Certainly a show that I would not have expected to see in an art class and that I would not have seen on my own, I was surprised that I did enjoy Jerome Bell’s “Disabled Theatre”.

The show started off very slow, but it picked up when the dancer’s finally got to perform. Even though their performance’s weren’t technically sound, you could see that every one of the dancers truly loved what they were doing and that they were having  great time on stage, which made me smile.

One thing that struck me as odd at first was that Jerome cut three of the performances. I didn’t think it was fair or right of him to do that; however, as revealed later on in the show, he decided to include all 10 performances, so that made me feel better.

Just as a lifeguard bears no responsibility for people who leave the pool area, Jerome Bell does not bear any responsibility for the actors after the show. He is certainly not exploiting their disabilities for the sake of creating a controversial piece because Theatre Hora is made up of individuals who voluntarily chose to be performers because of their love for dance and artistic expression; they did not become performers to be coddled because of their disabilities. And also, even though they are disabled individuals, the dancers in Theatre Hora should be treated as normal people would be.

Overall, I had to say that I did enjoy the experience, and although I will probably never see a show like that again, I’m happy that I got the chance to.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

An opera fueled by technology and a plot pervaded by love, Two Boys was an outstanding production — one that I would even go so far as to say that it is a performance that you must see.

Its plot, which is enhanced by beautiful orchestral music and the powerful vocals of the performers, begins with the stabbing of Jake, a young boy, and Brian, Jake’s older friend, being accused of stabbing him — a crime of which he claims to be innocent. Forced to take on this case by her superior, Detective Anne Strawson immediately becomes frustrated with Brian’s preposterous story about a gardener who is a sexual predator and an aunt that is a spy — a story which she believes he has spun in a web of lies in hopes of retaining his freedom for as long as he can, since she thinks that Brian is guilty because he can be the only assailant.

Requesting the transcripts of his internet chats and reviewing the security camera footage from the shopping center, Detective Strawson sets out to solve the mystery of Jake’s stabbing and uncover the true identity of the assailant. Although she becomes frustrated at first, having to read “internet chat language” and use new devices like a computer, Detective Strawson overcomes her shortcoming and successfully pieces the story together and solves the crime.

Set in 2001, during the period and popularization and modernization of the internet that made it what it is today, Two Boys brings a more modern feel to the traditional opera with its extensive use of media — both in the plot of the story itself and in the production. Although some argue against the use of media, such as projectors, in operatic productions, Two Boys, in my opinion, takes full advantage of this media to further enhance the experience of the viewer and to underscore a main theme of it’s plot: technology.

Having both the “primary” and “secondary” events, terms that are applied by Benjamin and Auslander to the live performance of the actors and that which is conveyed to the viewer via media, respectively, only enhanced my experience of the play by making it easy to understand and clear the lines and emotion each of the actors was trying to convey. The media used in this opera added to the “liveness,” a term used by Steve Dixon in referencing the argument between those for and against the use of media in performances, of this performance, and it would not have been as powerful without it.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

After having greatly enjoyed Kyle deCamp’s Urban Renewal, I had high hopes for Anne Teresa deKeersmaeker’s Cesena; however, I left the BAM theatre in disappointment. The tickets were, in my opinion, not even worth $5, let alone the $20 we paid for them. To support my point of view, I would like to call attention to the fact that people, who willingly paid $32 (and more) per ticket to see the show, were getting up and leaving in droves — something I had never seen at a performance before.

The first third of the performance, which I could barely see, was not impressive in the least. From opening with a man screaming words in a foreign language to ending with a group of people coming out from the shadows arm-in-arm, I didn’t really get the point of the entire scene. (Around the end of the first third, a brave woman, whom I applauded, in the audience spoke out against the injustice of charging people $32 a ticket and having them not be able to see the performance.)

The second third, which I could actually see, was much better, compared to the first, with wild movements and a more active performance. the dancers seemed to come alive at this point, making the experience of watching it much more entertaining.

The final third of the performance was, in my opinion, the best part because I could clearly see everything on the stage and because the dancers were wide-awake and, as it seemed, more comfortable in their movements. The only thing I didn’t like about the stage’s being so bright was the lackluster stage, which was undecorated.

The things I like the most in Cesena were deKeersmaeker’s use of the stage, of a theme, and of lighting. With a huge white chalk circle in the center of the stage, I was reminded of an African tribal ritual, and with the hymns the dancers were singing as they performed, I was reminded of sitting at Church every Sunday. I feel like deKeersmaeker deliberately used the circle and the experience at night to create a religious theme, in which the context of the performance took place. Although I was annoyed at first that I could barely see what was happening on stage, I realize now that deKeersmaeker deliberately started the performance in pitch blackness so that she could slowly increase the intensity of the light throughout the performance, creating the illusion of night turning into day.

