Author: shainugeorge

The first performance that we saw was from the Miami City Ballet. The dance itself was very simple and graceful. This correlated with their costumes. They wore simple purple leotards, which are typical outfits for ballet. I noticed however, that all the girls and guys looked the same. They all had the same pale skin and the same colored hair. The next performance that we saw was Vincent’s. His dance had the setting of an African jungle and he played a bird. He was wearing traditional African pants. His performance was very raw. The next act was Trisha’s Dance Company’s. All of the dancers were wearing white cloth. In the final performance, Dorance Dance Company’s, we saw the most variety. Everyone was wearing casual clothing or somewhat business professional clothing. Their dance was very modernized and so was their clothing. This dance company was also very diverse. We saw people with blond pixie cuts and people of all races.

This exhibit was definitely one of the most underrated trips that we went to as a class. The exhibits were beautiful to look at and hear. The museum highlighted different aspects of sound by incorporating it into Tibetan Buddhism. My favorite part was entering the Om room. It was a dimly lit room with benches. Audio was playing through the speakers of different voices chanting the word “om.” I truly felt at peace. It felt like I was transported to a different world. Another part of the exhibit that I really enjoyed were these paintings that were in the corners of the museum. Each painting looked normal at first but when you put your head up against it and your hand on the wall, you could hear the Buddhist prayers being chanted directly from the wall. It was a wonderful experience and I would want to go back again.

At the STEAM festival we presented our Chorus of Stones project. Our project was about memories and people genuinely seemed interested in what we had to say. My fellow Macaulay students particularly appreciated the show tickets that we had on our poster from the past class trips. It brought up a lot of talking points. My favorite part about the STEAM festival was the buttons. I thought it was a creative way to incorporate art into the day. I also liked talking to people from different campuses and hearing about their college experiences and their Macaulay class. I also thought it was smart to have the 3rd seminar kids present on the same day because we were exposed to what we would be doing next year.

Torch Song was one of my favorite performances that we’ve been to as a class. I feel like the actors, the comedy, and the set played a major role in this. The first scene was the dressing room of a drag queen’s show. When I first saw the set, I thought that we came to early because they weren’t done setting up yet. But I was mistaken. The disorder and chaos of the set resembled the disorder of the Arnold’s life. There was so much going on with his family and his love life that it perfectly came out in the first scene. The next scene was a conversation between both Ed and Arnold. Ed’s life was very kept together  on the outside and that’s how the set seemed as well. Everything was very clean and very simple. The next scene happened on the large bed. This was my favorite scene because they utilized the bed so well, without the audience being confused. At one end, the bed was being used as a kitchen and on the other it was an outdoor porch. I also like the 4 way conversation that happened on that bed. I felt like it went by in 2 seconds but it was so meticulously planned out. The final scene took place in Arnold’s house. It definitely looked like  a blast from the past with the old radio and the purple bunnies everywhere. I liked how the actors used the front of the stage as well. It made it feel like the audience was a part of their conversation.

When I think about acting, I think about emotion. The emotion that I could visibly see through the character’s faces and the emotion that I can hear through their voices. Our seats in the balcony weren’t ideal to watch the actor’s face since we were so far back and high up. However, because I came late to the opera, they put me in a separate room. At first I thought that we would get put in a shabby room and I would have to watch the opera from this small room on a tiny screen, but I was wrong.  This room was similar to a small mini theater and it had a huge HD screen. We were able to see all the little details on the stage and we were able to see it so clearly. It truly did feel like a movie. I was able to see the emotion on all of the character’s  faces and I could see the strain in their faces when they sang. It was beautiful. After the first act, I got to join the class in the balcony. This time, I could tell a lot about a character’s acting through their voices. There were no microphones, but some of their voices were so loud and powerful. It was truly an experience.