everyone under a giant tent waiting for the party to start. giant red and white balloons come in first, pulled along by costumed folks. From each balloon hangs a little clear cornucopia speaker that's droning on about birds and history and and and. . .
followed by a costumed DJ being rolled in at the start of a procession of bird priests (from the labyrinth I posted earlier) and other costumed folks. They stopped briefly to hand gifts to our professional and student honorees.
An announcer on stage kicks everything off officially, followed by an announcement from. . .
a giant red phonograph that lets us know that we are descendants of the birds. . .
followed by first a song through electronic megaphones and then a joyful dance by a flock of turquoise mo-hawked birds. . . but then, what's that singing behind us?
An opera singer playing the part of the Phoenix, singing on a platform 15 feet above the crowd in a costume that would make Wagner proud.
And as her song starts to wind down, a young gentleman is wheeled into the midst of the crowd, balancing on the end of an extendable hook and ladder.
And when that hook and ladder extends and raises up into the air and he drops down a length of white silk, a young woman from the audience climbs it and starts performing a kind of aerial ballet beneath him (It's totally fair at this point to assume that I am having trouble taking pictures while simultaneously tearing up and trying to clap my hands together like a little gleeful kid at the circus).
He's falling in love with her and pulls her up on to the ladder with him. Where he chases and woos her, until. . .
they perform acrobatics below the ladder together and finally. . .
kiss and fall in love. (The crowd literally melted down with delight).
And then the tent goes dark while the two lovers watch the raising of the ceremonial star that signifies all of Manifest and the passion and heat and creativity of Columbia students.
I think it's fair to say that no college anywhere in the world gives a larger or more impressive gift to their graduating seniors than Columbia. . . that's probably true in part because no other college produces a more diverse, engaging, creative bunch of graduates anywhere in the world.
(And Convergence isn't the big party for grads in the Hilton that follows this. . . and isn't even the spectacle that is graduation the following two days. We're serious. . . )
Go Columbia! Go Art!
