“You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.” - Isadora Duncan
I love how you can do whatever you want in NYC, and there are no barriers and nothing stopping you. For example, I want to learn how to pop, so I’m able to take the train 2 stops from my house and take classes at New York’s premier dance center. Some of the students in my classes are well on their way to becoming professional dancers, and it’s intimidating as all hell. But part of the beauty of it all is that there’s no judgement and my peers still clap for me after I messed up performing my dance routine. My Japanese dance partner even gave me multiple bows, and we all know very well that there’s no way you will ever win a bowing contest against a Japanese person. People want to foster creativity and help you along the creative journey; they recognize how much courage it takes just to show up.
I also love how there are so many unexpected, surprising moments in NY. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with a friend from college that lives in San Francisco. In fact, we’ve spent more time together in NYC over the past year than we did when we were practically next door neighbors in college. I always look forward to the random, unexpected text message from him. Last week, he texted me shortly after returning from Southeast Asia. Two days later, we were enjoying MGMT and Dinosaur Jr. perform live at Barclay’s Center, thanks to a producer that kindly gave my friend the tickets.
The next day we waited 20 minutes in the cold, falling snow to experience 1 minute in Yayoi Kusama’s “I Who Have Arrived In Heaven” infinity room. It was well worth it. There was another infinity room with a line of crazy New Yorkers willing to endure the cold for 2 hours for a chance to experience it for 45 seconds.
Afterwards, I attended my friend’s opening exhibit, Collision in Cycles, and some talented kids from Juilliard busted out a live musical score to his film as it was projected onto a big screen. It was a powerful, magical, and unexpected multi-sensory experience. But then again, you can’t really expect anything less from a wild gathering of NY creatives. I walked away feeling incredibly inspired and so grateful to be here.
In NY, great things are bound to happen to you just for showing up. All those unexpected moments make life exciting, wild, and worth living. So go out there and make it count.
