Author: tristianaadragna

When I learned the class had to travel to the city late at night on Tuesday to hear a play reading I was a bit bummed. This changed once the play reading started. The play was attention grabbing with its storyline and characters. I found the individuals portraying the characters of the play to be deep in character having accents, strong facial expressions, and becoming one with the character. I did not expect the individuals portraying the characters to have to almost read word for word from the script and even with the script in front of them misspeaking or having to start the line over.

I enjoyed many parts of this play reading. First, was the back and forth bickering of Paula and Howe. For example, when Paula kept insisting on Howe to share his stories with Alex’s dead body at the bar. Also, when Paula and Howe first met Whitney and Joshua. Upon learning that Whitney and Joshua were gay lovers Paula was open and accepting to their sexuality, whereas Howe was more resentful calling those of that sexuality “queer.” Other parts of the play reading I enjoyed was when Leonora was singing. I thought her voice was lovely and I liked her rough edges. In certain parts of the play I even thought Leonora and Paula would become lovers based on some of their interactions yet I also thought Howe and Paula would become a couple as well. I thought the conversations with Whitney and Joshua involving death to be sweet and comical. One thing I liked that the author of the play did was the significance of Alex and how he was not only friends of Paula and Howe but a former lover of Joshua when they were both at war.

Overall, I enjoyed the play reading, despite it having to be late on a Tuesday night. The attention grabbing and comical storyline as well as the individuals portraying the characters made the experience enjoyable.

My experience going to the Joyce Theater was definitely an exhausting one since I had to rush over to the theater coming from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx from my CUNY Cross Country Championship meet. Despite my hectic travels to the theater, my experience of the dance performance itself was an interesting one. When the lights dimmed and the curtain rose to show an older gentleman shirtless I was a bit taken aback and confused. Then as the rest of the male dancers appeared on stage I go even more confused. I was not expecting the dance moves to be so robotic in a way and not fluid dance movements.

The same went for the women performances. Many of the dance moves consisted of sharp, quick movements with the arms and legs, balancing on a leg, and doing random jumping. In my opinion, I did not consider these movements to be dancing since I am an avid watcher of Dancing with the Stars and have seen both of Derek and Julianne Hough’s MOVE Live on Tour. Nothing against the dancers themselves since I feel they executed the movements perfectly, but I feel the choreography wasn’t worthy enough to be called dance. I also found it weird to have same-sex partner sections.

One thing I noticed during the performance was that the majority of the numbers were to music containing no words. The performers moved to beats and counts. Only one number in the entire performance contained music with words.

Despite my dislike that this performance was considered to be a dance, there were some aspects of the performance that I enjoyed, such as the in-hold movements with male-female partners. I thought when lifts were included that they were clean and executed perfectly. Overall, my experience was enjoyable and I’m glad the class was taken to see this performance, however, I would not consider this to be a “dance.”

When told there was going to be a guest speaker who writes poetry I honestly expected to see a scrawny man with glasses with no interest in anything else but poetry. However, I was a hundred percent wrong. Instead there was a large, punk-rock looking man before me who had a strong passion for a music genre unpopular to most people.

Rich Stremme shared with the class his passion for a genre of music hidden from most people and considered to be “underground.” I enjoyed listening to Rich share his stories from his childhood and how he would sneak into his high school principal’s office to use a specific printer to make his own magazine based off of one published in a different state.

Although I expected to learn about Rich’s poetry and how he developed an interest in it, I enjoyed learning about Rich’s favorite music, graffiti, etc. even more. Rich kept his lecture interesting and engaging. By sharing stories of scandalous things he has done in the past he was able to connect to the younger audience. I feel if it was a lecture just based off his poetry students in the class wouldn’t have been as engaged or zoned out.

At the end of the lecture Rich made things even more interesting by introducing to the class a machine from the 1990’s that makes pins and allowed everyone in the class to make their own. Overall, this was one of my favorite guest speakers.

I am not someone that likes to go to see a dance performance, an opera, or a Broadway show for fun and my ideal Saturday night isn’t exactly to go to an opera. After seeing “La Boheme” last Saturday I still feel the same way.

Viewing the performance as an educational experience I did find some enjoyable aspects of this experience. I did enjoy the few comical moments during the performance as well as the portrayal of the characters especially Marcello, Rodolfo, and Mimi. I feel I was able to understand the plot since I previously read the packets from class the performance is based off of. If I had not previously had known the basic concept of the storyline I don’t think I would have understood as quickly by viewing the performance.

