"Silent Rave" at Union Square

woah.
So i just got back from this "silent rave" thing at Union Square, and let me tell you sir,
woah.

The basic premise was that everyone would gather, each bringing their own iPod, or a splitter so they could share with someone at Union Square, and at 5:28 a mass "rave" (really just a danceparty) would break out, lasting till around 11. Get it? So each person would be dancing to their own music. It's, as one friend (from this point on to be referred to as "soulmate friend")put it "very low concept, high accessibility". I missed the beginning of the party, getting there at around 5:45, when there was a loyal but small (maybe around 100 people?) gathering of dancers, and a equally sized crowed gathered around watching, which grew as it got darker to maybe about 500.



See, the original plan was for me to check it out (as both a type of "flash mob" and a FreeNYC even, it was my first time at each), go check out this wireless cafe that i'll probs be working at tomorrow, and then come back later on, once it had gained momentum, IF it looked cool enough for me to join in on. And then MAYBE dance for a little, get home early, etc. Also, i thought that maybe i would meet my soul mate, or even just make a new friend. But i made the mistake of having music on as i walked by. I was coming from the L, so i had my headphones blaring, and i walked up with arms crossed so that it was clear that i was very very cool and quite skeptical about the coolness of the people involved. And i was watching, and my hip starts to bump a little, and my head starts nodding, and before you could say "this event is the opposite of cool but looks like a lot of fun" i'm jumping in towards the middle of the crowd and dancing my heart out. For the next four hours. Clearly, no one parodies me better than myself, when i'm being me seriously.


There's a lot to describe here.
Okay. So it was pretty cool to have so many different types of people dancing together. There were ravers, hip hoppers, hippies, thrashers, breakers, musical theater kids, some old people, cute little babies, people in costumes (banana, safety cone, large hat, and robot respectively), people in groups, people alone, all just doing their thing. More than having lots of different types of dance altogether (because for the most part, that semi-dancing-semi-standing-around-awkwardly looks the same in any genre) it was really really nice to have all those different people together. I danced with people i would normally never get to dance with. It was nice to to control your own playlist, although sometimes too demanding. I went from hip hop to indie folk to some slow jams, and took a good half hour somewhere in the middle for a pomo+stretching dancebreak.

While i didn't meet my soul mate (i did find one, and start up a conversation with him - the sentence i posted above - and exchange many more smiles with him as the night went on. But, nothing happened, so he's either gay, shy, or uninterested by very happy in my direction) i did end up dancing with some cool people. Mostly on the outskirts of the group, that's where you find the dancers who are most fun to dance with. Because we need more room! That's where i found Pink Friend and Asian friend, two ladies who were definitely at home rocking out. Which is why i was a little surprised Pink Friend let Creepy Friend slow dance with her, but she pushed him away after he grabbed her ass. Surprisingly the only creepy person of the whole experience though. There were two Sarah Lawrence people there - one dancing and one passing through and stopping to say hi, which was somewhat expected, but still cool to bump into. Also, i bumped into a friend from HIGH SCHOOL who i haven't seen since. Probably one of the more embarrassing places to run into someone, but it was great to see him all the same.



I had a great progression through the night.
It started with a mix of hip hop - mostly outkast, fugees, lauryn hill, and atmosphere - and pop singles (which were both basic club dancing), as well as some indie rock (which was more thrashing and jumping and bopping). After a water break, i moved on to some soulish Amy Winehouse and more rock (getting a little bit more modern - lots of organic cutting lines with my arms and torso). Had a little bit of a slow point shuffling through more indie rock, but then got back on top with a historically incredible succession of songs: Billie Jean, Tell Me When to Go, Under Pressure, Talk to Me Dance With Me, and then Lovefool. I think i had the most fun dancing to the ones where there wasn't really anything to do but be dramatic - acting really stupid in public is highly underrated.

The one thing that did catch my interest was the amount of onlookers and participants taking pictures - it reminded me of my mona lisa experience. So many people trying to capture something that (as you can see from the pictures) really doesn't translate that well once you stop it from moving. There were all sorts, actually. Lots of nightlife photographers, getting shots to sell/post on whatever the big networking site is now, a guy being dragged backwards by his friend through the crowd as he filmed, cell phone shots and pocket digital cameras abounding, and even one guy filming from his mac book. The audience too. Audience....viewers? Everyone wanted a piece to take home. To show to someone and say "this happened!" and really not much more. Hm. It's still really interesting to me.

