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Dalia Wolfson

Dalia Wolfson is a senior at Hunter College High School in New York City. She speaks English, Russian, Hebrew, and can discuss airplanes, vacation locations, Mexican film and other topics in Spanish. In her spare time, Dalia enjoys intense hiking, trying out different tea flavors, drawing with charcoal, participating in school clubs, writing in notepads, playing tennis, and being a bookworm in the Big apple.

Teen Night at the Guggenheim

by Dalia Wolfson on July 25, 2012

in High 5 Freelancer,Teen Reviews,Teens on NYC Teen Programs,Visual Arts

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Museums are great in the daylight – all noble marble columns and elderly white-haired curators – but every little curious mind has wondered what it is, exactly, that happens in the dark.

E.L. Konigsberg’s The Mixed Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler indulged that question in the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Night at the Museum gave it a roar in the Museum of Natural History. The  Museum Mile Festival opens its doors for three hours longer on one humid summer evening every year, and art-crossed lovers wander 5th Avenue with Starry Night on the mind.

Last week, the Guggenheim, too, entered that afterhours fantasy world, hosting its first-ever “Teen Night.”  From 5 ‘til 8:30pm, teens were invited into the annex levels to view the work of Dutch portrait photographer Rineke Djikstra. The program also included a talk with the artist, senior curator Jennifer Blessing, and Almerisa, one of Djikstra’s longtime subjects. The event was staffed by teens from the in-house volunteer program and the NYC Museum Teen Summit, a collective of youth leaders dedicated to improving teen programming in local arts institutions. Each teen docent circulated around a room, dressed in all black but for a bright, round orange button that said “Ask Me About Art!”

Djikstra’s retrospective at the Guggenheim features many moments of transition: maidens becoming mothers, students becoming soldiers. But the most prominent shift in this exhibition is adolescence. Djikstra is an expert in the art of awkward: behind her lens she captures the uncomfortable gap between child and young adult, from girls on South Carolina beaches to dancers in nightclubs. [click to continue….]

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High 5 Interviews Teen Playwright Sofia Johnson

by Dalia Wolfson on August 24, 2011

in Interviews

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22 Stories, a FringeNYC show currently playing at IATI Theater, showcases both a distinct age and an exceptional playwright. Seventeen-year-old Sofia Johnson, a senior at Bard Early College High School, has written a play that captures the angst, torment and conflict of teenage years, from an insider’s perspective. 22 Stories follows Nicole, a motivated, academic student as she struggles to come to terms with the suicidal drop of her twin sister, Natasha. I sat down with the purple-haired prodigy Sofia to discuss the play’s trajectory, from a script on paper to a show at the Fringe.

The High 5 Review: As a twin, I can definitely relate to the idea that you present in 22 Stories of two siblings with divergent personalities. Did you imagine Natasha and Nicole first as extremes and then as characters?

Sofia Johnson: Yes, I did imagine them as extremes. The idea of twins having these polar opposite personalities and having to confront these differences constantly – because simply, technically they’re so close all the time – creates something that is very interesting to see on the stage. It was only after writing some scenes between the twins, along with some internal monologues, that I was able to understand who these people were and where they were coming from. So the characters eventually began to speak for themselves, and it was amazing.

H5R: I can imagine that seeing those paper characters come alive must have been thrilling. That process – casting, revising, and rehearsing – is often a very intensive one. Was there a main challenge that you had to overcome?

SJ: I did have writer’s possessiveness; with the ending, it took a long time to figure out. There were a lot of scenes where the director, Anna Wilson, would have one idea, and if the thought of the idea was really not working with the words of the play, I would have to restrain myself from saying, “No, that’s not how it is!” We needed to figure out the ways that she and I were in control, and trying to make them coexist. But it was great to have someone that I trusted so well and had known for so long, because this is my first show: if anyone’s going to mess it up it might as well be her, because at the end of the day we would still see eye-to-eye on many of the things.

Overall, though, I do try to be open-minded, but there are still some things that tick me off – like when the cause & effect gets thrown off… that’s when my Mama Bear instincts kick in. Is it a challenge? Yes. Did things go back to the way I had originally wanted them to? Also, yes.

