New York City Blog Jan. 11 – Jan. 17

On January 11 the Paul Taylor Dance Company performed a wonderful and free program. The first performance was Images with music by Debussy. The second performance was Brandenburgs, music by Bach. The studio has a vast performing area. It’s like a large white cube with windows wrapped around the Grand Street side of the building. Sitting in the first row you have the immediate experience of the dancers being right in front of you. You see details you might miss in a theater such as a female dancer dealing with her foot caught in the hem of her costume, or another dancer giving a colleague a high five after she’d danced well or watching a dancer leaning against the wall and wiping his face after an arduous passage. It was thrilling to be a foot away from those wonderfully trained and talented dancers.

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BRANDENBURGS
BRANDENBURGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy Kelly, the Chicago peace activist and one of the founders of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, spoke to a sturdy band of young and old lefties on Thursday, Jan. 15. The New York City local Green Party, Veterans for Peace and Peace Action Manhattan sponsored the meeting. It was the best kept secret in Manhattan. Although it was given at the Goddard Riverside Community Center, the center itself didn’t know or care. In spite of the lack of publicity, there were about thirty people present. Kathy Kelly talked about living alongside ordinary people trapped in war zones. She and her colleagues have been to Iraq and Afghanistan many times. Her talk was riveting and heartbreaking as she chronicled how the U. S. military debased and slaughtered the native population. Kathy has been incarcerated several times. She has gone to prison for refusing to pay war taxes. The day after our meeting she had to return to Chicago to receive her prison sentence for trespassing on a military base to protest drones. You can follow her work at www.vcnv.org.

KATHY KELLY AND ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS
KATHY KELLY AND ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS
SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
SPEAKS FOR ITSELF