Review on The Isle is Full of noises

On November 29th, instead of having class, we went to see a special event that held at Empac. It was a unique sound installation that based on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The name of this thing is called The Isle is Full of Noises. So I think it meant to let us escape the familiar society and get into this amazing island. It included the piece from William Shakespeare's play , pieces of human voices, noises and other animal sounds. I was told that this was made by eight channel sound composition using wave field synthesis speaker arrays.

When we first entered this dark room, I immediately saw many spotlights pointed down to some areas. They were all on the right side and were equally separated. And on the right of that are those wave field synthesis speakers. The sound came from those things. Michael then played a 15 minute piece and asked us to stand or sit wherever we want to feel it. He encouraged us to sit under the spotlight because he told us that these spots were supposed to be where all sound meet together and was the “best” spot to hear them.  To me, at first I feel lost and had no idea what this was. I sat in a corner and started to hear those sounds. They seemed to be unorganized and definitely won’t form a beautiful music piece. But as time goes, as you hear them long enough, you could start to find a unique feeling about it. I couldn’t tell what was it but those noises were not as bad as the beginning. The room and the amazing speakers just brought me to another world. When I close my eyes, I feel I was not stand in a room in empac, but instead I was on an isle with all those noises around me. I think I would definitely not have the same experience if I were in an open area to hear this.

Then he sat down in front of a computer and there was a screen at right of it to let us see what he was doing. He showed us what he did with those sounds. He demonstrated the removal of different sound in different sound tracks and we can clearly hear the difference. I am a video editor so I know how different tracks works but I am not very familiar with sound. Michael just showed us even with one sound, when you change the frequency or speed, it makes a great difference. And I can’t imagine what it took for those musician to make a legendary piece.

And another group of students came in, they were from another class. Then Michael played another long piece where we could hear human chatting. It was not very clear, I couldn’t follow what they were saying. So it was the words of Caliban and Miranda, and I think he twisted them a little bit so we were hard to tell what they were saying.

It was a very unique experience to me and I enjoyed it. Although I still don’t know what this art piece trying to achieve but it clearly freshes my mind on sound mixing. It reminds me of the music piece 4’33’’. They both used the noises to create the art piece and it got me thinking that nowadays we always put on our earphones to listen to music. But when did we started to not hear what’s around us. What could be more beautiful than those nature sound?Am I stuck into this society and can’t get way with it? I don’t know.

A Review On Sagittarius A

Sagittarius A on Friday, October 12 is the  world premiere of Yara Travieso’s immersive theatrical experience designed for the EMPAC Concert Hall. It approaches a SA in three different ways with the help of different media usage. They combine dance, narration, projection and audience interaction together to make a great complex performance.

It started with Strips of cloth hang from the ceiling and converge in the center of the stage as the lights begin to dim. Then a woman named Ana began to dance as the narrator began to recount the story of the goddess Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A  was a powerful being with many arms who creates the universe.

Then a wolf appeared. The wolf was jealous of Sagittarius A’s power. Four pieces of cloth were tied on her to represent limbs and the wolf consumed all of her limbs. This was like a myth story and after this we entered the second part.

A lecturer, Dr. Amalia entered from the back of the hall and interrupted this story. She gave a lecture on the death of a star and the formation of the black hole. This was one of my favorite part because it’s very funny and unexpected. Dr. Amalia’s lecture was supposed to begin at eight and she is late. Her overflowing folders of lecture notes gave her lots of troubles. She dropped them many times. Her performance contrasted heavily with Ana’s performance of elegance and beauty.

Then the projection upstage switches from her lecture slides to the view where we saw the dancer left. The camera followed her and began to introduce her life. She was being watched by her predator and she was being chased and attacked. Leaving her scared and wounded. And when she cleaned her wounds, all of the water turned red, which took this story from relatively believable to surreal.

