this magic moment

one of the questions i dread most is “what is it you love so much about new york?”. i’ve been there so often i now have something of a stock answer: “i just love to wander through all my favorite neighborhoods and stare at everything”. this is usually met with a trying-to-be-excited-but-blank look and a resounding “oh…?”. i know its a totally general and unsatisfying response, but its impossible to put into a few words what a visit to nyc is like for me. there’s the obvious reasons: the intense energy, the iconic sights, the history, the architecture, the culture, the food. but one overarching concept says it all: the sense of possibility. the feeling that around any corner you’ll find a great store, a fantastic restaurant, a gallery, an amazing building or landmark. or you’ll realize you’re standing next to janet jackson in the prada store, or elliot gould on the subway platform. there is always something random and unexpected waiting to happen.

on a beautiful warm and sunny saturday afternoon last may, i walked south from midtown on 10th avenue. the first few blocks were a bit of no-mans land, and then i began to recognize the tree-lined streets of chelsea, with row after row of picturesque brownstones. it felt as calm and serene as it ever gets in new york, and i thought, “okay, this is exactly where i want to live” – a sincere statement i make about 50 times per visit, in every neighborhood in the city. the possibilities.

i walked further south to the twisting puzzle of streets in the meatpacking district and stepped through the crowds into the west village. then down bank street, so european, to bleeker. this is one of my favorite routes, because it is also exactly where i want to live.

on the corner of bleeker and west 11th sits the magnolia bakery, a teeny-tiny shop famous for its amazing cupcakes and a cameo role on ’sex and the city’. in a town full of them, it has become a destination in its own right. there is almost always a line out the door and down the block – even as late as midnight. this is the city that never sleeps, after all, and apparently everyone stays up eating cupcakes. again, the possibilities.

across the street is a small park, and i could see something going on there. 6 girls in fuchsia satin dresses doing a kind of modern dance. slowly i realized they were performing some sort of homage to the magnolia bakery cupcake. i stood dumbstruck for a moment and then grabbed my camera.

there was music from a boombox but i have no memory what it was – i was too bowled over by the complex choreography. this was no unrehearsed, fly-by-night troupe. there was a crowd gathering by now, and everyone clapped and cheered. the dancers raised their cupcakes high, they bowed down to them.

there was a battle scene, as they paired off and fought over their cupcakes.

then, a peaceful resolution…

…followed by a chirpy celebratory dance around the statue in the park.

it was hilarious, and everyone knew it, but the dancers took it very seriously. its the worst cliche in the book, but…only in new york. and only in new york could one dancer be massively pregnant while another rather hefty girl turns out to be a beefy guy, all tarted up in fuchsia dress and the biggest pair of black pumps known to man. or, uhh, woman.

was this a marketing move orchestrated by the bakery? a neighborhood group obsessed with cupcakes? unemployed broadway actors dying to put on a show? a performance project by a student at nyu? so many possibilities, and an answer that doesn’t matter. it was silly, it was art, it was deadly serious – or was it? for me it was a fantastically random moment of magic that needed no reason. warm may afternoon, sunlight thru the bright green leaves, shiny fuchsia dresses, soft pink and yellow cupcakes held up to the cloudless blue sky. the possibility, the unexpected. is there a better reason to love new york city?