wild night in Queens....

A  friend was appearing in a dance piece at the Chocolate Factory---a performance space where Astoria meets downtown Queens. An odd neighborhood-contrasts galore- filled with new luxury high rises and older apartment buildings---some private homes as well. Cold, cold, cold. Train did not stop at the nearest station which menat a longer walk in an area I did not know. Quiet streets---after some fumbling reached my destination. Starving---found a deli near the space---then misdirected myself on the way back to the theater. Finally returned. My sense of direction has always been strong--yet twice I found myself on the wrong street. 

The performance itself baffled me. The creator-choreographer demonstrated a cold, inarticulate world for her five dancers---some of her choreography, particularly in the first part of the piece was stunning--fascinating to look at---very original---but as the piece progressed, seemed to go nowhere with its content. I don;t mind feeling "distanced" but by the end there seemed to be no point to what it was trying to say. All the touching between the five dancers was cold and a little aggressive, but one was left with just that. Waited afterwards to say hello to my friend Lucy, one of the dancers. She was happy to see me, and we had a good if brief discussion about our lives and the piece. Can't believe that this was the first time that I had seen her in five years---the last time, ironically, when she performed in another and more interesting performance piece by the same choreographer. The memory of that last encounter---January 2019-is so vivid in my mind---how can it be so long---the pandemic intruding and literally taking away time--a dream interfering with real life.

Trip back to the subway was also strange---ended up at the subway platform of the trains that were not running that weekend---can't believe that Queensboro Plaza and Queens Plaza, where the R goes, are so far apart  A dark, strange world last night---should go back some day during the day and figure things out--finally found a shuttle bus that returned me to the R, where i needed to go A real workout for my legs---sometimes the search for the right way to go seemed endless---lost in the dark in Astoria. But the good news is that my energy was able to go with it--I think the reduction in infusion matter during my last treatment is adding to my energy. Another infusion happens on Thursday---no plans for the weekend after because  that might be when the effects of the treatment keep my energy low. But maybe not...