Has it been a week already?
January 29th, 2010 by barbara
What a wonderful weekend it was.
Innovative Juggler Greg Kennedy presented a panoply of juggling techniques, then with the help of amazing aerialists, inventively engineered juggling contraptions and dazzling special effects. For a lecture demonstration Kennedy showed how each performance was done based on the principles of motion, light, energy, and gravity.
Part physics presentation, part dance performance, Redshift Productions’ Dance of Scales took the Light in Winter audience to the nano, micro-, and millimeter scales before bringing it all back to the human dimension. An experience in physics and dance like never before featuring a physicist, a company of dancers and a live doumbek hand drummer.
Cal Tech physicist Ken Libbrecht illustrated his unique process for capturing and photographing complex snowflakes in nature, then showed how those complex structures can be grown in the lab, even showing the growing in process! The results are stunning images, themselves works of art.
Do we approach wild animals with fear or understanding? Ron and Andrea Riddle shared their experiences of saving a timber wolf, Chance, from being euthanized by creating an “interspecies pack” with the animal. Jody Enck from Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources shared results of his research in human reactions to the idea of restoring wolves to the Adirondacks, and how the Riddle’s reaction to Chance provides another understanding of our relationships to wild animals. The audience even got the opportunity to meet the majestic Chance in person!
Cornell enology professor Gavin Sacks took the Light in Winter audience through an experience of tasting the history of how chocolate became the bittersweet sensation that we know and love today while Tammy Travis, chef and chocolatier at Sarah’s Patisserie, demonstrated how chocolate is tempered and made into the delicious delectables, that were then handed out to audience members.
And The Klezmatics brought the house down at the State Theater Saturday night, with a hora line snaking around the auditorium.
Can’t wait to start confirming next year’s performances!
