One of the best parts about Macaulay are the events where we get to meet other Macaulay students, and one such event was the STEAM festival. Typically, this event is for seminar 3 classes. However, this was the first year where seminar 1 students were also allowed to come. I think the best part about this was that we got to interact with not only students our own year but also students who were older and could give us tips and advice on how to do better or what to expect. It was interesting to see the projects that all the students brought. Some brought boards and posters while others had laptops and videos. In addition, they gave out cute STEAM notebooks in which we had to accumulate a bunch of stamps that we got every time we visited a new room or floor. My personal favorite part about the whole festival was that we got to make pins and magnets. You could make as many pins as you wanted. They could be designs that were available or ur own customized design. I would definitely love to go to events like this in the future too where we could meet students from all the other campuses.
Author: zenabjamil11
Rubin Museum
The Rubin Museum definitely has to be one of my favorite museums out of all the museums we have visited in our Seminar class. This is partially because it was different from any other museum I have ever been to. The most unique thing about it was its emphasis on the power of sound and music. It also focused a great deal on many different religious beliefs like Bhuddism and had many decorative symbols all around the museum. They even had a meditation room, which was one of my favorite parts. It was an amalgam of the voices of many different random people, but the coolest part is that all those voices came together to form a cohesive sound. I would definitely recommend going to this museum to all my friends.
MOMA Museum
The MOMA was one of the best experiences I have had when it comes to museums. The best part about the art was that it was different from anything I have ever seen before at other museums. I especially loved many of the works by Rauschenberg. They defied all previously seen criteria for art. For instance, the mud muse was something I wouldn’t expect to see at a museum. I realized that a lot of his work focused on putting together different textures, materials, and sounds together to bring together an overall cohesive piece. I did however, feel like we were rushed out of the museum and would’ve liked to spend more time. In general though, I loved the atmosphere and overall setting of the museum. I would definitely go again!
Turandot Costumes
The story of Turandot was definitely one to remember. However, one of the main factors that made it truly memorable was the choice of costumes. For example, what really distinguished the regular public from royalty like Turandot was the type of fabric and the colors that they wore. The regular people were all wearing very plain white-gray clothes whereas Turandot would always appear with incredibly bright, sparkly, and flowy dresses coupled with elaborate head dresses. This helped emphasize the hierarchical structure in their society, and also distinguished important roles. In addition, make up was also a big factor because Turandot was wearing bright colors on her face as well, which were visible even from the very back row. Last but not least, the costumes also made the play more cohesive. For instance, when the regular people were running around, their lackluster clothing combined to make them all look like a wave circling around the queen, which symbolized the powerlessness of the public in front of Turandot.
Torch Song: Costumes
The use of costumes was very efficient in the show Torch Song. First of all, the transitions between all the costumes were very smooth and subtle. For instance, the main character, Arnold didn’t run backstage to change. Instead, he comfortably changed in front of the audience without letting it hinder his performance. In addition, during the scene, “Fugue in a Nursery,” the characters utilized the same costumes for the bedroom scenes and kitchen scenes. In fact, the whole time Alan was on stage, he was in his boxers. However, the actors were so skilled that they were able to let the audience infer the setting. Last but not least, the costumes were generally very casual and followed the 80’s theme. They also didn’t support the stereotypical mentality of homosexuals dressing differently than other people and were very generic with the exception of Arnold dressing in flamboyant dresses from time to time when he was playing the role of a “drag queen.”
Fall for Dance: Costumes
At the Fall for Dance, all the costumes perfectly corresponded to the specific type of music and dance, ensuring everything was in sync. Starting off with the Miami city ballet, the costumes were very traditional as they were wearing regular ballet clothing consisting of leotards and stockings. However, they were all very consistent with the purple and white theme and wore identical clothing, which added to the symmetry of the dance. As for the Vincent Mantsoe dance, the main dancer was wearing a very plain white shirt and traditional shorts resembling patterns from tribal clothing. He later removed the shirt, which added to the performance and emphasized his muscle movements. Third was the Trisha Brown company which only consisted of two dancers, who were also dressed identically. They were both wearing nude colored flowy clothing which made their clothes look like a part of their skin. This connected with the overall theme of the dance as it was very delicate and ominous at the same time. Last but not least, there was the Dorrance Dance company. The last performance was surprising because unlike all the other pieces, the dances weren’t dressed in an identical manner. Instead, everyone was wearing business casual clothing. The colors ranged from black and white to gray, which went along with the overall diversity of the dance.
-Zenab
