Sky-View Bodies and Light

Today, after getting out of bed and working for a few hours, I went to Newark for Alvin Ailey. My $30 ticket had me sitting in a fourth-tier "box" seat. It wasn't a box. It was one of six chairs that had their own space stage left. But to get an idea of where I was sitting, humor me for a minute. Pretend you're sitting on the ground level. Are you there yet? Ok, now look straight up. See the ceiling? Ok, now without moving your head, look right. There I am. I must have been about 25 feet below the ceiling. When I took my seat, I looked over the railing, which was a mistake, because all I could think of was how much it would hurt if I fell. Well, yeah, it would hurt. I would die. I took the opportunity to get some sleep while I waited the half hour for the performance to start. No one was around me, so it was kind of nice. I had the whole area to myself. The lights dimmed and I watched Alvin Ailey dancers for the first time. I discovered something recently. I really enjoy watching dance. Really. I would never want to do it. I couldn't. But, it is so wonderful to watch these bodies move the way they do. I'm not literate in dance at all, so what I notice may be the most elementary elements. But I'm new to this. There's something about the control over one's body that these dancers possess that really inspires me. I don't want to blink. And at times today, I know I went extended times without doing so. As this was my first experience watching a complete performance, I didn't really know what to expect. From my bird's-eye perspective, I was able to get a different aspect of the performances I'm sure, although I'm certain I missed a lot being that far away. (I think I was sitting next to air-craft signals so planes wouldn't hit the place.) One thing I thought of while watching was how there seems to be no line between the music and the movement of the bodies. Who is controlling whom? I noticed this most when the music was really fast and it seemed like the dancers wouldn't be able to keep up, but with one quick movement here or there, they were going in another direction in total control of the music. Or was the music controlling them? I want more. That's all I know. So once I get a job, who knows when that'll be, I'm going to make an effort to really -- finally -- do New York. One of the things will be to follow dance. I love loving new things. I also had thoughts about dance and gender, but, as you may remember, I'm really tired, so I'm not even gonna try. I'm so tired that when I went for my last cup of coffee, I went to put the creamer in first. I'm sure some people do that, but I don't. Not an interesting tidbit, but a tidbit nonetheless. I could go on about this, as I wrote a number of reviews in my head while watching. Maybe another time. What's cool is that my advisor's sister is the director of the Alvin Ailey School. Wanting to write much more but lacking the energy to do so, I'm gonna go.