Soundtrack 2 My Life:  The week in shorthand - Kicking it off with William Forsythe's Decreation at BAM, a Sunday morning escapade to the farmer's market followed by organic coffee, discount fashion in the Village and fiction in an old New Yorker, many Klein/Mahler stretch and technique classes, the guerilla art of Automorphosis (art cars!), an art exhibit preview and opening, dinners out at Kelly & Ping, Bistro Les Amis and Sora Lella, hipster central in the theater to see "Where the Wild Things Are." Book of the week: James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk. Not quite as "culturally jam-packed" as usual, but a whole lot-a soul, color, community, warmth... Seven days of art, spiced wine, and love. Yeah, I said it, love. Whoever said spring is the only time when love is in the air?  Love is in the air this autumn. Learn it and live it.

PS: I have organized this post to tracks from Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon - the album of my week.

Make Her Say: [The leaves in my courtyard still haven't changed yet, but whatever, who cares, Next Wave at BAM has started! That's right my friends, it's that time of the year again when great dance (and theater and music) arrives back at BAM.]  A piece about human relationships, William Forsythe's Decreation is centered around a script of questions involving love and the soul.  The piece began with one female dancer acting out an argument with her lover over an alleged affair.  Throughout the piece, the dancers continue to repeatedly explore questions of betrayal, trust and jealousy.  I love dance that acts like a conveyor belt, pulling me into the action so I don't think about anything else. The moment this truly happened for me was at the end of the work when the cast sat around a large table on which the "soul" danced and dirtied in white powder.  [to check The New York Times review, click here]

Enter Galactic: This past week I had two amazing visual art encounters.  The first is Automorphosis, or art cars, which I literally bumped into parked in the East Village.  My favorite of the two was a van completely covered in cameras! I can't even do it justice by describing it, and I didn't have my camera, darn, but luckily I found a picture on their website, automorphosis.com, and posted it above.  [I also posted the trailer to the Automorphosis film at the end of the entire post.]  The van was head to toe glued with antique cameras! It was totally cool and drew a crowd from passersby - "It's like having an art opening, only you didn't tell anybody!"  The other art opening was not a surprise.  It was "Larry Horowitz: Familiar Places" at the Franklin Bowles Gallery in Soho. (Yes, Larry Horowitz is my Dad.) The show included landscapes from across America and Larry's technique is anything but typical. The oils are intense, characterized by thick layering with a palette knife and bold colors.  The show screamed autumnal love with sepia watercolors and paintings looking through the trees in yellows, oranges and browns [see image below].

In My Dreams: "Where The Wild Things Are."  It really brings you back.  A movie about childhood, family, love and imagination.  Beautiful cinematography that brings out the inner child in all of us.  Made me want to go rake up a big leaf pile and romp around in it growling Max-style.  Need I say more.  

Alive: For a dancer, there is nothing better to revitalize for autumn like knowing her body is aligned.  Nothing like it.  If you're body is starting to ache from the stresses of the new school year, or whatever it aches from, try Barbara Mahler's classes at Movement Research.  Recession friendly at only $13 a pop, and well worth the hard work of slowly rolling down your spine.  I walk outside feeling more alive.