Perspective

As I steadily smooth in to my new life in the Big Apple, fewer things seem newsworthy as I become acclimatised and thus it feels as though I neglect this blog when in fact I feel guilty every week that goes by without a post. So today I am going to share something just for the heck of it. It is not necessarily a New York City experience per se, but this is where I realized what I'm about to share so this blog may still be the correct forum, right? 

So many times, especially as New Yorkers, we can look past the things happening around us because they don't affect us directly. It's easy to walk past homeless beggars on the street and pay no attention to them because once you've come across ten people over time with the same 'occupation', you somewhat become numb to compassion. You don't get angry at this social injustice which is clearly not normal - and definitely not what was purposed for anyone under the sun. You now simply view people as unfortunate. Unlucky. A statistic. A number.

Funny enough, with this distorted view of our fellow human beings we also lose perspective and perspective, I have learned, can change your life.

How is it that everyone believes that the challenges they face are of such diabolical proportions that the world is about to end? How many people ever take time to remove themselves from a situation and look with a new set of eyes? As I said, perspective will change your life. You worry that the economy is going down and you can't afford to maintain your lifestyle when in Ethiopia there is a child who might not live to see his teens because his reality is that he has no access to a basic human right: clean water. Who has the bigger problem?

I can go on the whole day with comparisons, but I won't. I just want to share something my pastor, Carl Lentz, shared with me this evening: "Have you ever thought that you might not need a change of position but a change of perspective?" You see, with perspective, your challenge won't go anywhere. The mountain won't move. But the way you climb it might.

Proverbs 29:18 says that people with no vision perish. Therefore the opposite of that, people with vision greatly prospering, must be true as well. Is perspective, then, not a form of vision?

Have a great week...

On Broadway

Okay so I have seen a couple of shows now and I think it's only fair that I write up a little bit about each of the shows I've seen the past three weeks. 

Every time I get my ticket, in the subway on my way to the theatre on the day, and also right before I sit down to watch a show I realise the great blessing I have to be where I am at right now. There's a lot of things that one learns in a classroom but sometimes you catch so much more by seeing a production as well and this is something I have the amazing opportunity to do around once a week. 

So far I have seen, in order, The Lion King, Rent, Memphis and Spiderman. I was blown away by three of the four shows while the other one just failed to raise the bar. In fact, don't know if it owned a bar.

• The Lion King, as I have previously mentioned was super awesome and it held a lot of symbolism for me for various reasons.
• Rent was the very first musical I ever saw and after seeing it performed live Off-Broadway it is definitely safe to say that it remains my favorite musical. I loved the score, the use of the most simplistic set and the most talented actors. Each one of the cast gave such amazing performances, but I must especially comment on the character of Angel played brilliantly by Michael Rodriguez.
• Memphis was up next for me and this is a show that I had not really heard of before the time so it was very easy for me to be critical on my way in, but that cast is just too crazy for words. The storytelling is done in such a brilliant way and there are constantly great emotional high and low moments throughout the show. After walking out the show I think one feels that they've learnt so much as well because there is also a very strong message of acceptance over prejudice that is beautifully told through the show.
• Spiderman was a little disappointing to me, unfortunately. I'm a real big comic geek and I love the Spiderman movie franchises, but this really didn't do anything for me. Amongst other things, let's just say it felt more like a U2 concert than the story of Spiderman/Peter Parker. I must say that the set design is amazing though and the stunts were pretty cool as well, but take those two elements out and I don't know if there's a leg to stand on.

The "In The Heights" National Tour is going to be going through New Jersey this month sometime and I will have to catch that show. If I manage to score tickets I'll definitely review it as well because I have heard incredible reviews about that show.

There's still a ton of shows to be watched so I'll make this post as regular as possible.

...When You're Having Fun

As of yesterday, I have been living in New York for an entire month and I'm still alive. This, to me, is a milestone and I thought it would be fitting to add another post to commemorate this occasion.

It is a bit hard to believe that it's been a month here already. On one hand it seems so much longer because I miss my friends and family back home and I think about them daily, naturally. On the other hand it feels so short because everyday in this city is such an adventure and it feels like there is still so much that I haven't done while here. 

I think I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but it is so difficult to be a tourist in a foreign country when you're a resident. Now I know why Americans are, in general, so unexplored. 

The one cool thing that I regularly am doing, and am going to continue doing, is watching a lot of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and musicals. In the past three weeks I've seen The Lion King, Rent, and Memphis and I think I am watching Spiderman:Turn Off The Dark tomorrow. I'll tell you a lot more about these in my next post, but what I want to throw at you is what would you go do if you were in New York City for 24 hours? Leave your comments and let's see what comes up. I'm hoping to get a bunch of collective ideas and spend one weekend in the future being an official tourist.

