June 28th - Phantom of the Opera - Assignment #16

Today we watched Phantom of the Opera in class. I have never seen the whole movie so it was good to finally see the whole thing. I liked the movie a lot actually. I thought the scenery and costumes in the movie were really elaborate and pretty. I also liked how the how the present and the past were easy to follow with the black and white and the color scenes. I think my favorite part was the masquerade ball scene. I really liked the costumes and the dancing in that scene. Even though the movie had a predictable plot, I enjoyed the story line and the effects and dramatics that were put into the movie. I liked all of the songs in the movie and thought the actors voices were really strong and were casted very well for their parts.

June 23rd - Hair - Assignment #15

Tonight I went to see Hair at Trustus Theater. I really liked the atmosphere of the theater and how it was set up. I thought it was really cute to have popcorn at my seat when I got there and liked that everyone was really welcoming and friendly. I liked how the stage was small and was really close to the audience, which I think we learned was called a thrust stage. I liked how the actors included the audience and brought them into the show. I thought the show was entertaining but there were many parts during the performance where I was confused on what was going on. I think the director and actors did a really great job of bringing the audience back to the 1960's. I also liked how I wasn't just focusing on the stage at all times, sometimes the actors were singing in the audience and sometimes there were people standing to the sides of the stage. My favorite part of the performance was probably the ending number of "let the sunshine in". I thought the whole group sounded really great together, and did a great job of creating a solemn and depressing scene. I took a picture of the outside of the theater and of the stage during intermission.

June 23rd - Theater Crawl - Assignment #14

Because it was so hot outside we were not able to take part in the theater crawl around Columbia, but it was still very interesting to learn all about theaters and operas. I felt like I was behind the scenes as a crew member when learning about all of the terminology used for onstage and off stage equipment and positions. It was also interesting to learn about the different types of stages because I never realized how many types there were. After we went through the facts and learned the terminology, were were able to finish up our butterflies that we started from the previous class. This is how my final butterfly came out. I had a lot of studying to do for an anatomy class, so it was fun to leave my butterfly on the coffee table and have my roommates and I work on it any chance we got. They were really excited to see the final product as well.

June 21st - Columbia Marionette Theater - Assignment #13

We met at the Columbia Marionette Theater to watch the play Puss in Boots. I thought the theater itself was adorable. I felt as if I was in a storybook when I walked into the building. It was really fun to just watch all of the children around me watch the show. Most kids that were behaving were really intrigued and drawn into the performance. I thought some of the characters were hard to understand, but for the most part I think it takes a lot of work to be a puppeteer. When we went behind the stage it was really cool to see all of the puppets that are used in the shows and also learn how they are made. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the pictures I took from the performance when I was putting them on my computer so I can't post any of them :-( However, some of the pictures I took were of the building, the marionettes used in the show, marionettes that were behind the stage and a picture of the rubber model the puppeteer used to form the marionettes. I found this picture online which was similar to one of the pictures I took of the outside of the building.






I think the marionette theater should definitely put on more shows for families to go and see. It was obvious that the children there really enjoyed the show as well as getting a chance to play with the puppets once the show was over.

June 18th - Piano Competition - Assignment #12

I went to the Arthur Fraser Piano Competition a couple of weekends ago to watch the first three contestants of the competition. I couldn't believe the talent that the students had. It was unbelievable to listen to them play. When I went online the next day I was reading about the contestants and I could not believe that they were all in high school or middle school. I thought they were extremely talented for their ages and thought they were a lot older when watching them perform. Looking at the results of the competition online I saw that Brook Zhang, the second performer I saw, ended up winning the discretionary award and the young jury award. He was really phenomenal to listen to. I played piano for a couple of years as a child so it was it was a lot of fun to see younger kids play. Being in the educational field I do enjoy watching children succeed as well as watching them do something they love. Those performers were all passionate about their performances and it made it that more entertaining to watch.

June 10th - Dance Assignment #8

Going through my blog posts I realized that I was missing some posts. On June 10th in class we spoke about different types of dances around the world as well as the different styles of dance. It was interesting to see the photographs of the dances as well as watch some videos. As a physical education major I have taken a folk and square dance class so most of the dances were familiar to me. After class we went upstairs to learn the shag. It was interesting to learn that the shag can be taught in two different ways, which was something I did not know. Being from New Jersey, I did like taking part in learning the Shag because it was a way to learn more about South Carolina's culture. Even though I learned the shag once before, it was helpful to learn the steps over again to re-fresh my memory.




I came across the carolina shag club when I was looking up information about the Shag. I liked the image and decided to include it in my blog.

June 17th

I went to see the movie Greenberg last night at the Nickelodeon. I have never been to the theater before so it was a lot of fun to go to it. I thought the theater was really cool. I liked how the atmosphere of the theater was very friendly and laid back. There was a large group at the movie and it was interesting to listen to everyone's reactions and opinions of the movie both during the movie and when it was over. I thought the movie was okay. I think Ben Stiller did a great job of portraying an egocentric mental case. I enjoyed watching how he interacted with people and also listening to his views of society and the people around him. It was interesting to watch Florence and Greenberg go through their lives. They were both at two very different points of their lives going through different life crises. I was just interested in watching how both characters handled the situations they were in. Even though they saw things differently they did both seem to have a strong connection with caring for the family dog. I also liked how at the end both characters seem to have a hold for things, especially Greenberg who was realizing what was most important in his life.