H5R: So you got your way, in the end?

SJ: Yeah, it was kind of a U-Turn of things first not going quite the way I want. Then I object to it, and then I finally get used to it and suddenly, “Oh, just kidding, we’re changing it back again.” But obviously right now, I’m very happy with the way it is.

H5R: Okay, so now one of those dream-situation questions: if you had a few more minutes beyond the Fringe limit, or a few more months beyond the deadline, what would you do?

SJ: If I had a few more minutes or months to write, I might have expanded on the home life of Nicole and Natasha. It’s such an interesting home life, where the parents sympathize more with the rebellious teenager than the studious one; it would be interesting to see that interaction and would shed some light on how Nicole and Natasha developed into those two types of teenagers. I would also expand the friends scene, because I love her friends and they’re so much fun to write. In terms of the ending…I don’t want to think about it anymore, I am done with it.

H5R: How was opening night? Were there any surprises, pleasant and otherwise?

SJ: The house was less than half-full, but the pleasant surprise came from our fabulous venue director, who told me that our show had sold more seats than any other show that day, which was the opening day of all of Fringe in general. And of course, it’s been a pretty rewarding experience to hear people’s feedback, because the show’s been within this small circle of people who have been acquainted with it, in and out, for six weeks, and to have other people look at it was refreshing. It’s nice to be able to take your head out from underwater every once in a while.

H5R: I just wanted to take the time to mention an especially memorable reaction – remember that lady who spoke during the talk-back with the French accent?

SJ: That was one. That was unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced.

H5R: Possibly the best quote of the night: “Twin-ness is a magnifying glass onto the universal need for unity.”

SJ: She said that!?

H5R: And it wasn’t scripted.

SJ: I think that’s the prime anecdote there. Although my friend did text me – her parents own a little coffee shop nearby- and she said that one of their regulars had come in, seen one of my play postcards, and said that she’d seen the play and loved it – which is nice, though not nearly as anecdotal as that. That really takes the cake.

H5R: People tend to write off plays about youth as “Young Adult” genre-literature. Do you think your play falls into that category? How is 22 Stories different? Does it aim to be mature, as opposed to targeting an age group?

SJ: A lot of the problems in there are especially issues that high school students struggle with. Those are everyone’s struggles, so everyone can relate…but teenagers find these challenges particularly relevant. I think one of the main aspects that distinguishes 22 Stories is that with a similar play and plot, it would be an adult dictating what they think a high schooler’s life is like. In the case of my play, this is what I feel like, as someone who is experiencing this and is explaining my own emotions, and you’ll just have to take my word for it. This is what a teenager is feeling. In that sense, yes, it can be themed ‘young adult’, though I don’t like to classify things as young adult or adult, because that can restrict audiences.

H5R: How have you been enjoying the Fringe experience?

SJ: I love it. It’s beyond amazing. Everything about this has been so completely surreal, and the fact that we went to a Town Hall meeting and I got to hear what everyone’s show was about….knowing my play fit in with all of these shows and then having auditions, realizing that here are people who want to be in a show I’ve written- that was crazy, too. Being in tech and being in the house, thinking that I was going to have my work here and seeing it on stage all the time – it’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

H5R: And finally: with your show on stage and going strong, what have you learned? What’s the “Take-away”?

SJ: I’ve realized that I want to do it again, that I want to have more plays put on with more actors…that I want to write. I’ve caught the playwright bug.

The final  performances of 22 Stories will be on:

Fri, Aug 26, 2011, 7 pm
Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 3:15 pm
*Learn more and buy tickets here!

And look out for Sofia’s work in the future – she’s currently revising a new play about a small-town teenager who impregnates his girlfriend, then runs away to hitchhike with a band of travelling anarchists.

Tagged as: FRINGE Festival, FringeHIGH, FringeNYC, Teen Interviews, Theater

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Maria Jose Arjona tells High 5 HER story

by Dalia Wolfson on June 1, 2011

in Feature Articles,Interviews,Teen Reviews

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Maria Jose Arjona is performing as a part of No Longer Empty's exhibition "About Face," on view at their temporary Houston Street location through June 12, 2011. Photo by Lauryn Gerstile.