I like this show because it is nothing I saw before. It is unlike those boring stage shows, the use of multimedia adds depth to this performance and made it very interesting. Yara Travieso used the every part of the hall in her performance. From the back to the stage and the lighting control room. It gave us a stunning feeling and it felt like we are part of this performance too.  The combination of live performance, live video and recorded video just blows my mind and make me realize that a show can be this complex and interesting. I think the music is good, but maybe I am too into pop culture music and not a big fan of those kind of music. I like saxophone though, no matter what it plays, it sounds amazing.

Overall I think this performance is awesome. It definitely worth seeing and it gives me an excellent, enjoyable experience. It also opened my mind on how performance can be so different and unique. I rarely attend any performance or show and this brings me interested in those things. I want to say thank you to all of the performers and everyone involved. They put a lot of work in this and it is greatly successful.

Sagittarius A

Phoebe Brackett

Review of Sagittarius A

Directed by Yara Travieso

             As soon as Sagittarius A begins, it is clear that there is a sharp contrast between the characterization of the protagonist and that of the antagonist. Some storytellers choose to ‘humanize’ their antagonist. For instance, the antagonist may be given a backstory that renders them to be more sympathetic. However, that may not be the goal of this performance. The first portion of the piece sets the stage for this characterization. It begins onstage, with a character named Sa. A villain is introduced when Sa loses her limbs to a wolf. The wolf’s motivation is revealed; Sa’s many limbs made him feel insignificant. And yet, judging from the manner in which his motivation/character are introduced, the wolf’s motives do not aim to make him seem sympathetic. Rather, he creeps around the stage and shows no hesitance or remorse. He has been carefully crafted into a sinister caricature. It is my assumption that the characters have been designed this way because they are personifications of behaviors and ideas. Thus, the wolf can only have negative qualities because he represents a negative behavior or idea.

              The performance continues with another character, Dr. Amalia, ‘interrupting’ the onstage performer. After she begins her speech, images of the galaxy can be seen on the ceiling. Dr. Amalia’s primary role is to reveal concepts from astronomy that complement the rest of the piece. The most noteworthy concept is that of a star turning into a black hole. It is a metaphor which prominently represents the events of the performance. Alas, this concept is representational of Sa’s transformation after losing her limbs.

              Another story in the piece begins with a character named Ana, whose tale is presented on a screen. Ana is shown changing and being watched. Later, she is dancing in a forest—only to be chased and attacked by a faceless villain. The story of Ana being watched, chased, and attacked illustrates the process of being hunted. In a paralyzing twist, Ana’s entire behavior changes. The earlier version of Ana (from before she was attacked) is shown dancing in the forest again. But this time, the camera view appears to be from the eyes of the hunter. Meanwhile, the present version of Ana is vehement. She is snarling. Similar to the contrast between the antagonist and the protagonist at the start of the performance, there is yet another contrast—this time between that of the ‘before’ Ana and the ‘after’ Ana. And yet again, the protagonist appears to have transformed from a star to a black hole.

              There are several ways in which Ana’s story could be interpreted. First, Ana might have acted differently after being hunted because she is powerful—despite what happened to her. This theory is further supported by the performance describing black holes to be powerful. The piece could be saying that experiencing trauma (i.e. losing one’s ‘star’ or ‘limbs’) doesn’t make someone weak. Second, Ana may have appeared to be hunting herself because she is simultaneously the hunted and the hunter. Perhaps we are own wolves, and the ‘wolf’ or ‘black hole’ aspect of ourselves is more powerful than the ‘goddess’ or ‘star’ aspect of ourselves. And third, Ana’s change in behavior could be interpreted as a negative transformation. It could be hypothesized that Ana’s experience turned her into a ‘wolf’ when her ‘star’ died. And the death of her ‘star’ could be representational of the death of her happiness. If this theory is true, then the performance is, in fact, attempting to humanize the antagonist (as this story would serve as a sort of backstory for the wolf). Overall, my least favorite part of this piece was that it contained conflicting potential conclusions. This could be resolved through a clear statement of the film’s final conclusion.    

