Author Archives: Sayeeda Chowdhury

Don Giovanni Blog Post – Sayeeda Chowdhury

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Don Giovanni, to me, has always been a perfect blend of comedy with tragedy. The overall storyline with Don Giovanni ‘s downfall was a tragedy. This incredible opera ends with the dragging of Don Giovanni to hell by the statue of the Commandatore as consequence to his crimes. The different sexual encounters that Don Giovanni has with the women, leading them to seek revenge, and the violent death of the Commandatore makes this opera rather grim. However, there are many comic scenes with Leporello, who I felt stole the show. His reminders to Don Giovanni of his immoral actions come in a manner of funny recitatives and arias. His close relationship with Don Giovanni allows him to say many things with no restraints and therefore, he takes the opportunity to utter many humorous remarks.

The class differences in the libretto I thought were due the naming of the characters and the way that the lower class characters talked to the higher class characters. The lower class characters were only called by only their names such as Zerlina, Masseto, and Leporello rather than Don Giovanni, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Don Octavio. Also, the lower class characters spoke formally to the characters of the higher class. Leporello, even though a close friend of Don Giovanni, spoke to him with rather respect. The same went for the way that Zerlina and Masseto spoke to Don Giovanni. They had respect for the nobleman even though Masseto knew what was going on. Also, the manner of speaking for lower class characters usually consisted of more repetitions in their arias or lines, which also went with the music.

The blend of comedy and tragedy is reflected in the music of Mozart, displaying the incredible skills that people admire of Mozart.  There are quick tempo, short repeated melodic phrases accompanying Leporello’s arias and witty remarks. Contrasting the comedy, there were long, ominous tones for the music for scenes such as the graveyard scene and the statue of the Commendatore dragging Don Giovanni to hell.  The music enhanced the opera’s emotions and cued the viewer in on all the different characters in a specific scene.  Also, when characters had arias (the long emotional monologues), the music was successfully able to capture the emotions whether humorous like Leporello’s catalogue aria or enticing like Don Giovanni and Zerlina’s aria of “ La ci darem la mano”.

I enjoyed the opera in its entirety with the costumes, grand voices, orchestral music, and incredible staging and effects. This version of Don Giovanni wasn’t the best in my opinion because even though the characters’ voices and the music was incredible and stayed true to the opera, the acting and staging was not as convincing to me. There wasn’t a flow or a nice movement through the scenes and the acting felt a little too stiff.  With that being said, the opera in general compared to the other more contemporary performances we have experienced during the seminar was much more extravagant. The experience of actually going to an opera and viewing an opera added to the grandiose performance with dressing up and viewing the beautiful opera house. The other more cotemporary performances were more focused on what was on that stage and how we felt about what was being presented to us rather than where we were watching the performance or the etiquette of watching the performance. Also, we had more or less expectations of the opera while for the other contemporary performances, anything could’ve happened.

Pina Bausch – Blog A

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After watching the performance, Pina Bausch seemed to utilize many elements of post-modern dance such as the use of simple movements and simple costumes. However, the dance had many special effects, lighting, staging and music that were not as emphasized in post-modern dance. Many movements, such as dropping stones or actions preformed during the vignettes were movements that any person could do and dance movements that were done for the sake of dance. They were ordinary and even some that had a story line such as eating or putting on makeup. The costumes of the dancers were all long dresses of various colors/prints for the women and black and gray tones for the men. They weren’t dressed in elaborate costumes but rather playing many parts and displaying many stories in the same clothing. The reason I think Pina Bausch is not in the post-modern dance classification is the high use of lighting, staging, and music. The piece we saw on Friday included many special effects. The stage split apart like ice cracking into pieces, mending, and then cracking again. The pattern repeated over and over again throughout the whole piece. There were also many different lighting effects and even moments when the whole scenery changed. There was a moment with images of water or a dark area encompassing the dancers. Also, there were various musical selections being played in different languages, different themes, and different tone colors. The overall performance felt more modern dance than post-modern dance.

Caretaker Study – Sayeeda Chowdhury

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My realistic pose was of my father. Every time we take a picture of my father, he makes this pose to mess with me and my sisters. He loves to scrunch up his nose and purse his upper lip to make us laugh. I crossed my arms and took a wider stance to show how he usually stands like a little child, stubborn and unwillingly to compromise. In order to get my father to stop, we usually have to complement him or tell him we will love him if he lets us take the picture.  He loves hearing us adore him. I chose my father for my caretaker studies because after a really hard day of school, watching television and laughing with him always cheers me up. He is a police officer and he has always been a person to help and entertain others. A big part of my interest in medicine, politics, and human rights comes from his dedication to public service and instilling that in me. When I was younger, my father was the one who made me breakfast in the morning and got me ready to go to school since my mother worked. Out of my sisters, I‘m the closest to my father since we have similar habits of talking, political ideologies, interest in sports, and overall personalities. I explained the Caretaker study to my sisters and did this pose and they knew instantly that I was mimicking him because it represents him to well: funny and warmhearted.

