to keep up with my exposure to different arts, these are the following activities I did...
two weeks ago, I watched "Celebrate America Show"- this is an annual thing here at USU, it includes singing and dance... it's sort of a period piece... the singers and dancers performed songs from the 20s to the 50s- so they explore musical styles made famous by the USA... these styles include blue grass, jazz, blues, gospel, big band, broadway, and more... they have a chorus line made up of tapping girls/young women
the performers were really into it... they made jokes, they had a sterotypical goofy person, the dumb blonde nurse type was present... it was really cheeky and poppy (putting it in today's context, it's almost sugar-coated and naive--- But of course we should be mindful of the times and the different standards)... it was very patriotic- they paid homage to past and current soldiers and service people...
some cultural stuff I noticed (which dealt with the Utah and Mormon culture) before the show began, we had opening prayers--- i'm used to this because I'm been in catholic schools since 3rd grade--- but in my mind, several things were happening: i'm thinking about separation of church and state (since this is public university with an emphasis in Mormon religion), then I'm amazed , I got the sense of unity of same worship, mostly everyone bowed their heads- that was an amazing sight (of course I showed my respect)- I'm slowly finding out and learning more about LDS (latter day saints= mormons) through observations and conferences with my students... I wonder what's going on in their heads... one of the things we talked about are missions (each mormon child especially male has to go to a mission (nationwide or international) at a certain age (17-19)], of course upon hearing this, the first thing I asked them is where they want to go or their preference... sometimes I'll get blank looks especially hearing the words "where they want to go" and "preference"... they just give me the answer that "they go wherever they are sent"- a lot of faith is involved in these missions (then I started reflecting about my own faith, and how much I question things, how much of a sceptic I am) it's a learning experience for me and my students...
also sometimes it feels like Europe here in Logan- the reason, most of my students know the basics of one other language- this is important especially when they go on missions... I met a soldier who spoke Chinese, but while he was in Iraq, he picked up some Tagalog phrases, some Arabic and Spanish-- it still surprises me when a caucasian starts speaking to me in Tagalog (especially after I revealed that I was from the Phil.)... one person thought I was Chinese and he started talking to me in Chinese...
the other artsy fartsy thing I did was watch project Bandaloop- this is a dance troupe that combines the grace and beauty of dance with the athleticism of rock-climbing... so they dance while suspended on buildings or mountains... they train, they have good cores (abs), they don't get as much injury because impact is not so bad... it's just poetic, especially some of their training session... one time they climbed el capitan in yosemite or yellowstone for six days-- they'd actually sleep on the edges of the rock--- they danced at an altitude of 2500, while suspended during dusk and it continued at night during a full moon and they saw peregrine falcons soaring at their sides....
so they danced suspended at USU's library... during rehearsals yesterday, they broke a window that was supposed to withstand earthquakes, and guess what, a 130 lb dancer broke it, imagine that...
I also took part at a historic site specific art performance, it was orchestrated by the bandaloop people...
Posted by Michael Diezmos at September 12, 2007 7:05 PM