              I believe that the first theory mentioned is the most likely explanation for this piece. In other words, the performance explains that experiencing trauma does not mean an individual is weak. The director, Yara Travieso, “creates films, stage works, immersive installations, and live experiences centered around female protagonists” [1]. It is apparent that this feminist director set out to create a performance centered around sexual assault and oppression. Sa losing her limbs, the process of a black hole becoming a star, and Ana being hunted could all be representational of sexual assault. Yet the performance’s lack of specificity yields a more general scope. Further, it could have expressed its message more clearly—particularly after Ana is attacked. The end of Ana’s story allows for a variety of conflicting conclusions to be drawn from her resulting behavior. The director, however, does not appear to be striving for multiple meanings, or for her piece to be ‘general’ or ‘open to interpretation.’ Thus, its precise objective might have benefited from a more concise conclusion.

              In addition to using a variety of methods to showcase its message (the stage, a screen, and the ceiling), this piece implements further performance techniques through dance and audience participation. For instance, Dr. Amalia dances after she speaks of a star dying. Her dancing is melancholic, as if she is in mourning. And Ana dances cheerfully in the forest in order to create a sharper contrast between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ versions of herself. Further—in terms of audience participation—the audience is asked to participate using the flashlight app on their phones.  When everyone holds up their phone, the audience is shown on the screen in the front of the room. The phones look like a small collection of stars. This makes the audience feel more connected to the piece; perhaps we ourselves are stars. Ultimately, these techniques are my favorite aspect of the piece. They enrich the performance itself, whether it be by adding variety (through multiple locations for the viewer to look), enhancing the emotions displaying in the performance (through dance), or making the audience feel like the piece applies to them (using audience participation). In conclusion, Yara Travieso exercises innovation in presenting this sublime, multi-layered performance at the Empac auditorium.  

Sources

1. http://empac.rpi.edu/events/2018/fall/10years/sagittarius

A Review of Sagittarius A. by Yara Travieso

Sagittarius A. was an immersive, multimedia performance that took three different approaches to tell the same story. The first approach of the story was through the tale of a mythical female deity named SA. Her tale was about her downfall and rebirth caused by an obsessive wolf predator. The second approach was through the life of a dancer named Ana, who portrayed SA in a performance piece, and was attacked in the woods by a predator. The last approach to the story was told by Dr. Amalia, as she taught the audience about the life and death of a star, such as Sagittarius A., and the blackhole that is created in its place.

I thought the performance piece of telling the same story in various ways was really interesting and rather entertaining. Each version shed a different light on the tale, whether it be from a fantasy, realistic, or scientific point of view. I felt the tales of SA and Ana brought a societal taboo to the forefront of the performance. Travieso exhibited the concept of predators that seek fulfillment through seizing control; therefore, to assuage their own fragile masculinity, these predators assault women. With the story of SA, she was always being watched from afar by a wolf that was “in love” with her but felt she would never notice nor love him because she was so great and powerful. He felt the only way to get her to acknowledge and need him was through attacking her while she slept and removing her limbs that allowed her to control the universe. Thus, making her weak, broken, and feeling as if she had been reduced to essentially nothing. Similarly, to SA, Ana was also being stalked by someone. After her rehearsal, her privacy was clearly violated when her stalker was spying on her and objectifying her by emphasizing her body parts as she changed. Ana’s portion of the story is told through her predator’s perspective, whose point of view was the same as the audiences’. Later on, when Ana was dancing in the woods, she was being watched again by her predator until she was chased and attacked. Leaving her scared and wounded. The stories of SA and Ana relate to the life of a star and how it dies. Despite the destruction of the lives of SA, Ana and a star, all of them were able to create something of themselves once again. All turning into various versions of something stronger and greater than what they were before similar to a blackhole.