My abstract pose was of my older cousin.  She was an NYU student when I was young. In between her 4 jobs, studying, and her double majors, she would always bring me clothes and food home since my aunt used to babysit me. If she missed me a day, she would drop by our apartment to kiss me goodnight and drop off presents. Since I was so young when she went to college, everyone thought I was her daughter and till this day she calls me her “first daughter” (since she has a daughter of her own now). This pose represents two characteristics of my cousin: vocal/opinionated, and nurturing/caring. The calling out gesture represents my cousin’s free nature of saying what she means and meaning what she says. She studies and researches everything to become an expert on any interest she tries from interior decorating to running a small business. She is a risk taker and isn’t afraid to break tradition to pursue things she loves. She encourages me to pick up hobbies and interests and pursue them so that I chose a career I will love and have experiences I will enjoy. In the pose, my other hand is held out like I was holding a child. This part of the pose represents her nurturing and caring side that she has for me and has for her children.  She is charismatic, energetic, and cool person that children just gravitate towards. She was a big part of my upbringing and is still a huge part of my life.

Snapshot Day- Through The Looking Glass

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I entitled my photograph, “Through the Looking Glass”. October 11th, or Snapshot Day wasn’t a great day for me with the stress of my classes amounting and endless list of tasks augmenting. My sister and I were eating lunch together and I was half listening to everything she was saying since I was so frustrated and worried about all the things I had to get done. When I looked up and saw this view from the 7th Floor Bridge at Hunter College. The view was beautiful with the sun hitting parts of the buildings, creating shadow and depth to the city view. I had a feeling of tranquility and realization. The view reminded me that I was in the middle of in New York City and there are amazing opportunities, people, and experiences to be taken advantage of. Like Alice, when I look at this view I get transported into a new world (less literal for me) that comes with visions for my future and memories I wish to have in the city and that became my saving grace. I had to get through what I had to do in order to achieve my visions and cross through this looking glass.

The concepts of the rule of thirds, diagonals, and lighting played a crucial part in my photograph. I wanted to capture the view as I saw it with the light coming in, which represents my realization to the situation.  I didn’t want to just take a picture of the city but rather show my viewing of the city through this glass. I used the rule of thirds to emphasize the glass with the bottom of the glass being on the bottom horizontal line. The diagonals of the shadows show the passage of time and the depth and multitude of things that the city is composed of.

Even though my phone didn’t take a great quality picture, I will remember the thought behind the photo. Every time I’ll on sit on the 7th floor bridge, I will remember why I’m here and appreciate my surrounding and dream of what is behind this looking glass.

RoseAnne Spradlin’s “beginning of something”

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At first, the thought of watching a performance of women fully-naked on stage shocked me but the dance that RoseAnne Spradlin created was far beyond just nudity. The whole performance was a new and eye-opening experience. The dancers along with the staging, costumes, lighting, and music all journeyed through many ways, as I interpreted, women think and feel.

At the beginning, Rebecca Serrel Cyr with her guitar and silver beads, along with the dark music, dim lighting, and mirrors, portrayed confidence she felt not by what she was wearing- or in this case, not wearing- but rather with the acts she was preforming on the stage. As the audience trickled into the space, Cyr was not dressed, playing long, low notes on her bass guitar in a staccato manner. Her demeanor was calm and rather indifferent to those around her. She seemed content in her own world.  When the performance began, the lights were dim and focused on her. The musicians accompanied Cyr’s movements of putting on silver beaded headpiece and shoulder gear. The music was soft and steady as Cyr strutted across the stage as if it were a fashion runway. She had on a strong, bold face.  She represented elegance in her broad steps and straight lines that demanded the audience’s attention. It was a great start to the performance as there were many more strong fashion runway-like struts to come.

The three other women (Natalie Green, Rebecca Warner, and Rebecca Wender) wore different costumes and joined Cyr on stage, which started to display different manners of expressing the thoughts and emotions that women feel such as insecurity and vulnerability. Green came in a fur coat, Wender in a black coat and black lace, and Warner in a skirt and blue tape across her bare chest. All three of these women far more clothed than Cyr but still not fully dressed.  They strutted the stage with no expression but had a sway to their body and heads. Each reminded me of a pendulum moving back and forth creating a sense of time passing. The dancers were so grave in their facial expressions as if the days were passing right by.  At times, the dancers would leap into the air, perhaps expressing a search of strength that can only be achieved with support from others. They all moved to this dark and slow melody that really captured your attention. Each crescendo or accented note would make you search around on stage to find a contrast movement to their continuous struts and leaps in the air. When the dancers would stomp on the stage or convulse on the floor, you felt pain and vulnerability wash over you. When the dancers at some point shed off all their clothes, a climax was reached with a final mood of happiness. They walked around more confidently; as if they were more vulnerable with the little clothes they had on previously. The words that the singers were singing were: “accept me for what I am, accept me for the things I do”.  The whole concept of nudity was no longer attached to vulnerability rather being clothed was.  The dancers left the stage undressed and all smiles.

