Seneca Park Zoo

I find zoos in general both fascinating and depressing. I grew up visiting the National Zoo with my parents, but don't have much memory of it (other than my little brother coming to the realization that "I not a baboon," my mother's pet name for him till then), and the recent allegations of mismanagement there are extremely unsettling.  In all the years I lived in the New York City tri-state area, I only visited the Central Park Zoo once, and I never made it to the Bronx Zoo.  But I've been to the Seneca Park Zoo three times already, and we have become members.

My first exposure to Rochester's zoo was in June at their annual Zoobilation party.  It thunderstormed most of the evening, but the zookeepers made sure the animals were outside, for our enjoyment.  Because of the rain, we were able to get quite close to the lions. They took refuge on their side of the double-decker bus while we watched from inside (safe and dry) only several feet away.  They clearly knew we were there, though!

The second time I visited was for the summer Rochester Garden Club Flower show, and I was enthralled by the elephants, and how they responded to their trainers:  http://youtu.be/Yev5TJTGpzg.  The polar bear was unhappy with the heat, but most of the other animals seemed to be coping.  The monkeys watched us watching them and I couldn't help anthropomorphizing and wondering if they were bored, or happy or angry at their captivity.  I could have stood and watched them and the incredibly beautiful wolves for hours.

The zoo is not a place you normally think to visit in winter, but I was curious to see the polar bears in weather more hospitable to them.  The zoo was rather desolate.  There were very few visitors, and many of the animals were inside or elsewhere (they ship the alligators to Florida for the winter), which added to my sense of gloom at these animals being locked up in small enclosures.  I know that zoos have an educational benefit, and that some of these animals have a longer life than they might statistically in the wild, where they would be part of a larger food chain, or in danger of being hunted.  But it's still sad to watch the wolves just circling in their tiny pen, or to see the elephants ambling in their limited space (although I was intrigued as I watched one elephant meticulously mold snowball after snowball with its trunk and then eat them!).  The baboons were also out in the snow, searching for buried food.

You can only see one polar bear at a time, although the zoo has a male and a female.  Apparently, the female might be pregnant, and it stresses her out too much to be in close proximity to the male (in the wild, the female would leave the male to build her den (his role is over) and she would remain protective of her cubs - yes, polar bears are known to be occasionally cannibalistic in the wild). The zoo's polar bears seem quite old - they are both almost 25 (the average 'in the wild' lifespan is estimated at 15-18 years, but in captivity, they can live into their 30s), and the one I saw definitely had a wattle!  It lolled in the snow, licking its paws, occasionally lifting its head in the direction of the scent of a passerby.  http://youtu.be/SHiagbuaa0c

Without a fence it would have been so tempting
to reach out and pet the wolves!

Rochester's zoo is obviously space-constrained, sitting as it does on a narrow piece of property between Seneca Park (and the Genesee River) and a residential neighborhood.  But it would be nice if there were a petting zoo for young children.  It would also be interesting if the zoo had 'nanny cams' in strategic 'out-of-sight' locations, so that if animals weren't in view at the moment, you might be able to watch them behind the scenes, on your smart-phone or tablet (or on a display in the canteen).

Although I am conflicted about confining animals in zoos, I guess that if they had the kind of space I imagine they would like, to have a fuller life behind bars (again with the anthropomorphizing), then they would rarely be visible to visitors, which would defeat the purpose. And if they spark an interest in the upcoming generation to save the environment for these wonderful creatures, then these emissaries will have made the sacrifice for the greater good of their species.

Rochester Museum & Science Center

Until now, the only reason I’d been to the Rochester Museum & Science Center was for the holiday bazaar arts & crafts sale.  I decided it was time to visit the museum for its own sake, and pay attention to the exhibits, rather than being on a shopping mission.  I met my friend Gwen there at 10:30, expecting to cruise through the museum in time for an early lunch.  You know what they say about best-laid plans…  This combination natural history and science museum has quite a lot to take in, from the obligatory dioramas of current and historical animals to the interactive exhibits that are mostly geared to kids, but which we also enjoyed.  

