Author: katrad13159

The journey to the play was chaotic. Chemistry ended at 6:20 and my classmates and I tried to rush to the 7:00 ferry to the city. Unfortunately, we did not make it until for the 7:30 ferry. I was also rushing to the event so that it would end quickly because I had a test the next morning. However, I really liked this event as well. When we finally reached the Macaulay building, the play reading began. The performance was a very novel experience. I have never seen a live performance that was very unconventional with no setting/technical production. There were no costumes or props; it was solely focused on the actors. This type of performance was very fascinating because I was not distracted by anything on the stage; all the focus was on the actors which made it more remarkable. I also learned another remarkable thing about the play in which the actress who played Leonora, had improvised during her song scenes by actually singing out the lyrics rather than just telling them. I find it extremely hard to find a rhythm to sing with the lyrics.

The play itself was funny and appropriate for audience of my age. It was not childish nor too mature or sophisticated, The comedy was understandable and actually humorous. The context of the play was so comfortable because of the language such as the cussing, and the background of the situation such as the gay couple. The accents of the actors was performed excellently and the personas of the actors were executed very well. However, there were certain moments in the performance where I was confused whether the pauses were too long or if the actors forgot their lines. I was so focused on the story that I was waiting for it to keep going. I was also confused by the script fro  beforehand about the gender of Whitney. The acting was very helpful in clarifying it and showing it from the beginning of the play.

Overall, the play was very refreshing like Avenue Q and again reminded me of my discussions of existentialism in the my senior year of high-school English class.

 

During my middle school years, I was in the dance talent class so I learned about different types of dances including modern dance. From my previous dance education, I was able to analyze Garth Fagan choreography. I saw influences from Martha Graham and similar dance moves from Alvin Ailey’s famous production, Revelations. However, I saw that this production tried to refrain from having an overall religious tone and made it more engaging. It was not so mature in the end when the dancers were wearing modern clothing and using contemporary music. It was also a very buoyant dance where every dancer was smiling and seemed to enjoy the dance.

Even though the production was not as mature and sophisticated which I liked, modern dance is still not my taste. My life predominately focused on ballet so I always saw dance as a feminine movement and portraying a story. However, I was constantly nitpicking the dancers’ forms especially in their hands and feet. In ballet, the hands are always in a certain form that exuded femininity. In this production, their hands were either flat or fisted which really stand out to me. Also, the feet were flexed in my moments of the production which is completely different from ballet in that feet are almost always pointed. In addition, most ballet productions easily conveyed a story based on the technical production of the setting on the stage and the dancers’ movements and costumes. In this performance, the costumes were somewhat plain and not very additive to the story of the dance. This is why it was difficult for me to decipher the story it tried to convey if there was any.

What I did appreciate in the performance was the strength and effort these dancers put in. As they were dancing, there were some movements that required a lot of agility and strength. You can see all of their muscles and the sweat it took to keep a certain pose such as balancing on one leg. Even some of the veteran dancers were able to do certain things that I can’t even do anymore!

This was one of my favorite events to go to because of my dance hobbies. Even though modern dance is still not preference, I was grateful for the first live modern dance performance I got to see.

Our guest speaker, Rich Stremme, showed us his versatility as an artist. He is a poet, music artist, and a drawing artist on both paper and people! He showed his old graphic novels where I was fascinated on his ability to reprint images from other sources so perfectly with ink onto the graph paper notebook. You might he just printed it using a printer, however, it’s not as easy as it seems. For example, if you wanted to put in a comic strip, I believe he would use xerox ink blotting which would reprint the strip onto the paper by hand. Unfortunately, the images were all monochromatic so it was unable to print out all the details of the image, but it was still so cool to be able to do it.

He also showed his awesome book of tattoos he has drawn on people or collaborated on. I have always wanted to get one and I am grateful that he even gave us an insight on how to decide where to go to for tattoos so that we can get the safest option. He showed us how the sterilized tools should look like if we ever decide to get one.

He also gave us some insight into the punk rock world and how his life was brought into that world. Personally, the music and style is still not my taste, but I appreciate how meaningful the genre actually is because it started as a way for musicians to express their dislike towards something such as a political issue. And these people were unapologetic which is something I can relate to. However, I think I am going to stick to my soft rock music such as Queen.

