Extra Credit Blogs

Last night I attended the Phantom of the Opera with my grandmother. I saw the performance about three years ago in New York but recently the show came to Las Vegas and I was excited to go again. The theatre in New York was older and more ornate, however both of them were proscenium stages framed by lavish stone work and curtains. I liked the seats better this time because I was off to the side and a little too close in New york. Its like in class we discussed how being too close can take away some of the magic. I didn't like seeing the little microphones attached to the performers' mouths, or their feet through the fog in a particular scene. My favorite part in both showing is when the chandelier shakes, swings, and literally lowers over the audience until it makes a final crash on the stage. It is an amazing thing to watch. So graceful but at the same time a little frightening! I like the music but I must admit it's not favorite. It's a little to opera-ish for me, though I realize it is clearly not an opera. I do however love the story line, the dark mixed with the love and passion, it really made me think because I have to pick a side and I chose the dark, the phantom. But the intriguing part is when you question yourself, is he really even bad, maybe he is really good? I found myself rooting for him the entire time, as do most people, though he is dark and actually a murderer if you recall the stagehand who dies and all the disasters he causes in the theatre. It's such a beautifully written piece and I really appreciate it and all the wonderful performers.  

Extra Credit Blogs

I just had to write about class on Monday! I loved learning about the British Punk Movement and Punk music. I hate what we consider punk today and so I have never bothered learning learning about it or listening to it at all. But my mind has really been opened and I think I'm going to look into original Punk, from the 1970s, and even start listening to some. It makes sense that it would come from "dissatisfied, lower class youths" as they rebel and raise cause for change. I feel that it is not so much about hatred as I though but more about anger, and channeling that anger into a cause for change because of negative results. I think that Punk dared to be frank and honest about issues that no one else would even bring up. For example the Sex Pistols if I remember correctly who sang about the British royalty in a very negative way. Perhaps many felt that way but were too afraid to express their opinions and anger, for them punk was an outlet. I found it so interesting that Punk is self destructive and therefore the goal is to destroy itself and begin with something new and innovative. I think this is a good concept, its healthy to do away with the old and begin something new!

I also wanted to say thank you for sharing your Heroine Chic photos with us. I loved seeing your creative work and expressions. It also inspired me to be creative and express some of my own ideas through art, I'm really excited!

I was completely unaware of all the people that make major decision in the forming of film. I guess I just always assumed that it was the director who had all power in every decision. But the cinematographer controls so much. It is his visions that actually come to life and the director approves or disapproves. What talent they must have to be able to see these movies as they will be scene by an audience. Me and my friends were just discussing how so many movies are filmed on sets but to us it looks so real. Actors also become more dramatic through certain aspects of the filming. It was also very interesting to learn that the editor has so much control. Not only do they put all the frames or scenes to together to actually make the movie, but they have control to make choices that are even out of the directors hands. Just imagine taking all of that footage and piecing it together smoothy.  Deciding what is effectual and important and what is not needed would be so difficult. I remember a friend and I making a video and it took us so long to go through what we had filmed and decide what was relevant and what wasn't and we only had about an hour of footage!  I learned about camera angles before and actually enjoyed reading about them again. I love watching movies now with that in mind. There is so much more to the meaning of the film and the relationship between the characters that someone without this knowledge would never see, I know that I didn't! Just a note I really hope we watch Citizen Kane that movie is brilliant and Orsen Welles is a genius!

I loved the discussion about film in class. I'm so interested in it because I took a a humanities class in high school and a film class which I loved! It's amazing the influence that film can have and points and criticisms that it can make about society or groups within it. There is so much art involved in movies, from the scenery and set, to the shots and actors. It also contains so much innovative technology which makes so many movies and ruins others. Film can be analyzed somewhat like paintings because the painting along with the film contains a point from the artist or director which isn't always spelled out for the viewer. Because of everything that we have learned about the analyzation of art I feel like I can apply that film and visa versa. After all a film is just a series of still frames.  

Cultural Event

This week I played to attend a film festival in Salt Lake put on by local high school students, but that just didn't work out. So this weekend when I went home I found out about a cultural exhibit at the Sahara West Library, which worked out perfect because I actually already attended a film event. The exhibit was about an Indian tribe and their culture. People who were actually from India were at the library, which I thought was really exciting. Some of them were at tables set up where they were selling native made items and asking for donations to improve a local school run by their religious leaders. I was thrilled by all the little trinkets and I bought a mini journal with ornate pink clothe around it and a cool keychain for my friend which kind of resembles a dream catcher. The best part of the exhibit however, was the art. In a circular room, perfect setting for what was being displayed, was a large table covered with a glass piece. Inside the glass was sand. It was formed into a partially done picture that was so detailed it took me a minute of analyzation to even realize that it was sand! That was already astonishing to me, but then some native entered the room, I assume they did it hourly, and began using hand crafted tools to blow and shape the sand into tiny rows and add to the existing picture. They would shake the sand to position it just right. The technique was so skillful and very tedious. But the sand was vibrant and breathtaking! 