The first one we encountered was an introduction to robotics, and we spent nearly 15 minutes there trying to master the machine (I gave up easily, but Gwen persisted, and finally succeeded in grasping a pyramid – forget about the goal of stacking the objects!).  I also convinced her to have a go at the climbing wall, which was much harder than it looked…

There were lots of school groups in the museum – the perfect place to kill time on the last day before Christmas break.  They were all different ages, and they all seemed to be enjoying the experience (or just being out of class?).  We pretty much had the exhibit on Rochester’s Underground Railroad to ourselves, as well as the vast collection of Indian artifacts.  We played with the hands-on (and in one case, legs-on) exhibits demonstrating the generation of electricity, and tried to figure out one light-based exhibit that made absolutely no sense to us – we must have been too old to understand the instructions!  

I got some weight-bearing exercise on one of the pulleys, and climbed through some sort of maze in the Adventure-Zone that I thought at one point I might need to be rescued from.

Since it was already 1:00 and we were hungry, we didn’t have time to take in the Strasenburgh Planetarium as well, so I’ll have to go back at some point over the holidays, because I’ve always wanted to see some of the movies they show there, and both of the current advertised films sound interesting: Grand Canyon and Coral Reef (although frustratingly, the latter movie has no scheduled shows???).

(But how can this be, if the earth is no more than 10,000 years old?!?!?!)

Mammogram Mill

When I lived in New Jersey, a radiology appointment at my medical center (whether for an x-ray of a possibly broken bone or a mammogram) was always kept, +/- 5 minutes, and I never had to wait for results, or return for a re-scan.  So it came as a shock to me last year when I went to the Elizabeth Wende Breast Care (EWBC) center for my annual mammogram that dozens of women seem to have an appointment for the exact same time, and when you check in, you are given two options:  spend about 90 minutes, assuming you wait for your results in case you need a re-scan; or leave (after spending about an hour just for the exam) at your own peril, because if you have to be called back for a re-scan, they threaten you with a 3+ hour wait!  Most people just stay.  In fact, women actually plan ‘mammogram parties’; they deliberately schedule their exams at the same time so they can hang out (in ill-fitting hospital gowns) for a couple of hours together.  The waiting game is such big business at the center that you can also book a massage or peruse a selection of jewelry for sale.

Last year, I also chose to wait and I’m glad I did.  When they called my name, it was from the ‘wrong’ door (not the one where you’re given the all-clear). I needed a follow-up digital scan because they had ‘seen’ something.  I foolishly asked what the second scan would cost, and that generated an additional 45-minute wait because of course there is no single answer to that question – it depends on who your insurance company is and what the negotiated rate is and whether you’ve met your deductible and whether the insurance company even covers a second scan.  An administrator delivered this news to me, along with an off-hand but frightening comment that the radiologists wouldn’t have recommended another scan if they hadn’t seen something “bad.”  Back into the sea of gowns I went for another half hour, between waiting for the second scan and then the results, that felt like longer, as I contemplated my fate.  It turned out that there wasn’t anything wrong, which came as a relief when they called me to the ‘right’ door. 

So this year, I went armed with a stack of magazines to catch up on.  I did not do as they recommend and stop caffeine two weeks before my appointment.  The reason for their recommendation relates to comfort during the exam, rather than anything medical or the clarity of the scan.  Seriously, endure two weeks without coffee/tea/chocolate/Coke, but with headaches and irritability?  It didn’t seem like a rational tradeoff for a bit less discomfort for a couple of minutes (and let’s face it, no way would stopping caffeine make it actually comfortable!).  There were about 20 women in the lounge (it’s hard to call it just a ‘waiting room’ when there’s a fireplace, an enormous fish tank, and a flat-screen TV) but this year I hardly made a dent in my reading.  I endured only a brief wait for the scan itself, and I was summoned to the ‘right’ door less than an hour after I initially checked in.

Apparently, how long you wait is really a crapshoot.  My friend Linda related that she had recently spent about 3 hours at the center (no re-scanning involved), and that it was difficult for her even to find a seat when she arrived. I’m guessing that EWBC overbooks, just as the airlines and hotels do, assuming some people will cancel or forget.  But in their case, if everyone shows up, there’s no need to bump or reimburse anyone for the delay.  And maybe they even get more massage bookings that way. 