Travieso used the entirety of hall in her performance, from the stage to the empty seats to the lighting control room in the back. It felt like a 360-degree performance and this is what made her piece feel immersive to the audience because we were at the center of the performance. Additionally, the multiple types of media that she used was noteworthy. Not only was there a live performance, but there was also live video, previously recorded video displayed on stage and on the ceiling, live and pre-prepared music, and an intentional use of lighting. It was truly a multimedia performance. All the different uses of media were stimulating and grabbed your attention every time something new was displayed or used. However, the most captivating and my favorite part of the performance was the use of the 4 giant pieces of cloth on stage that were used as SA’s limbs. The use of the cloth was a beautiful and fascinating way a demonstrating her power as a god and a great way to end the performance.

Overall, I thought Sagittarius A. by Yara Travieso was great and I really enjoyed it. I thought the way of telling the same story in three different versions was creative and thought-provoking. The use of the theater and various types of media really added to the piece and grabbed the attention of the audience without being too much.

The Isle is full of noises review

The Isle is Full of noises was a sound installation by Michael Century, it was based of the work of Shakespeare - The Tempest. Before entering, we were given an introduction on a piece of paper of what it was related to and the words used in this sound installation. The words of Caliban and Miranda - characters in the play - were used in this piece and it was set in an imaginary tropical island.

Upon entering the dark room. I saw areas to sit down and i started to hear noise coming from the other side of the room. It varied in volume, time and speed. I first sat down in a far corner of the room and the the sound as a whole, as it moved across the room with the sound system that was made at EMPAC. However, that distance merged the sounds together, making it seem that it was time that was causing that effect. When I learnt that sound was actually travelling through the sound system across the room, i finally understood it better.

I then moved with the speakers of the room, and could hear how each sound travelled and how you get impacted from the sounds in different part of the speakers. The sounds were light, very atmospheric and it brought me back to nature, give a calming sense washed over me. when the words of Caliban and Miranda began to start, at first it was slightly audible, however after some time, because of how the sound broke apart, by the speakers, by time, it wasn’t very audible and it was hard to decipher to make any of it out.

It was a really interesting piece because i haven’t sat in something like this before. The software created for this piece was interesting to see how time, position, distance and correlate to one another and how it impacts the listener. I enjoyed this lovely piece and got to listen to something new that day!

What We Left Unfinished

"What We Left Unfinished" was a combination talk/showcase by Mariam Ghani and composer Qasim Naqvi about their film project in progress about missing films from the Afghan Communist era. The film blends scenes and stills from these movies with commentary and interviews with the directors and actors who made them, many of whom were discussing their work for the first time in public. Ghani primarily discussed her research, experiences talking to the Afghani filmmakers, and the various logistics issues working with the Afghan Film Archive in digitizing their entire collection while also working on her own project. Naqvi was tasked with the soundtrack for the movie, and discussed his process, from analyzing Afghan sound design to determining the right music for each scene, and how he went about composing pieces. They seek to bring the little-known historical period of Afghan communism to a wider audience by presenting "lost" movies and the insights they gave into life during that time. Naqvi in particular was fascinated by the fact that Afghan sound artists often made all of their foley not to just mimic the sounds of the scene, but were deliberate in picking which sounds to recreate and how to in order to emphasize a particular element of the visual. The music was usually designed to complement the sound as well, as a more environmental feature than the additive aspect seen in Western films. The music melded with the other sounds and visuals instead of standing out. In order to make the soundtrack for What We Left Unfinished, Naqvi used several contemporary synthesizers and analog electronic music systems to create as authentic of a sound as possible, and tried to mimic the atmospheric cues while still keeping to his own more deliberate style.