If you walk down East Houston Street on any given day in early June, you’ll notice a few storefronts. There’s Café Earth Matters, a vegan joint selling smoothies made of root vegetables you can’t name and filled with couches whose yellow stuffing is falling out in artsy cascades. A little farther down you’ll glimpse Laboratorio del Gelato, an acclaimed center of research investigating all possible flavors of that Italian ice cream imported into America. But the newest neighbor occupying a storefront in the area is No Longer Empty, temporarily located at 215 East Houston St and Ludlow St.

In fact, No Longer Empty makes a career out of opening up shop in vacated spaces. NLE is veritably a travelling contemporary art gallery, assuming the shape of its space with site-specific installations, educational programs and community outreach efforts.  This latest exhibit, About Face, on 215 E. Houston Street explores different modes of communication, the evolving role of multimedia in art and the human element of 21st century society.

Maria Jose Arjona’s performance continues through June 12. Go see her and get a story!

Between the canvases and screened art pieces of the exhibit stands a lone figure in a spidery black dress, surrounded by stories wound onto tapes. Maria Jose Arjona, a performance artist, has literally installed herself in the exhibit. As an artist seeking to create performances with universal appeal, Maria Jose has made her work accessible by using the most basic, comprehensible of art forms – the body. In today’s digital age, there are many layers to push through until a point of connection is reached: tangles of circuits, hidden-meaning emoticons, netiquette, “offline” indicators, words that are copied and pasted and rewritten again. Yet Maria Jose represents the initial mode of communication – oral transmission, words in their first form as they emerge from her, telling the story of the human race.

As a High 5 Freelancer and member of the newly-launched NLE Youth Docent Program, I had the remarkable opportunity to speak with Maria Jose about her history and her art. The following interview is Maria’s story, but to hear a precious story told in Maria’s voice, hurry down to East Houston Street and meet the artist in her own space, face to face and personal.  Click here to read the interview:: [click to continue….]

Tagged as: About Face, Festival of Ideas for a New City, Maria Jose Arjona, No Longer Empty

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The Sixth Borough: One New Yorker’s Adventure

by Dalia Wolfson on August 26, 2010

in Teen Reviews,Visual Arts

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"The Sixth Borough" is on view at Governor's Island through September 25. It's FREE to the public and the ferry is FREE from Lower Manhattan!

There are some places where proud New Yorkers do not lurk.  The Staten Island Ferry, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, for example, seem to appear as blips on an insider’s map of the city; places to take your third cousins after their eyes start hurting from the flash of photographing Times Square.  But if those token sites are tourist landmarks, then Governors’ Island is a passing thought – the forgotten isle.  It is an enchanting experience, then, to visit this forgotten location and discover New York’s treasures anew.  This summer, however, Governors’ Island isn’t just a historic area but is transformed, courtesy of the organization No Longer Empty, into The Sixth Borough.

The Sixth Borough is an exhibition based in the rooms of four historic houses on Colonel Row, a set of residential homes previously occupied by military officers and their families.  These houses have not been properly restored or renovated; decay and water stains are clearly visible.  But while only art materials now inhabit these rooms, Colonel’s Row is truly no longer empty.  Instead, its filled with people’s memories and feelings – past and present- invested in creative work. [click to continue….]

Tagged as: Governors’ Island, No Longer Empty, The Sixth Borough

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There’s No Place Like Home (in American Art)

by Dalia Wolfson on June 14, 2010

in Visual Arts

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"Landscape #1 (Dutchess County, NY)" by James Casebere

Imagine Jasper Johns’ “Map,” that spillage of rectangles arranged haphazardly into the USA, red state leaking to blue state, bound only by the lines of stenciled yellow letters.  That, roughly, remains the state of American Art (in capitals) – undefined, multicolored and searching for some form of definition.

At this year’s Whitney Biennial (which closed on May 30), the museum world celebrated – or mourned – the creative works of fifty-five American artists for the 75th time.  Throughout the large, gray chambers of Breuer’s architecture, a variety of mediums appeared:  ink, paint, gouache, pencils, and aluminum, but also beer, dirt and blood. [click to continue….]

