is a really nice guy, very down-to-earth, and when people would go up to greet him he was extremely friendly and kind.
Thanks for the heads up, I’m gonna look for the Times article now. To be honest, I didn’t really get it, but thought there was something to “get” if I thought about it hard, and perhaps wasn’t so tired… which is why I didn’t really write my usual longish “review” of it. Highlight was definitely seeing Misha!
Oh, I soooo believe Angel is a sweetie! He just looks so nice and open and approachable the couple of times I’ve seen him in public. He just has this face that kind of reaches out to you no matter how far away you literally are from him; it’s uncanny — probably why he’s so famous 🙂