I mostly found my experience to be not so enjoyable since I found myself mostly reading the translations rather than watching the stage. I often found that I would miss some gestures on the stage since I was focused reading the words. Also, since the seats weren’t the best I found myself having to sit on the edge of my seat to actually see the stage.

Although my experience at the opera wasn’t the greatest I did enjoy the storyline and small use of comedy in the performance. I don’t think I would go and see another opera.

I found Avenue Q to be quite entertaining and nothing like I expected. From the opening number of “We Live on Avenue Q” to the final scene there wasn’t a moment of boredom. It was attention grabbing, witty, comical, and extremely R rated if I must say. I found the concept of using puppets to tell the storyline an interesting choice. The portrayal of certain characters such Nicky and Rod reminded me of the characters of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. In fact, I feel that there was a connection to Sesame Street in that there was much speculation if whether or not Bert and Ernie or one of the characters were gay as well. Trekkie Monster also seemed similar to Oscar the Grouch.

I also was impressed that each performer was able play multiple roles especially within the same scene. The interchanging of voices and puppet movements didn’t seem to cause any issues when interchanging roles. I found the songs to be catchy and the choreography to be well-rehearsed. I do feel this play is not for kids despite the use of puppets. The songs “The Internet is for Porn,” “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” and “My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada,” contained inappropriate lyrics not child friendly. The use of foul language within the play and puppet sex with very graphic sexual acts are other indicators that the play not for younger children.

Overall I enjoyed the play and was entertained the entire performance. However, despite my enjoyment of the play and the overall concept of the play’s intent for the audience I do feel the use of politics should have been left out of the play. Including the lyrics “Donald Trump is just for now” as well as selling merchandise with the same saying rubbed me the wrong way. People go to a play to enjoy themselves and not think about subjects like politics. I feel the use of politics should be left out of the play even though it was for a laugh from the audience.

I thought Jackie’s presentation on Alicia Keys was very well put together. The way she describes Keys physical appearance compared to other well-known artists was a great insight to share with the class. When speaking of Keys’ personal life, I liked the inclusion of quotes and the interpretation Jackie provided. Her slides were physically appealing and despite having minimal content on the slides Jackie elaborated on each topic from memory and was able to include information not documented on the slides. I found it interesting to learn that Alicia Keys named her son Egypt after taking an important trip to Egypt when she felt like she was having a breakdown. I do wish Jackie would have included a brief video or sound bite of one of Keys’ song especially the song that Keys’ changed for the Women’s March, These Girls Are on Fire. Overall, I enjoyed Jackie’s presentation and learned some new information of Alicia Keys.

This is my second time visiting the Whitney Museum of American Art. My first visit I viewed the Dreamlands exhibit which contained moving art, three-dimensional features, screen projections, and extremely dark rooms. This time I viewed the Calder: Hypermobility exhibit which contained sculptures with a key focus on motion. Some of the sculptures are motorized and others go in motion based on timers. A few are activated at set times by hand.

As I walked around the exhibit I was amazed at the creativity of the mobile sculptures as well as the intent of Calder to have them designed to move. Each piece of art had a certain way of moving. An untitled work of art by Calder (1934) caught my attention in that this noise mobile actually relies on chance in regards to sound or the lack of sound- not only movement. This piece appeared to be constructed with wood and pipes. I thought it was interesting that in this piece the mobile was too large to fit inside the hoop, however, I learned that when in motion there is a collision creating a particular harmonic key.

Another interesting sculpture I viewed was the mobile “Red Sticks.” This caught my eye because when the mobile is in motion X’s are created when the elements pass each other. While in motion, the mobile is almost unrecognizable with each passing moment. “Fish” (1944) is a hanging mobile simply put together with glass, beads, rod, wire, string, and paint. Compared to some of the more elaborately constructed mobiles I found this one to be quite simple yet beautiful.

Overall, this visit to the Whitney was just as enjoyable as the first. Although I do prefer the Dreamlands exhibit, Calder: Hypermobility is a close second. The Dreamlands exhibit was more technologically based and Calder: Hypermobility is similar to other exhibits based on random objects put together to form a work of art- the only difference these works of art were able to move. I would definitely recommend visiting this exhibit before it is no longer at the Whitney.