Overall, I do have to say that I did not enjoy deKeersmaeker’s Cesena; however, the performance, in the least, did has some ups that were somewhat enjoyable and entertaining.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

Reminiscent of the ancient bards and storytellers, Kyle decamp told the story of her childhood in Chicago with reference to the Urban Renewal project, which just so happens to be the title of this performance. The Urban Renewal project displaced a vast amount of small businesses and low-income families in Chicago in order to take land for government projects. Watching their home be demolished and being forced to relocate, deCamp and her family were victims of this government program.

Kyle deCamp conveyed her message through the view in which she experienced these events in the 1960s – through the eyes of a child. Injecting a comedic flavor into the piece by making jokes about her older sister Susan and making confused faces after her dad would tell her something profound, Kyle deCamp captured and held the attention of the audience from the beginning of her performance until the end with her playful, child-like attitude.

In this performance, deCamp makes use of multimedia devices in order to appeal to the visual and auditory senses of her audience. She did so by using sounds to set the scene or to make sound effects and also by using two projectors – one that projected an image on the screen behind her and one that projected a different image on the screen below her. She used the screen behind her as scenery shots and to display facts related to the Urban Renewal Project, and deCamp used the screen below her to help illustrate her story – like when she was explaining the floor plan of her house, for example.

Earning herself not one but two rounds of applause, Kyle deCamp put on a show with flair and gave a powerful performance. She held the attention of her audience throughout the performance with her use of her own comedic skills as well as visual and auditory effects. Although it was not what I expected, I must say that I enjoyed seeing deCamp’s Urban Renewal because it was both an entertaining and educational experience that enlightened me about a refreshing form of art I had never even heard about before – theatre art, telling a story through both acting and art.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

One of my favorite photos on the Masters of Photography website was Berenice Abbott’s “Tri-Boro Barber School, 264 Bowery”.

The image attracted my eye not only because of its urban setting but also because of the way it captured the human subject in the photo. Being much better at landscape photos of unmoving scenery myself, I always find it astounding how well others can capture the movements and expressions of people almost perfectly to suit their photographs.

Although the photographer does use the Rule of Thirds, she uses it in this photo to create a dual subject, causing the onlooker to question whether the subject of her photo is a storefront window, the box, or both.

Abbott also uses the scaffolding above the storefront as well as the column on which the boy is standing to frame her shot.

Although I’m personally really good at framing my shots, using trees and other objects to further highlight the subject of my photo, I find that framing your shots isn’t always the best option, and I’m trying to break my habit of doing that quite often. For Snapshot day, I plan on not framing my photo at all.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

I really enjoyed attending John Jasperse’s rehearsal. Having never seen choreographers plan and create their routines, I now have a greater respect for what it means to be a choreographer and a dancer – and for every small nuance in each step a dancer takes. The amount of time and effort that goes into every second of the dance piece is astounding.

In trying to show two separate forces coming together, I think John Jasperse achieved his goal, not only in the dance routine itself but also in the dancers he chose. Both Simone and Stuart danced the routine together; however, their individual dancing styles were completely different. While Simone was more of a concrete dancer, Stuart was a fluid dancer, and, for me, I think this difference in technique between the two dancers highlighted and divulged the whole premise of Jasperse’s piece.

-John Wetmore (Blog A)

“Oozing Sludge, Gregor, Is Never a Good Sign” is Gia Kourlas’s review of the Arthur Pita’s dance-theatre adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, which is being performed at the Joyce Theatre.

Kourlas begins her article with a descriptive lead, peaking the interest of the reader with a suspenseful and eerie vision of the stage before the dance began. The author also explains the basic plot of the play in the subsequent paragraph.

Next, the author begins to analyze the piece, noting its impressive visual design — especially the moving wall of Simon Daw’s set, — and the time which is devoted to Gregor before he mutated from a salesman to an insect.

In her analysis of the play, Gia Kouras also evaluates the play, criticizing the abruptness of Gregor’s transformation and the yoga-like moves of the insect Gregor. However, she also points out the difficulty faced by a ballet dancer in playing the role of Gregor.

Offering little in terms of interpretation, Kouras does weave something of the sort into her critique, most noticeably in her line: “When it works, the struggle is internal: confusion, yearning and despondency are nakedly revealed in his forlorn eyes.

Although she didn’t follow the four essentials of writing a dance review perfectly, it is clear that Gia Kouras, in her critique for “The Metamorphosis”, applied the Feldman model of description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation, as described in Wendy Oliver’s Writing about Dance.

-John Wetmore, Blog A