Tagged as: 2010 Whitney Biennial, James Casbere, Julia Fish, Maureen Gallace, Whitney Museum of American Art

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Kandinsky Circles at the Gugg

by Dalia Wolfson on December 1, 2009

in Visual Arts

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http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/images/works/49.jpg

Wassily Kandinsky. Several Circles. 1926. Oil on canvas. 140 x 140 cm. The Solomon R. Guggebheim Museum, New York, NY, USA.

Circe circle, dot dot.  This is what Kandinsky‘s…not.  While this particular rap lyric is true to the shapes that the Russian artist would explore later on in his career, those circles can’t be summarized in so many words.  No, the circumference of each round shape was deliberate, its placement on the canvas was planned and the color transparency was carefully pondered by Wassily.  He started from a point -  a desire to raise art to the level of music – and expanded it outward, into a whorl of tints, tones and thrilling compositions.  Perhaps, Euclid’s definition of a point could be applied to Kandinsky’s beginning: “A point is that which has no part.”  Kandinsky took that bottomless point and gave it a part while setting it apart – the point became a site for the compass tip, from which the circle could be drawn. [click to continue….]

Tagged as: The Guggenheim Museum

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Waiting for Godot

by Dalia Wolfson on April 26, 2009

in Theater

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Draw back the crimson curtain. It’s a vague summer afternoon here in New York City — the weather has spun its little gray kaleidoscope of rain and clouds far too many a time for the atmosphere to be determinate — and the matinee has begun, no outrageous bugles or theme music to be heard of. On the stage sits Estragon (Nathan Lane), growing increasingly frustrated with a boot stuck on his bare, scabbed foot. Eventually, he is joined by Vladimir (Bill Irwin), tall and all sharp, ungainly edges, who proceeds to muse aloud about the two thieves who witnessed — or did they? –Jesus on a cross and were alternatively saved, damned, or not even there at all.

According to the subtitle, this is meant to be a “tragicomedy in two acts”. And, consequently, a pale plot does unravel. As the minutes tick by, Lane and Irwin to and fro in a landscape consisting primarily of a naked tree (playwright Samuel Beckett‘s decorating requests went no further than that) and some rocks and mounds, added by set designer Santo Loquasto. They bicker, embrace, exchange hats and curses ( Estragon: “Gonococcus! Spirochet!”) and, ultimately, wait for Godot. In the midsection of every act, they are joined by the jovial, overbearing and aristocratic Pozzo (John Goodman), who keeps his servant Lucky (John Glover) on a rope, with the latter dragging around a portable loony housewife’s kitchen: rusty pans, picnic baskets, chicken bones and the like. Yet everything — foolish arguments, Lane’s naps, Irwin’s musical ditties — sooner or later, are meant to pass the time. Godot never comes, by the way, but the audience knows this instinctively. The question lies not in Godot’s arrival but in those in-between moments, the perpetual anticipation and that rubbery tension of interaction between the actors. [click to continue….]

Tagged as: Bill Irwin, Nathan Lane, Roundabout Theatre Company, Samuel Beckett, Studio 54, Waiting for Godot

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Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective

by Dalia Wolfson on April 14, 2009

in Visual Arts

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Francis was a man of the flesh. Forget plein air watercolors with frilly parasols and cotton clouds, dismiss the large swaths of Kandinsky blue spread across the canvas and welcome the true Bacon of art. Currently staged in clean, spacious white rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Francis Bacon retrospective invites the viewer to experience the paintings of an artist who never quite fit through the Expressionist label, never squeezed through the figurative art category nor promoted the abstraction and Surrealism of his days.

A Dubliner by 1909 birth, Bacon fled to London in his teens, and a large portion of his life was spent in that very city, gambling, drinking and witnessing the rapid cycle of decay, rebirth, destruction and terror of Europe burning. The Met exhibition chronicles Bacon’s exposure to the intense influences of wars, lovers and interior design (his first career), from a seminal 1944 crucifixion study to a jet of water in 1988. [click to continue….]

Tagged as: Francis Bacon, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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