The last part of the dance really focused on how women deal with the interaction of others. The dancers came in all dressed in different costumes: Cyr in a lace and blue flowy material dress, Green in a beige and black high collar dress, Warner in a red and black stripped outfit, and Warner in a black shimmery wrap top.  They all started off walking a catwalk.  A sense of conformity came about as they walked in synchronized motions. Then, there were momentary outbursts of stomping and even screaming at a point. There was an irritation to this random movements that made you feel as if their encounter with other women caused them a sense of insecurity within themselves and chaotic thoughts to run through your mind. As I watched these loud outbursts, I felt as these dancers were just women judging each other while still feeling insecure about themselves, as many women feel on a daily basis. When they were just jumping around, the dancers looked like particles bumping into each other and reacting to each other’s movements. This reminded me of life. Their movements were random but when there was an encounter between two or more of the dancers, there was a scene created. No matter how random your decisions or journeys are, when there is a meeting up of two or more people, there is a connection, allowing each person to have a role, purpose, or reason to be there.

As I watched this performance, I let my mind just think, interpret, and feel the movements of the dancers, the tone of the music, and catch sight of the whole composition. Although I was in a state of confusion immediately after the performance, I had all these thoughts floating around in my head that I was compelled to write out all that I could on my phone on the train ride home. A movement in this last part that I really gravitated towards was when Natalie Green was stepping over the bodies of the other three dancers that were on the floor. It instantly conjured up the feeling of how there is always that one woman that will do anything to succeed even if that means stepping over others. These movements along with so many of the other movements in the performance made me think of the inner working of women’s minds. I really enjoyed the performance and it allowed me to explore experiencing a performance not just with my eyes and ears but really trying to find my own interpretations and explore my own thoughts.

Dance Review- “Darting and Stuttering Through Many Points of Light”

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“Darting and Stuttering Through Many Points Of Light” is a dance review article by Gia Kourlas, which was published in the New York Times on September 7th, 2012. The writer wrote about Jonah Bokaer and Anthony McCall’s ‘Eclipse’, which was preformed at BAM Fisher.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/arts/dance/eclipse-by-jonah-bokaer-and-anthony-mccall-at-bam-fisher.html?ref=dance

 

 

Jana Hitgano’s Self-Portrait

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My partner is Jana Hitgano. In her performance, she wrote the words, “Sometimes when words aren’t enough…” on the board. She, then, came forward to take a chair back against the wall with a large Polaroid camera in her hand. She stood on the chair and tried to take a picture of the whole class. She didn’t seem to get everyone to fit in so she got off the chair and repositioned it in the corner of the room. She still didn’t seem to be satisfied and thus, repositioned the chair one last time. When she was just about ready, she asked everyone to come closer with a hand gesture and then flashed the camera. At the end, she said, “That’s me” with a big smile on her face.

Jana’s performance was very insightful and entertaining. She used audience participation to make her self-portrait not just about her but everyone in the room. It displayed her friendly personality and desire to shine a spotlight on others. Having interviewed Jana, I know that she wants to explore photography while in college. Her many attempts at taking the picture really showed her persistence and determination to perfecting her photography skills. She took the picture not just by standing on the floor but on a chair, giving us a new viewpoint to think about.  Her smile was the constant element in the performance and it showed her positive outlook on life. The performance was great and really showcased a part of her personality to the class. Her concluding words of “That’s me” were a perfect ending.

When watching the performance over, I realized how different it feels to watch the performance without the video recorder in front of me. My main focus while watching Jana was making sure I capture her movements within the screen and zooming in at the right moments. When I watched it over, I concentrated on the various aspects of the performance and got to fully appreciate her portrait.

 

Blog Group A: Berger’s concepts at MoMA

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Discuss how you feel one can apply the concepts presented by Berger in looking at the Modern Art exhibition at MOMA?

John Berger mentions many different approaches or methods to consider when looking at art, even if at a Modern Art exhibition at MoMA. He mentions, “we can see, we are aware that we can also be seen” (Berger 9).  This helps to emphasize the concept of perspective in all art. When looking at a photograph, Berger suggests trying to understand how the photographer wanted to capture an image and what he/she saw as well as what is being displayed to us in a photograph. The intention of the artist should be accompanied by the art in front of us. An artwork can consist of a person staring at us from an artwork and trying to perceive the image from the person in the artwork can help us understand its role in a piece. What did the artist want to convey with this person in the image? While looking at some of the artwork at MoMA, the paintings and sculptures should be examined not merely by what is on display but also the purpose of the pieces.

Another point that Berger emphasizes is that reproductions of paintings do not parallel the real works of art. He states, “all reproductions more or less distort, and that therefore the original painting is still in a sense unique” (20). The reproductions do not show each stroke or groove in an artwork. Many paintings, such as Starry Night, embody texture in the work, which cannot be captured in a two-dimensional photograph or reproduction. Also, the experience of looking at the painting in the museum in person, up-close conjures up a whole different set of ideas, feelings, and thoughts that a mere reproduction cannot evoke.

The concept of perspective and understanding that a reproduction is not merely enough helps us reevaluate our experiences at MoMA. The perspective from us looking into the painting should only be one of many perspectives considered when trying to understand art. A reproduction does not give justice to a painting and looking at any painting at MoMA should consist of observing and appreciating all the details an artist put into their work that cannot be seen from anywhere else.