I find it also amazing that a punk rock star can still be soft in his arts in that he is a poet. It was so interesting to find out that Stremme taught at Brooklyn College. He reminds me of Twyla Tharp, who I researched for my paper, because he is a such a versatile artist like she was. And they are two completely different people. But art allows any person of all likes to delve into numerous kinds of arts.

What really made everyone’s day was the pin making. It was such an easy and fun process to express ourselves. It was cute and funny at the same time. I didn’t realize how easy it was to make pins!

The opera was a fascinating experience and is something I can say I have witnessed that my friends have not yet done. Even though I have not been converted into a crazy fan of the opera genre, I can say it was an appreciative experience. I was able to admire the tremendous talents of the amazing performers and their ability to sing at those volumes! Also, the setting and technical details of the opera was amazing. The scenes looked so realistic with the snow falling and the stage set-up. I really appreciated how much effort the technical team took to make the stage as realistic as possible to the point of building a house! However, it was quite difficult to pay attention to the scene when you have to read the translation of dialogue on the seat in front of you.

The event was different for me because I have never been to Lincoln Center either. It was also quite scary because the seating looked so steep! I had to constantly grab onto the rails so that I would stay calm about the possibility of falling over! But having friends around me comforted and calmed me down. What was funny during that night was after the first scene because Andrew and I thought the first break after the first scene was the intermission, so we went to the bathroom. However, it wasn’t an intermission and we ended up getting locked out of the opera! Haha! But the employees told us we could watch the performance on the orchestra level where there was a TV showing the play. We missed out on watching the horse/donkey performance in real life, but at least we weren’t completely missing out.

I suggest going to an opera once in your life so you can say you have done it and did something different and unexpected. Who knows, maybe you will actually like the opera. I might have actually really loved the opera if it were only in English and had more comedy.

Like everybody else, I was not really eager to go to the city the day before a school day and in the rain. I was also not very enthusiastic about going to an Off-Broadway musical because of the immediate stereotypical image I had about musicals being family-friendly and Off-Broadway shows being weird and sketchy. However, I found myself completely wrong with Avenue Q.

I can say without a doubt that Avenue Q is one of my favorite musicals I have ever seen and has beaten any Broadway or televised musical I have ever seen. It was very refreshing because I thought we were going to see the overplayed or overused type of musical like The Lion King It was not completely relatable in the sense that all the aspects and events that happen was something I was able to relate to. But the genre and style of comedy the musical portrayed reminds me of my generation right now. We are a crude, unapologetic, cynical, and confused group of individuals and this musical connected and represented that notion. That is why I loved it so much. Yes, the puppets were having sex and there was a slutty puppet, but instead of being naturally disgusted it, I saw the humor in it. Also, I realized almost every joke I was able to understand because of my age. The comedy was also not childish, rather more mature and I felt mature from being able to understand the comedy.

I was also able to understand the existential crisis that Princeton was going through. Last year in my English class, we extensively discussed existentialism and its moments in our lives and future. I was also able to relate to Princeton because I too do not know my exact purpose or I’m not completely devoted to the purpose I have in mind. It was also refreshing and different that the musical ended without an exact solution to the Princeton’s problem like every other production.

Overall, the musical was very different than anything I have ever experienced. I would like to thank Macaulay and Lisa French for taking me to this musical. I am seriously thinking about going back with my close friends!

The Brooklyn Museum was not what I was expecting. From what I heard before, it was supposed to have a lot of modern art pieces from artists like Kehinde Wiley. Unfortunately, in my opinion it did not really distinguish itself from my generalized or stereotypical view of museums. It had a lot of classical art, landscapes, marble statues, and an Egyptian exhibit. However, there were some pieces that reminded me of discussions we had in seminar.

The piece, Young Woman Overtaken by a Storm by Chevalier Féréol de Bonnemaison, reminded me of the discussion during seminar about how most European art with female subjects depicted them in a vulnerable state and looking at the audience or at an undisclosed subject. They were supposed to be worried or aware that the audience was looking at her and judging her appearance. In this image, the woman is caught in a storm and looks worried. Most women in European art were also depicted as damsels in distress which reflects the sexist and patriarchal society during those times.

The next images were discussed in the audio files by my group during the museum trip.

 

Even though the museum was not as spectacular, I enjoyed the social aspect of it. I made sure to not group with people I already knew very well so that I could meet more people from my Macaulay class which ended with some new friendships!