Time surely does fly when you're having fun like I am, but I can't let that keep me from exploring this beautiful and historic city.

The Circle of Life

I know I haven't blogged in over a week, but because I had two blog posts in a single week previously I'm hoping you'll forgive me. Now, let's get down to business...

I am quite intrigued - almost on a daily basis - at how life works it's self out. The purpose-filled connections we make, and the opportune timing of events. I mean if you think about it everything that has brought you to this moment here has been meticulously calculated up to this very second. The people you have come across, the career path you chose, the events in your life, and even the minor activities that you plan over your weekends. Everything has some form of significance somewhere. If you don't understand what I'm saying then rent a movie called 'The Adjustment Bureau' starring Matt Damon and that should give you a lead.

For those of us who are accelerated, let me fill you in on what got me thinking about this. Last week Saturday I had the coolest privilege of watching my very first Broadway production, The Lion King. In the moment right after I purchased my ticket from the box office I then realized that, oddly enough, The Lion King was also my very first movie way back in 1995 as a 6/7 year-old kid. Significance? Well it's nothing that will change your life forever, but The Lion King is also a production I had auditioned for back home but having not known very much about the world of Musical Theatre at the time. Needless to say I did not get cast. Now, as the circle of life would have it, one of my instructors at the New York Film Academy, Thom Christopher Warren, is a part of the cast and has been a part of this Broadway production for the past nine years. Maybe it's just me, but the dot's I'm connecting are pretty cool.

Anyway, after the show I get a personal backstage tour from the the man himself and I have the opportunity to also say 'howzit' to some fellow South Africans who are a part of the cast. Throughout my tour Thom drops statements such as 'when you're a part of the The Lion King...' in an attempt to spur me on and encourage me I guess. Two words: it worked! Here's a dot I'm already seeing: next time The Lion King holds auditions I will already have a good word on the inside as long as I continue to work hard prove myself in the days of learning.

Similarly, my housing woes in the city have come to an end and I attribute it to this very Circle of Life. I now live with a friend of mine who has followed a totally different journey to me in life, but yet here we are together in New York City in the same apartment at the end. In short, Willem is a virtuoso pianist/composer/arranger who was a school mate in Bloemfontein, later became my vocal coach in our chamber choir (glee club) at school, we then became friends and kept contact through the wonders of technology such as Facebook and Skype, and now after almost ten years we are roommates in New York City and are both in the same industry. How cool is that?

If you haven't noticed, a lot of my posts are loosely based on scriptural references and are over-simplified (sometimes over-explained) versions of things a guy much smarter and wiser than I will ever be once said. As I write this, here is what comes to mind:

 "And we know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" - Romans 8:28 (NLT)

P.S In the next post I'll tell you more about the amazing show I watched yesterday! WOW! Look out for it.

"We Will Never Forget..."

These are the words on almost every single American company's branding as you walk the city streets. These are the words that describe what every American feels at this time. What are they referring to? The lives lost ten years ago on 9/11. The brave men and women who came to the fore to provide emergency services and care for those who had had everything ripped away in a single instant. A nation that was brought together by terror.

I remember where I was ten years ago to this day. Walking in my local Spar to shop for snacks for the school trip we were taking the following day I noticed people watching TV with images of crashing planes. I paid little attention to this commotion - as a 7th grader would - until I got home to see our TV on the very same channel. Those crashing planes weren't fiction anymore. This was very much real life and, in fact, was going to be a reference point in history for everyone who was alive on planet earth at that time.

Fast forward ten years and I could have never guessed that I would be sitting in that exact once terror-strikken city myself. 

I sat in a church service that made me so emotional, yet also made me feel like a proud and resilient American (which I am not). You see, it's one thing to hear about people hurting and those that have gone through hardships, but a total other thing to live in their world. Their pain becomes your pain. You bleed when they bleed. 

In the beginning of the service, Ps Carl Lentz asks all those that have been directly affected or have lost someone by the happenings of 9/11 to stand up so they can be honoured for their resilience. My eyes tear up as I realise this is real right here, but at the same time I sense a tangible presence of God's unending love in the room as worship music plays in the background. It's in our times of desperate need that God is closest to us.

I honour every single American for their strength. I once might have thought that the events of 9/11 get over-reported, but being in the middle of it all ten years on, I also say 'we will never forget'.

"Now all I am, I lay at your feet. I'm humbled by the wonder of Your majesty. One thing I know, I find all I need in your unending love. In your unending love."

