flâ·ne·rie * flän(ə)ˈrē * noun * aimless idle behavior

Place a beloved illustrator/artist/author on the stage. Mix in an exciting dance company who happened to be new to me — Dance Heginbotham. Stir in a bit of whimsy, and a fun music ensemble, The Knights (featuring an accordian player and a flutist with an incredible voice.) What you have is The Principles of Uncertainty: a collaboration between artist, Maira Kalman, and choreographer, John Heginbotham. The result? The best possible unhurried stroll — the kind where you really slow down and notice things. The kind where you have time to think your thoughts and mull over your ideas. You have a joyful, playful, Kelly green innocence; a connecting and savoring; a mustard and yellow dream; a black, white, and grey afternoon of drawing, writing, making lists, and collecting. You have seeing, telling, and sharing. You have listening, simple gestures, humanity, loss, the personal, and the eclectic. You have Maira Kalman’s delightful world brought to life by John Heginbotham’s terrific dancers and choreography. What you have is a world where everything is just a little bit magic. Even the chairs in the BAM Fisher Theater got in on the act, with whimsical words on seat covers in Kalman’s distinctive hand-writing. The whole evening celebrated the extraordinary in the ordinary. Even the lowly potato finally got its due!