Gallery Dances at NU MVMNT - "Waiting Scales" Part II

When you think of 'dance' in Rochester, the Rochester City Ballet and Garth Fagan Dance come immediately to mind.  Or Nazareth College, with its wide offering of dance programs throughout the year.  Little did I know there's an entire subculture of dance performing in small spaces under the radar, one that you probably only know about if you know one of the dancers or choreographers or the owner of the space.  This weekend, the Rochester Dance Project presented Gallery Dances at  NU MVMNT, which functions as an art gallery as well as a dance/pilates/yoga studio.  But don't look for the performance on either website - it seemed to be word of mouth/Facebook only!

Dancers Kathy Diehl, Kaitley Wozer, and Lauren Kush
with Nadine Sherman on cello

Colleen had originally scheduled a different dance to perform in the Gallery Dances, but decided the floor there was too hard, so substituted our collaborative “Waiting Scales” instead.  Even though the snow was ceaseless and the roads icy, there was a standing room crowd at the gallery/studio (mostly 'friends of,' I suspect).  Eastman student Nadine Sherman, who could easily have been mistaken for a dancer, performed two pieces beautifully on cello.

I recognized one of the dancers, the graceful Kathy Diehl, from the Bill Evans Dance performance at the Fringe Festival.   She is also the founder of the Rochester Dance Project, and choreographed and performed in three of the seven pieces on the program.  One, titled “Unravel,” took me by surprise when the music started – it was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.  Only when the vocals began did I realize it was Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, a piece that my choral group, Concentus, performed last spring!  Here’s just a snippet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVKo6CzYnqI&feature=youtu.be

Colleen Culley

I was so proud as I watched Colleen perform “Waiting Scales.”  She had turned it into a cohesive dance, not just a sum of various movements, and she didn’t seem as nervous as she was in Brockport.  She hit all the musical phrasings we had rehearsed, but without seeming to mark the time, and she progressed through the “waiting” emotions as effortlessly as she progressed through the Laban scales. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tY6L4Ou6fk&feature=youtu.be

It was too bad that the performance space was a bit dark – the illumination was meant for paintings, not people.  And I was sorry that the snow prevented Colleen’s parents from attending, because I know they would have enjoyed seeing this iteration.  Who knows, maybe someday there will be a third...

Garth Fagan Dance

It’s always a joy to watch Garth Fagan Dance (GFD), and this year I had the treat of introducing two of my neighbors, Molly and Kathy, and their young daughters, and Molly’s mom, to the Company.  They were all aware of the musical The Lion King, but it wasn’t on their radar that the choreographer, Garth Fagan, lives and works right here in Rochester.  And they’d never seen the Company dance.

The first time I saw GFD, at Nazareth College two years ago, I attended a matinee, and I found the performance by the Garth Fagan Dance School Ensemble especially moving.  It’s so important to get our city’s youth engaged in the arts, not just for their own sake, but as a potential alternative to other more destructive activities.  Last year, in addition to attending the opening night performance and a matinee (and journeying to Brooklyn for the premiere of Fagan’s “Lighthouse/Lighting Rod,” with incredible live music by Wynton Marsalis), I also had the opportunity to watch a daytime performance for several classes of lower school children (part of GFD’s community outreach program).

This 43^rd “season” (and they call it their “Home Season” because oddly, GFD only performs one week a year in its hometown – it considers itself to be more of a traveling company, even though national and worldwide bookings have been scarcer in recent years) offered two new works, “No Evidence of Failure,” by Garth Fagan, and “Gin,” by his protégée, Norwood (P.J.) Pennewell.  We went to the Sunday matinee, which also included two older dances, and a piece choreographed by Bill Ferguson for an ensemble of 20+ members of the Dance School.  It was so inspiring to watch the kids perform, and to see them executing some of Garth’s signature moves so well at such young ages (particularly a very young boy who had some wonderful solos that elicited cheers).  The small but enthusiastic audience roared at their curtain call, and the applause volume just escalated from there, with hoots and screams for the soloists in the two new dances – responses you normally associate with rock stars or sports teams. 

The first piece on the program was “Discipline is Freedom,” one of my favorites. I love the music, and the feeling of watching a warmup that evolves into an ensemble dance.  It introduces all of the signature moves of the Fagan Technique – the fluidity alternating with very controlled angular movement, the athleticism, the deer-like leaps, the arms that fly so fast they become a blur.  And it is particularly suited to the matinee performances, whose audiences include children (and adults) who may be unfamiliar with the Company. “No Evidence of Failure,” a duet for the incredible Natalie Rogers and Vitolio Jeune, was lovely and romantic.  “Gin” alternated ensemble with solos, and while Pennewell’s choreography draws on Fagan’s vocabulary, he definitely infuses it with his own accent.