In short: Cool that something like this (that was all orchestrated on facebook and other networking sites) could happen and not be shut down, cool that it utilizes technology to get people dancing, cool that so many people could have a fun time together. Interesting that people try to capture it - it made me wonder how many of them would go home and blog about it like me - and interesting to watch the audience's reaction. Not for cynics, but very harmlessly fun. I had a great time making a damn fool of myself, and getting a workout that was twice as long as a dance class, and 100% freer. There will probably be lots of shots online in the next day or two - feel free to post links if you find them!

And, last but not least, because it was so so so so good, the sneering hispter carrying Hemingway who got hit in the head with one of the beach balls that was being tossed around, and dropped his book, rolling tobacco, notebook, and sunglases all at once. For serious. Karma, man. That's what you get for sneering at people who are enjoying life.

A question about the Mona Lisa...

So here's one i've been waiting to write for a while.
I may be officially able to die in peace, because i've seen the mona lisa. I didn't have some longing to see it, per se, but it felt like one of the many things that one should do before senility sets in, or at least that's what we've been taught.
Now, to be clear, i really enjoyed seeing it. Really. It was exciting and beautiful, although small, and if i could re-live the experience, i would pick seeing it over not.

But.

But the thing that stuck out to me the most, was the most exciting and horrible and interesting, was the crowd around it. Holy Shit. I can't even do this crowd justice describing it here (which is why i've included pictures). And more than the crowd itself, the feeling, the engineering of the build up of excitement. Interesting. Let me walk you through it.

When you go to the Louvre, you're going to see the Mona Lisa. It's already set in stone. If you're not going to see the Mona Lisa, then you are making a statement about your disinterest in or disregard for the Mona Lisa, and so your visit is still somehow in reference to the Mona Lisa. The Louvre knows this. So the second you walk in, there are signs pointing you towards your assumed destination. The Louvre is massive, packed ceiling to floor with paintings, impossible to see in one day. So no matter what you've planned, there's a sign - a picture sign that anyone can understand, it's important to note - redirecting you toward the x-marks-the-spot of the arguably most famous piece of art in the entire world.

The Mona Lisa is small. Very small, compared to most of the other paintings in the Louvre. It hangs solitary on a large white wall, which stands in the middle of the room, so that when you first enter the room, you must walk around to the other side of the wall to see the painting. As such, the first thing you see isn't the painting itself, but the massive massive crowd.

In front of you, held a good eight feet back from the painting by a moat of velvet ropes, is a noisy josteling crowd so multi-ethnic the united nations would be proud. Everyone wants a piece of this painting. This crowd is impressive, to say the least. All ages of people crane their necks and lift their children, just to get a glimpse of this magnificent illusive woman. People snap pictures and thrust video cameras over and over and over again, looking more through their viewfinders than their eyes. Everyone wants the experience, everyone wants a piece to take home. The irony of madly trying to capture this masterpiece, famous for its illusive and unprocurable nature, on homevideo (to take home and do what with, exactly?) seems to be very much lost on the crowd.

You have to see it to really understand, but i was very struck by watching this crowd. On one hand, here was art - not TV, not "entertainment", but art art getting more attention than i had ever seen or imagined. As someone who feels that the arts are constantly under funded and appreciated, i felt proud. I felt important to be an artist. On the other hand, there was such a gross feeling about how this art had been made into some sort of empty celebrity - a paris hilton or hedi montag - famous because it's famous but that's it. So what was is? How was i supposed to feel about this experience that was simultaneously such a triumph and travesty in my mind? I still don't know.




What i am more clear about is the questions that this experience brought up for me:

1. Is it important that art be important; in other words, does the promise of a small percent of "great art" being valued as highly important, or the idea that art is somehow of great value in our society in some way aid or promote the actual work? What does the end reception have to do with the making?

2. Is it a bad thing that people are so excited to see something, only because they've been told it's important? Is this "empty celebrity"? Is there any use for it?

3. Is there a way (and what are they) that PMD (or any art for that matter) can use the idea of creating some sense of celebrity/excitement/great-art-fame to gain viewers or support in a way that aids the art rather than depletes or overshadows it?

4. Are we better off not having a Mona Lisa of modern dance?