- Unending Love by Hillsong Live taken from the album God Is Able

Lights. Camera. Action!

It's Wednesday morning and I am buzzing with excitement. The weather doesn't seem to be on my side as it pours down with rain outside, but nothing can stop the spring in my step today. Nothing can get me down - even if I don't have an umbrella. It's the official start day of my Musical Theatre program at NYFA.

It started with the regular formalities of registration, collection of my file and orientation program, an international student debriefing session followed by a general debriefing session, and then... nothing. Yes, nothing. I psyched myself up so much and all I got was mere formalities and then we went home. Did someone say anti-climax? It was at least a thrill to see the buzz on campus when the entire starting class arrived but because everyone was in a different program it made it so difficult to connect with anybody. Now I was looking forward to the following two days as printed out on our orientation programs.

How do you know that you're part of a cool industry? When your Thursday starts out with a photo shoot. Wooohoooo! No, but seriously this is how my Thursday began. With head-shots, which was so cool. The photographs get used by those studying in other programs, like Film Making or Producing, when  they need to cast people for their projects. Right after head-shots we headed into auditions with the Chair of the MT program. I thought I had already gone through this process in order to get into this school, but clearly they don't play at NYFA. I chose to do 'Seasons of Love' in F (from Rent) and 'The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine' In  in Am (from Hair). Got good feedback and well, I'm just glad to still be in the program after that.

Now Friday was just off the charts! Granted I knew that going on a guided student tour of the city would spell pure awesomness, but never could I have guessed to what degree. Our tour guide, Kevin - what a cool name, is a faculty member at NYFA. However, what he neglected to tell us was that he is a lead in the hot Broadway production 'Book of Mormon' which has recently won 9 Tony's including Best Musical. He took us on a tour of New York City the way a NYFA-MT student needs to know it through Soho, Times Square, Broadway and the Lincoln Centre. The most amazing part though was when he organised for us to have backstage access to 'Book of Mormon'. As I went through the doors and eventually ended up centre stage in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre I had so much vision stirred up inside me. It was a moment of perfect alliance. The future, the big dream waiting on the present menial dedications. The law of seed and harvest. Kevin Singleton - another awesome name - says this: "...the harvest is always later, but it's always greater!"

This week I start with my classes, finally. I got my schedule on Friday and all I can say is if you're looking for me just make sure it's never between 09:00 and 18:00. Oh, and that is Monday to Friday. I have two kinds of dance this semester, ballet and jazz, and I have both those classes on my first day. Haven't danced a day in my life, but that's one of the things I'm most excited for. It's a brand new challenge so it is a little scary, but so exciting though.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others."

—Marianne Williamson

Sink Or Swim

New York City is not for the faint at heart. There is no time to 'find your bearings' and there's no time to ask too many questions. You move it along and if you get it wrong the first time, you do it again until you get it right. No one is going to help you out. No one cares that you're not a local. And no one is interested in your personal situation.

As grim as this opener might sound, I still rate this as one of the best places in the world. I have totally fallen in love with this city and it's personality. The fact that things are so fast-paced and people seem cold is exactly what drives you to figure things out on your own until you get it right. In physiology, the phrase 'fight-or-flight-response' is often used to describe the body's reaction and general adaptation to stressful situations and this is, psychologically, exactly what I have had to do in the past couple of days. I have only been here for a little under a week, but it feels as though I was born here now simply because I had to discover everything myself.

I have had a really great opening week and have accomplished so much in this week alone. I have totally mastered the New York City subway system, I have found a really nice apartment in Brooklyn, I have opened a US bank account, and I am on a US cellular network. Heading into orientation week I still need to move in to my apartment and get furniture for the place, but hopefully I can handle that smoothly.

I haven't had the opportunity - or the time - to do any touristy activities while here, but as time goes on I'll do my best to get around to doing that and posting about those experiences.

I'm really über excited to start classes this coming week and the enormous privilege and blessing this is has only just recently sunk in. I have had a little preview of the kind of things I'll be getting up to from a friend of mine who studied musical theatre as well. I'm going to be totally immersed in dance, music, voice instruction, and film craft. With that total immersion, though, comes little time for anything else apparently so I'll take this opportunity to apologise in advance if I don't come up for air very often. 

Tomorrow is my first Sunday in New York City and no prizes for guessing where I'll be headed in the morning: CHURCH! I have a short list of 3 churches which I will be visiting before ultimately joining one. I am starting this week at Hillsong Church in Irving Plaza which is cool because I have already met a volunteer from there on the streets of Manhattan during random conversation. Coincidence? Maybe not.

Untill next time...