zaha dancing.

Like the secret dork that I am on Friday I was just nestling in for a night of doing work when Jason called and asked if I wanted to go to the ballet. And like a not-so-secret marathon procrastinator I accepted the ticket.

When I got to Lincoln Center Jason was on the phone describing the ballet to a friend. The words "Zaha designed the sets" were uttered which was the first clue that we were going to see something closer to _______ rather than Balanchine.

Now in my effort to become a better student of philosophy I've been trying to take lessons and learn from experiences rather than criticize, but the idea of a dance concert created in collaboration with Zaha Hadid was just asking for criticism.

But here's what I learned:
1. I don't know anything about modern dance. Actually I don't know anything about dance, except that I like to do it. But as to anything factual or academic I'm a blank. Surely this sort of knowledge should make me more open-minded.
2. Video art. Has that ever been good? I tried to engage with Justin on this point by wondering if part of the problem could be that video art has the same conceits as TV and security cameras, but tries to pawn it off as art. But Justin held firm on the essential badness of video art. Also video doesn't seem to have progressed since 1989 or so because all the video in the concert dealt with city scenes, voyeurism, sexuality, and surveillance (or architectural renderings), which seemed less Zaha and more D+S: The Shitty Political Years. The fact that video art made up a substantial portion of the show was a serious downer.
3. Maybe architects who use animation programs are thought of as pretty cool within the field, but outside of architecture animation should be left to the professionals.
4. Rock violin is a pretty bad idea.
5. As is the idea that everyone is a media critic. You're not. Even with that post-graduate certificate in media studies.

But the Times was less charitable than I.