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The Principles of Uncertainty R i v k a R a s s –––Multimedia New York The Principles of Uncertainty Brooklyn Academy ) of Music ) BAM 30 Lafayette Ave , Brooklyn , NY 11217 www . bam . org In times of uncertainty , times of destabilization and insecurity or , in other words – in the Age of Trump , when politics , and even the weather , conspire to trick us , it was a pleasure to view The Principles of Uncertainty , a multimedia performance using words , drawings , music , song , and dance to express the spirit of the time , and off er us an alternative . So what is The Principles of Uncertainty , sung , danced , and illustrated on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music ) BAM ( , the bastion of every novelty and daring expression in the arts ? When the dense one - hour performance was over , I was left feeling uplifted . When the world itself teeters in the quick sand of uncertainty , the only thing a person who , like myself , feels powerless to change the course of history , can do is to energize the life we have and not give in to despair and helplessness . Judging by this performance – where joie de vivre takes over the stage , it is the life force and the celebration of the life we have that is the answer to uncertainty . That ’ s what this performance does , successfully . A very simple performance , using simple means and the absolutely minimum props . -No one tries to overwhelm the audience with technological hocus - pocus or light games . In the corner of the stage , the writer , her white hair illuminated , sits inside a narrow closet , its double door wide open , observing the stage . Six dancers , four women and two men , in everyday clothes , crisscross the practically empty stage joyfully , almost soaring , to the classical and popular music played by a small band – accordion , violin , cello , and flute – situated on the stage throughout the performance . The flutist , an attractive woman , alternates between the fl ute and singing an old Neapolitan folk song , while the dancers dance . It all conveys a feeling of spontaneous joy and freedom , freedom of movement , freedom of being . At the same time , it is clear that some kind of order underlies this explosion of freedom and spontaneity . How can order and disorder co - exist ? Can certainty dwell within uncertainty ? If we can fi nd order within disorder , can we fi nd certainty within uncertainty , security within insecurity ? The performance is a collaboration between choreographer John Heginbotham , a member of the famous Mark Morris Dance Group , and the celebrated writer and designer , Maira Kalman , –born where else –!? in Tel Aviv . Her family escaped the pogroms in the Soviet Union , and moved to Israel , and when she was four , they left for New York . Kalman became a renowned designer and writer , illustrating covers for the New Yorker , writing a monthly column for the New York Times , lecturing on TED , and publishing 18 children books read by children and adults alike . The Principles of Uncertainty is , in fact , the title of a 2007 book by Kalman , a book rich in drawings , which are now projected on stage . The result of the collaboration is an elaborate collage of moving images culled from history , design , memory , and objects . The Principles of Uncertainty is a compilation of Kalman ’ s New York Times columns , part personal narrative , part documentary , part travelogue , part chapbook . Her brilliant , whimsical paintings , ideas , and images – which
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