Sophie Smyke

“Wild cats everywhere,

Inside Elysian Fields Café, an eclectic collection of furnishings straight out of a Crate and Barrel catalogue gives the space a homey ambiance. Don’t be fooled, though; a continuous playlist of fist-pumping techno music reminds patrons that this Mediterranean restaurant wants to be hip.

The packed pews of Times Square’s Church of Saint Mary were abuzz with excitement as the Tallis Scholars, a renowned Renaissance and early music group, took the stage on Saturday night. The Church’s wooden doors gave way to a high-arched ceiling filled with dim amber light. Opened in 1894, Saint Mary’s Gothic Revival architecture sits just half a block away from the bright fluorescent billboards and bustling sidewalks of Broadway.

Columbia Ballet Collaborative presented seven unique and captivating pieces at this Sunday’s Fall Performances at the 55th Street Ailey Citigroup Theater.

The Columbia University Ballet Ensemble showcased talent and artistic integrity in last Sunday’s performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center.

“Capturing the Flag,” a new documentary by Anne de Marre, was screened Tuesday evening at the Event Oval of the Diana Center, followed by a discussion between the film’s director Anne de Marre, and Flora S. Davidson, professor emerita of political science and urban studies.

I’ve never read or watched Harry Potter, and I have no plans to change that. This “fun fact” was one of the first things my first-year roommates learned about me—the topic came up even before we unpacked our suitcases on the first day of the New Student Orientation Program. And although they’ve graciously come to accept my inability to pick up on Harry Potter references, that moment of misconnection felt especially significant. I felt an unjustified guilt for having no relationship to the series.

The Vijay Iyer Sextet, a renowned jazz ensemble, came into its Saturday evening performance at Columbia’s Miller Theatre with reputation on its side and the talent to live up to it.

Barnard Library’s new home in the Milstein Center has sparked a new wave of innovation and programing for students and Columbia community members. One of these new programs is the library’s “Feminist Film Series,” which has already hosted three screenings since the beginning of the semester.

Students, faculty, and community members filled Schapiro Hall’s Davis Auditorium on a rainy Wednesday evening last week to watch the new documentary from Julia Bacha, GS ’03, “Naila and the Uprising,” followed by a discussion with the director. The film, co-hosted by the Columbia Center for Palestine Studies and the Institute for the Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, recounts Palestine’s First Intifada through the story of political and women’s rights activist Naila Ayesh.