LINCOLN CENTER — Before designers and models crowded the plaza of Lincoln Center for Fashion Week Sunday, a group of 100 dancers offered a moment of silence in tribute to the victims of 9/11.
Dressed in gleaming white shirts and pants, the dancers performed the "Table of Silence Project 9/11," a free tribute and prayer for peace conceived by chroeographer Jacqulyn Buglisi and the Italian artist Rossella Vasta.
"I just thought it was incredibly moving and beautiful," Kathleen McKeen, 51, a social worker from Queens, said Sunday morning after seeing the early-morning performance.
Scheduled to time with the exact moment the planes hit the World Trade Center that morning on September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., spectators said the moment hung in the air of the usually hectic and bustling Josie Roberston Plaza, especially in the midst of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
The Buglisi Dance Theatre performance began at exactly 8:20 a.m., when the dancers appeared from the east and west sides of the Revson fountain and reached for the sky.
Then, accompanied by the beating of a single drum and a singer, the dancers moved around the fountain, eventually ending with the dancers holding 100 plates in a moment of offering.
The plates symbolize unity, according to the artists.
"The Table of Silence Project represents the common threads of humanity which unite all mankind into a single force with common goals and aspirations regardless of race, culture or religion," modern choreographer Buglisi said. "Through this event we wish to achieve the dual purpose of celebrating and honoring peace, through listening, a united moment of silence..."
Although the piece was not part of the Fashion Week activities at Lincoln Center, many agreed that the moment was a welcome acknowledgement of the anniversary events Downtown amid a very different setting.
"There was a nice oneness with the crowd," said Scott George, 51, an electrical engineer from the West Village, "There was a wide spectrum."