My companions and I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon (and one of the young girls found herself moved to dance during intermission – who knows, maybe she’ll take classes at some point?), and we got to chat a bit with Garth and P.J. and others from the Company on our way out.  The girls were impressed and excited that they could get so ‘up close and personal’ with the people they’d just seen perform, and it’s a wonderful gift that the dancers give the audience, when they could be relaxing backstage or on their way home instead.

If you missed seeing Garth Fagan Dance this past week, unless they open their doors again for the Fringe Festival, you probably won’t get the chance to see them perform until this time next year. And I think that’s a shame, for both them and Rochester.

Tiny Dance at Brockport – “Waiting Scales”

My friend Colleen, who is getting her MFA at SUNY Brockport, graciously offered to let me collaborate with her on developing a dance (since when I first met her, I told her about an idea for a ballet, which we still might pursue someday…).  “Waiting Scales” started with a piece of music by Debussy:  “Feux d’artifice,” from Préludes Book II.  To me, some music, such as this composition, just itches to be danced to (although not by me!).  Colleen was open to having a ‘plot,’ rather than choreographing something purely abstract, and a small sculpture, called “Watching and Waiting” (by Patrick Farrow), provided the inspiration:  expressing through dance the different emotions one experiences – anticipation, worry, anger – while waiting for someone who is late.  In choreographing this piece for her Tiny Dance project, she drew on her training in Laban Movement Analysis to explore different Laban scales and match them to the development of the scene.

Although she has credited me as co-choreographer, I really felt more like a co-writer/director – suggesting various broad gestures, a few props, some of the transitions.  My contribution to the actual dance part was limited to suggestions like, ‘can you do a twirly thing here?’ and ‘how about leaning, like in the West Side Story dance at the gym?’  But it was great fun meeting with her to flesh out the piece, and to watch it evolve from concept to reality.  It is only 3’20” but it feels like forever when you are trying to figure out how to move through the space, and especially how to marry the movement to the music and the mood, and to convey the emotion without being too literal or devolving into a pantomime instead of dance.  It was exciting to watch her perform it for real, for people other than me, and to get feedback for improving it (as if it would ever be performed again!).

Hers was one of 11 pieces presented by NDEO Brockport at their 4^th Annual Tiny Dance Concert at A Different Path Gallery in Brockport.  Each dance was limited to a 6’x6’ space in the gallery, and the audience sat or stood right at the edge of the taped outlines.  There was a mix of ballet and modern dance, and it was clear how much effort and talent went into creating and performing these tiny (in space AND time) dances.  The finale was a strange but extremely creative piece called “Glassy Ladies,” set to Bob Seger’s “Night Moves,” in which three attractive young women forcefully mashed small hand-held windows onto their faces, alternately distorting their noses, cheeks, chins, eyes.  When they sang the final refrain of the piece along with Seger, they sounded like the monster in Young Frankenstein, which complemented the grotesque faces we were seeing through the windows.

One of the things that struck me is how difficult it must be to study dance.  If you are studying acting, there are libraries full of plays to perform – you don’t need to create your own script each time you perform.  Similarly, if you are studying an instrument, you don’t need to compose a new sonata or symphony for each concert.  But with dance, although there are sets of ballet moves or other movement building blocks (e.g., the Laban scales), there isn’t a trove of choreographed dances just waiting to be performed.  So each of these student performances involves not just performing, or interpreting, but also creating.  Talk about grace under pressure!

Geva Theater's "A Christmas Carol"

Does anyone ever actually read Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol (I know I haven’t…), or do we mostly know the story from various TV and theatre adaptations?  I had never seen a live production before seeing Geva’s; my first introduction to the story, and still my all-time favorite TV version, is Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (with all those wonderful Broadway-feeling songs, and Tiny Tim’s “razzleberry dressing”). 

