NYU
With a shining bright smile, a short blonde 9-year-old boy named Luke Spring opened the evening with an impressive tap dance number, riling up the crowd like a smokey cabaret lounge cheering on a young prodigy.
For 30 years, the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards have been honoring the dancers and choreographers that have gone over looked by mainstream recognition.
As producer and welcoming speaker and Patricia Watt puts it, "We're here in the middle of awards season and dancers have yet to be recognized. Well, we're here to change all that."
Jay Hayes, an NYU student (and former Joonbug staffer!), is taking on the fight against stigmas LGBT youth in sports often face. Hayes is currently the the captain of the men's volleyball team at New York University and wants to help knock down the barriers LGBT individuals experience as athletes. In conjunction with The Trevor Project, Hayes produced and starred in "It Gets Better," a video to help bring awareness to an often ignored issue.
"Athletics is the next frontier for gay rights," Jay explained to NYU Local. "When you look at the civil rights movement, it wouldn’t have been as successful if a person like Jackie Robinson hadn’t been there. I really hope that a gay athlete comes out soon. I think that professional sports these days are just a business and these players know that it could hurt the brand and the bottom line if they came out."
Meet John Hamilton – a 23 year-old DJ making his way through the ever-present dance music scene. He’s opened for the likes of Steve Aoki and TV Rock and most recently turned heads at The Belvedere Music Lounge at the W South Beach during Miami Music Week. Like most, I was there to check out the event and see the heavy hitter lineup that featured Sander Van Doorn, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano and Tiesto, among others. But it wasn’t Tiesto nor Sander that had everyone talking. Instead, it was Sacramento native John Hamilton that got everyone's attention. He has the stage presence that resembles some of the greats, a talented ear, an ambitious attitude, a humble personality and a great look - a lot of qualities that could potentially result in superstardom. I sat down with the NYU senior to find out how it all began and where it’s going.
To be with Elizabeth Olsen is to be at once starstruck and nostalgic. Her face, strikingly similar to billionaire sisters Mary Kate and Ashley, brings to mind so many memories of "Full House" episodes and "Brother For Sale" singalongs.
But for someone who has barely arrived on the big screen, she carries herself...well, like a movie star. The easy smile, the gentle complexion, and the trademark Olsen figure (slender, though at 5-foot-seven she towers over her sisters) give her an air of glamor beyond her 22 years.
Sitting at home, drinking a half-gone bottle of bourbon, an idea popped into the head of failed pop star Poppy Chaos. With a brilliant new viral video, she could steal the spotlight back from longtime rival, and onetime classmate, Stephani Germanotta. The plan: wear some weird stuff, and sing about it.
At least, that was the plan.
Jenny Jaffe, who created Poppy and her music video, thought it would be fun to pretend to be a pop star and goof off by making a parody. Now, after posts on Buzzfeed and Gather, the 21 year-old NYU student is starting to wonder if people get the joke.
The Play
Last Friday, September 9th, was the concluding performance to the compelling tribute play 110 Stories by Sarah Tuft. Produced by Broadway genius Jennifer Maloney (Spring Awakening and Legally Blonde), this collection of vignettes, breached time and space to bring you, safely, back to the tragic day the World Trade Center collapsed.
After an hour delay, due to a box office mess-up, we were seated with only a minute before the performance started. Heartbreakingly, actors like Stephen Baldwin, Tony Shalhoub, and Samuel L. Jackson began reading people’s accounts of the day, just before the attack. Jackson played a man who took work off that day to teach his daughter how to ride her bike without training wheels. “It was the most beautiful day," he read in that solemn voice. “Why is it always that something tragic happens on what you think is the perfect day?”
So it's late summer, NYC. It's about 92 degrees outside and my editor calls me up to see if I can go do some field research on a new gelato spot. The universe is on my side. I waste not a minute and head on over to Amorino that evening.
The European chain has chosen the perfect Union Square spot to infiltrate the US -- right smack dab in the middle of NYU-ville. They boast 22 flavors of gelato, and the favorites among the crowd (from what I scooped) were Hazelnut and Pistachio. But to compare with ZacYoung's donuts around the corner at Flex Mussels, I decide I'm going to go for Caramello a Burro Salato (Caramel with Salted Butter).
New York University student Hana Newman has designed a dress to combat pollutants in the air. The “8” dress is a seemingly strange transparent bubble dress that filters the air for the user. It is also an art piece and a statement.
Of Newman’s creation, she comments:
“8 challenges inverted quarantine and the response to perceived toxic environments by exposing it's folly and highlighting the next trend in the green movement with an elegant dress.
Name: Ashlee Leitner
Originally from: San Antonio, Texas
Currently: NYU Student, Class of 2011
Wearing: Shoes- Dolce Vita ; Dress- American Apparel ; Sweater- Vintage
Describe your style: Classic, Creative, and Cartoonish
Dream job: Filmmaker
Darwin Deez joined !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) to play an energetic set at NYU’s E & L Auditorium at the Kimmel Center on March 31. The event was arranged as part of a benefit called "Dance Against Cancer", a project from the NYU's Program Board, IRHC and the American Cancer Society, which was initiated to raise funds for the cause.
Darwin Deez' delightful indie pop set included tracks off his self titled debut album, which included the released singles 'Radar Detector' and 'Constellations'. They also played a fun rendition of Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' for good measure and further managed to up the goof factor by including a couple of dance routines that rivalled what the Spice Girls used to bust out with.
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