As interested as I am in history, the period of Afghan Communism is not one in which I am well-versed, so a chance to combine my knowledge and interest in filmmaking with history was a great experience. It was fascinating to see a film in the tail end of post production, with finished-looking visuals and text but with slight issues in sound mixing, timing, and pacing that would be fixed in the coming months. The concept of selective foley was not necessarily groundbreaking when I heard about it, but I was surprised at the extent to which the Afghan filmmakers employed it. While it detracted from the realism of scenes, it brought far more attention to whatever action was emphasized in a way that contributed to pacing, story or composition that made for a uniquely enjoyable viewing experience. The overall style of the documentary is conventional, with interview and scenic shots interspersed with scenes direct from the films. Some of the modern scenery was filmed by several of the directors, who went to the exact same locations as some of the recovered scenes and re-shot it to give Ghani an opportunity for some creative transitions from old to new, which was fascinating to me as it showed how much things changed (removed flags, streets empty of soldiers or civilians) and how much they stayed the same (buildings looked nearly identical despite a 30 year gap). As someone who enjoys more traditional forms of art and music, I thought that the standard documentary style mixed with the more abstract music was a good synthesis that enabled me to branch out in an environment in which I was comfortable.

The Isle is Full of Noises - Review

This Environmental Sound Installation, The Isle is Full of Noises, was based off of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. The Multimedia Century class was held at EMPAC on November 29^th, 2018 to view this spectacular event. “The work employs Wave Field Synthesis speaker arrays to spatialize an 8 channel sound composition.” The main characters of The Tempest, Caliban and Miranda, are foregrounded against the auditory backdrop of an imaginary tropical island. From the first moment I walked in the studio room, I closed my eyes, and was immediately mentally transported to some sort of tropical resort.

               The installation, composed by Professor Michael Century, contained a large variety of sounds, ranging from poetic text, phonemic particles of language, birds, animals, and environmental sounds. The overlapping of these unique sounds, is what made the performance, in my opinion. I particularly appreciated when Professor Century provided the students with a clear understanding of the different channels of sounds.  He demonstrated the removal of one source (sound) after another, so one could understand, but more importantly, hear, what each individual noise sounded like. When all put together, they did not necessarily form a harmony of any kind. However, as I closed my eyes, the blend of all the noises was powerful enough to transport my mind to a tropical location. This was the main purpose anyways.

               The next distinctive aspect of this instillation was the eight spotlights hung from the ceiling, which overcasted eight unique spots in the studio. From these spots, the sounds of the installation appeared to be much more distinctive. I quite honestly appreciated listening to the compilation of sounds from these illuminated spots. At first, I did not even know what they represented, but still found myself gravitating towards them because of this unexplainable sensation I would get whenever I passed over one. It was almost as if I could feel that something was different, or more prominent in those lighted up locations.

               In the future, something that could have been included to strengthen the overall impact of the event would be a visual aspect. This would have tied one’s auditory senses with their visual senses, allowing someone to fully become engulfed, so to speak, in this imaginary tropical island.

All in all, I did thoroughly enjoy the event, and wished I could have attend longer, specifically to re-listen to the entire routine. Something I was really fascinated by was how this EMPAC Event was run by a professor here at Rensselaer. Most of the EMPAC Events, especially this semester (Fall 2018) seemed to draw outside composers and artists, whereas The Isle is Full of Noises, was entirely created and run by Professor Michael Century with the assistance of a Ph.D. and former-MFA students.

A review of Isle is Full of Noises - Peiran Chen

The Isle is Full of Noises is an environmental sound installation composed by Professor Michael Century with the assistance of Eric Miller and it was held on the 5^th  floor of EMPAC, November 27 – November 29. The whole composition consists of environmental sounds, animals sounds, and phonemic particles of language.

Professor Michael Century brought us to EMPAC’s studio room on November 29 so we had a chance to get to know “The Isle is Full of Noises”. In the beginning, the music composition was just the pure environment sounds like winds and sea waves, etc. As time went by, some indistinct chats appeared in the middle of the sounds. Those vague conversations just like the small pieces of the dandelion fluttered from the other side of the ocean. Gradually, those indistinct voices became clear, then became unclear again, and finally, those conversations became some phonemic particles of language. Except for all the different kinds of sounds combined together, “The Isle is Full of Noises” also employed an 8-channel sound composition which is my favorite part of the whole show. The 8-channel sound composition basically is some programmed speakers arranged in a row, with the help of the studio’s environment, there’re specific eight spots where can enjoy the perfect sound quality feedback. When I sat one of these spots, the sound collision was so on the point that not only on the volume but also the simple vibration brought by the sound composition. When the characters Caliban and Miranda started to speak, the indistinct chats just like the feathers flew in my ears and became a part of the natural sounds echoed in my mind. Later on, when Professor Michael talked the system in details, we found out that the 8-channel sound composition not only can play the sound from left to right or right to left but also can change the delay during each sound output. For example, Professor Michael changed the output to a single one – just the conversation. By changing the delay, the poetic text sometimes became slowly and expression sometimes became rapid and pressing as well. Overall, this immersive sound quality just like warped listeners and create a whole new space for them, the overlapping sound effect also gave us another reality.

