“Undercurrents” Win us Over

Ok, so a lot of us no longer have the dispensable income to indulge in a trip to the theater or the ballet. But whether we were seeking it or not, last month at the Winter Garden, the dance troupe Third Rail Projects brought art to us — or at least to the Wallstreeters, nannies, construction workers, and shop owners who happened upon the World Financial Center at lunchtime.

Every day at 1 pm on the dot, Third Rail’s co-directors Tom Pearson and Zach Morris (no, not that one) presented a different 5-minute lunchtime dance in a site-specific dance project called “Undercurrents and Exchange.”

The dances were whimsical, oddly intimate, and usually pretty surprising given the impersonal context of this echoing, high-ceiling-ed spot. The dance series was part of the Arts>World Financial Center, the largest year-round, free performing arts and cultural presenter on the East coast.

- Josie Holtzman

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Revenge of the nerds

Holy Geekdom! The DENPA party Sunday night was euphoric. Two floors full of happy nerds, dressed up as their favorite manga/anime/computer game characters, dancing to extremely loud computer game music, drinking, smoking and taking pictures of each other in studied poses. Takero Mimura, one of the producers of the night said that these parties are rare gatherings for kids who spend most of their time at home alone in front of their computers absorbed in some virtual obsession. But for all the talk about otakus as reclusive socially awkward shut-ins, this was quite a social ordeal. And they’re getting bigger and bigger, the first party earlier this year had 200 guests, this fourth party had over 700 people. Just to get a sense of the scene here is a very dark, very distorted one minute video from the dance floor (turn down your volume):

One funny thing: Even though booze was flowing and the dance floor was dark, I did not see one single couple making out. This is not because we were at a nerd party. It is a general Japanese social code; you very rarely see any public display of affection. Anywhere.

I’m posting some pictures of the costumes here, more on flickr.

- Pejk Malinovski

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Street festival for drummers, breakdancers

On the streets of Shibuya today: drum circles, drumming lessons, and breakdancing. We met a young radio reporter (Pejk spotted his DAT recorder) and he told us it’s the third annual Shibuya music festival, called Shibu-on.

Some video highlights: first, breakdancing unplugged – to hand drums, pan flute and didgeridoo. (No patchouli or hacky-sacks sighted.) These guys were actually pretty cool. The female dancer is probably the least girly girl I’ve seen in Shibuya so far.

And here’s a sampling of the drumming:

That was the World Rhythm Summit, the Drum Circle Facilitators Association, and Taiko Master in an arcade down the street.

- Leital Molad

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