Music

Music is so complex! It has no many scientific and mathematical aspects to it they I didn't know about. For example I was fascinated by the fact that sound is only really what our body creates. In class people were explaining that if a tree falls in the forest has no sound because no one is there to "hear" it. This is so hard for me to comprehend. I did not know that we as humans play such a huge role in sound and thus in music. I did however know that music has a huge affect on us. Music can completely change my mood! If I want to be motivated I play certain songs, if I want to cheer myself up I play certain songs, and if Im sad and want to stay sad there are songs for that too. But in all seriousness music really does affect me. If I hear something that, to me seems sad, I get this horrible homesick feeling and my mood completely changes. I'm glad we learned a little bit about why music can be so influencing. The tones provoke different emotions, like defeat and triumph. i think it also has something to do with association. Some sounds or songs force me to remember or think of a sad or happy time and then I form my opinion about the song. It really is so interesting, this is something that I would love to learn more about. I just have to add that I love the "virtuoso" and the fact that they are referred to as the first rock stars. I wish I could see them perform then, the music is so beautiful and they were so talented.     

World Folk Fest

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the the Wold Folk Fest in Springville. It's a celebration of numerous countries and their cultures through dance and music. The performance was held at the Arts Park on a large open stage that was in an outdoor amphitheater build into the small hill. The open stage really added to the overall atmosphere in this situation because it made the dancers and musicians so real. When I walked from the parking lot to the seating area I could see behind the stage and saw the dancers warming up or walking through their routines it was really neat. It made them real people, as if i were literally walking through their practice or dance in the country from which they came. It also helped to include the audience and allowed them to hear and clearly see all of the performers.  

The dancing was amazing! I especially loved the Korean and Chinese dancing as well as the Native American. The Korean dancing really blew me away because I had no idea it was so lively. The woman were jumping and using these gorgeous and gigantic fans to create frames and shapes across the stage. In their second number the woman came out playing drums that hung across their shoulder. They were actually playing really cool beats and rhythms. I found it really refreshing that the women had the drums, I guess I just assumed that would be something that only the men would do. At the end these two adorable little girls came out. They had the cutest costumes on, little white puffy pants with elaborate red blouses that spun like a dress around them. They were jumping so high, and in perfect unison! They were so young but so disciplined, it really said a lot about their culture and the respect that have for all that they do. The Chinese dancing was similar to the Korean, very bright and colorful and more bouncy than I thought it would be. What I noticed about the Chinese group though is that all of the woman, and there were about twenty, were the same height and shape. It made the dance look so professional and so clean. It must be a company that requires their dancers to be a certain weight and height. It really added to the lovely dance. It was as though they were flouting across the stage in perfect unison. The Native Americans did a traditional Hoop dance as their last number. I have heard about this dance before but have never seen it until last night, it was so beautiful and really like magic! The three male dancers would slowly add more hoops onto them, at first they were jumping through them as if they were ropes and contorting their bodies to go through the hoops. As they continued to add hoops they began making these absolutely beautiful shapes that mimicked birds flapping their wings and soaring through the sky. They each had at least fifteen or more hoops in their arms and interlinked all across their bodies, I have no idea how they did it!  

Though the event was to highlight dancing from around the world I felt that it was a musical performance as well. The different countries all had live bands that played for the performers. The Polynesian and Native American groups had a vocalist that would sing or chant in their own language. It was so beautiful to hear authentic music. The Chinese group put a real focus on their music. The band had many members, and i know it sounds cheesy, but I felt like I was in a movie, like i was literally in China all because of the recognizable sounds and music. One soloist played an instrument that looked like a clarinet. It was announced as the first free reed instrument. The musician came out onto the stage after the dancers with this instrument and another that looked similar but more like a trumpet. He traded of with the band as they echoed his rhythms. It was like a drummer and dancer trading off beats but with melodies. He kept switching from one to the other and in between he would whistle. This was not an ordinary whistle, I have never heard a sound so high come from a human. I don't know if he had something in his mouth or not but it was so loud and so high pitched! He continuously increased the tempo until it was so fast I was blown away and laughing because of the crazy sounds and speeds. He was remarkable. 

I loved the performance and give it a ten. The atmosphere was wonderful and the performances were so fulfilling and really beautiful. I believe that dance says so much about a culture.