ohhhh markus ….

Junichi invited me over for a kind of small & private show the put up in the school he teaches ballet at. Although the school was just two subway stops outside of Manhattan it felt like a different planet, with no people on the street and only big industrial buildings and no shopping infrastructure at all (not even a Deli!).

The performances itself were very impressive, ranging from hip hop break dance, to sword fights, to classic ballet, to dance factory style choreography. And afterwards a nice organic buffet. oh, and I was the only non-asian there …

A (austrian) friend of mine works at the United Nations and invited me over to watch a spectacular documentation about how women ended a civil war in Liberia just by peer pressure and a very very strong organization (”Pray the Devil back to Hell“). After the movie there was a Q&A session with one of the main characters. Very touching and totally different world.

Afterwards I had the privilege to see the United Nations building after it closed, almost completely abandoned and gained access to areas that are normally off limits. I didn’t even have to wear the huge visitor badge and we could move freely around. It was a quite interesting experience (to say at least) to see the big halls where history is made, stand in front of the press wall you know from public broadcasts and also see how incredible bureaucratic and old fashioned the offices look.

One of my friends is a pretty awesome dancer, teaching Ballet. He invited me to this spectacular performance, taking place in a HUGE gallery space on the 9th floor of a massive old building. You step in and EVERYTHING is white, ceilings, walls, pillars. And some mannequins, showcasing amazing amazing fashion.

The performance started with dancers in the middle of all the people (although we formed a big circle to give the performers more space).

but enough said, here are the pics: