All the freebies in New York in the summer are great, aren’t they says my friend J. We’re on the way to see how Hidden Forest unfolds.

Elaine Summers was 82 when she designed this dance piece in 2007. It’s set to music wound around Dante’s and Italo Calvino’s words. The work is collaborative with Carman Moore and Ione, who wrote a poem she read to Pauline Oliveros’ accordian all making a contribution.

J has some familiarity with one of the artists involved, Moore. I am a blank slate. We encounter the dancers approaching the dance site, taking careful, measured steps across the Lincoln Center campus. This is oddly thrilling to me. Much of the work once we are seated is obscured by heads and trees. Outdoors doesn’t offer the best sight lines. Still fun. After there is audience participation, a bit overheated, like the evening.

Glad we went, J and I say to each other. Also, dinner, pre-theater as it were, at The Smith was truly excellent.

[For anyone wondering, it was not free.]

During our meal, we witnessed a puzzle that entertained; a family occupied the seats next to ours, and chatted, dropped a plate to the floor, then left without dining. Once would have seemed like an oddity, but it happened again, minus the plate drop. When a third group, children of similar magnitude, appeared, I wanted to take book. FYI, I woulda lost.