Guy Paul holding Megan Mueller

Geva’s show, of course, doesn’t omit the characters of Scrooge’s sister or nephew in order to fit into a one-hour time slot, so it’s a much fuller and truer adaptation.  This is the fourth year of Geva’s third version of the show, and this one includes material written by director Mark Cuddy to help “fill in the blanks” from the novella’s dialogue.  Greg Coffin’s music and lyrics fit the atmosphere perfectly, and were wonderfully sung by the cast, which consisted of seven equity actors supplemented by an ensemble of local non-equity adults (four from All Your Questions Answered) and children (it is always so heartwarming to watch talented kids on stage!).  Scrooge is played by the talented Guy Paul (whom I recognized from seeing him on Broadway in 1776, Tenderloin, The King and I, and Twelve Angry Men).

The children in the audience ate up the special effects, including the Ghost of Christmas Past, who is suspended over the stage during her entire performance, and one particularly cool moment that I won’t give away, but I would love to know what material Scrooge’s door is made from!  And it was great to see children in the audience, and to hear their excited reactions.  At the prologue talk, Mark explained that A Christmas Carol is “often the first time someone sees live performance theatre” and the theatre “want to put its best foot forward.”  It’s a fast-paced production, enhanced by video projection to help set the moods of different scenes.  In keeping with the story’s subtitle, “a Ghost Story of Christmas,” and especially to play to the children in the audience, Mark gives us some nice scary moments, both on and off-stage. 

It was a delightful performance, and I can see why it’s an annual favorite, just like The Nutcracker ballet. It runs through December 28, so there’s still time to catch the show and get in the holiday spirit!

http://www.gevatheatre.org/shows/a-christmas-carol/

Geva Theatre Hornet’s Nest: Gidion’s Knot

First, what’s the “Hornet’s Nest”?  According to Geva, it’s a “series of script-in-hand readings with professional actors and directors … with plays investigating the most difficult and controversial questions of today…. Since its inception in 2007, the Hornets’ Nest series of readings has become nationally recognized and lauded as one of the most innovative theatrical initiatives in the country.”  What a great concept!

My friend Linda and I attended the first Hornet’s Nest play of the season:  Gidion’s Knot, by Johnna Adams, directed by Amanda Friou.  According to Geva’s website, the play “takes place during a deceptively simple parent teacher conference, when a single mother questions her son’s fifth grade teacher about her child’s suspension.”  The show explores the issue of “who is responsible for children in our society,” “the roles of teachers and the education system in the social development of children,” and how “we accommodate freedom of speech for children.” What isn’t clear at the outset of the play is a) why the child was suspended just days ago, or b) that in the meantime he has committed suicide.

The play was extremely well-attended, and was wonderfully read by Brigitt Markusfeld (the mother) and Melissa Rain Anderson (the teacher) – the emotion they felt and conveyed was practically performance-ready.  The script was suspenseful and disturbing, relentless and exhausting, but with just enough humorous moments to periodically relieve the tension.  The title is a play on the legendary Gordian Knot, which actually figures as a not-so-subtle metaphor in the play.  Just as the teacher had not asked her students to decide how to solve the knotty problem in their school project (one of which is ‘displayed’ on a wall), Ms. Adams has decided not to solve the central question of who’s to blame for Gidion’s behavior. Gidion, at least, has made a decision: his outside-the box solution to his problems is to kill himself.  In the pie chart of blame, there are plenty of slices vying for their share – the teacher, the mother, the education system in general, society, and maybe even the child himself.

Post-performance, the audience was invited to shout out issues the play evoked, and then Skip Greer, Geva’s Director of Education, moderated a discussion with three people from the education community (a school psychologist, a fifth grade teacher, and a retired teacher).  It felt a little bit like a book club meeting, without most of us having to prepare.  It was certainly thought-provoking, but it didn’t shed any light on how to solve or prevent similar problems in the real world, and I left feeling a little more troubled (because bullying and violence and inappropriate behavior seem to have become more prevalent in schools) and a lot more powerless to help effect any positive change.

Several of the educators on stage and in the audience questioned the premise of a child being suspended with no warning or interim psychological intervention, and it seemed as if the playwright took significant dramatic license in order to make her point.  However, in the New York Times the following day (12/3/13) there was a lengthy article about the large percentage of school suspensions in Broward County, Florida, and perhaps Ms. Adams’ premise isn’t actually too far from the reality of the ‘zero tolerance’ policies in place in many school districts.

Although I wouldn’t want to see this play again, even in a professional production (once was enough!), Ms. Adams definitely has an ear for dialogue, and I hope she writes something suitable for a larger audience that we can someday see during Geva’s regular season.