Since the conversation was from Caliban and Miranda the character from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, it was a pity that I’ve never watched Shakespeare’s play before. That is the point that I feel regret for the whole composition. I do not think the composition is bad, but I just regret that I did not watch some Shakespeare’s play before, even if the clip used in this sound composition is the most classical one; I still did not hear before. But I can still feel the emotion in the voices, the love, and the virtue. Those intangible but vocal voices blended with the nature sounds make me feel like back into the tropical island. Relaxed with winds and ocean waves, and the poetic text just like the feather, flew in our ears. Brought us peace and tranquility, it is a relief and a beautiful scene.

Overall, I think “The Isle is Full of Noises” was a great sound experience for me. The phonemic particles of sound with sounds of nature made a great composition that made people relax on relief in the tropical island. The warping sound effect created another space for the room. And I also want to watch Shakespeare’s The Tempest, to feel the love and their will to make a better world.

Wave Field Synthesis

Wave field synthesis is a spatial audio rendering technique. Comparable to how many small light “pixels” can compose a visual image, wave field synthesis uses many small speakers to produce a soundscape, placing virtual sources of sound in real space. EMPAC, in 2015, started building and designing its own wave field loudspeaker array, seeking a system with good sound resolution that was also flexible for audio research and presentations. On October 16, 2018, the finished system was on display, so I ventured down to EMPAC to check it out.

The setup was housed in a black, dimly lit room; the visuals, while not as important as the sound, still need to be controlled, and I appreciated the reduced visual stimulus – the focus was on the sound, after all. A lone iPad in a stand served to control the demos, and the contents of its screen were projected on the right wall. Along that same wall, set in the darkness, was the speaker array: two large stereo speakers, and hundreds of smaller speakers in a long row, running across most of the room. If EMPAC’s website is to be believed, there are sixteen units with 31 loudspeakers each – 496 small speakers, spanning the wall. Needless to say, I didn’t count them myself.

Importantly, I was alone in the room; since nobody else was around, I got to control the experience for the entire time and thus explored all of the available demos. By myself, I was the audience, experiencing what was essentially a musical tech demo performed by the entire room of speakers and computers…

The first demonstration – the intro – involved differentiating stereo sound, surround sound, and wave field synthesis. Stereo and surround sound, with their limited number of audio streams, can’t usually give each instrument its own sound field; the sensation of location, with respect to a source of sound, is limited. Wave field synthesis, by using hundreds of speakers, can overcome this limitation.

The second demonstration was the first to really play with the “3D audio” concept. Virtual musicians, represented on the iPad’s screen by numbered circles and on the floor by spotlighted areas, played various string instruments. I was left to walk around the room and explore the soundscape, alone. 

It’s hard to describe the sensation you get when you hear and see what is best described an illuminated space on the floor playing a cello. I walked through the spots, though doing so didn’t feel quite as strange as I had hoped. More interesting was walking around the spots; it actually sounded like I was walking around something that was making noise, and hearing an instrument was much easier when you were closer to its corresponding illuminated circle than when you were on the other side of the room, next to a different instrument. Walking between the spots and the speaker array was discouraged, however; doing so would block the sound and interfering with the precise construction of the soundscape. I tried it once anyway, just to see if anything fascinating would happen or if the distortion was significant, but the results were not all that interesting, so I avoided blocking the audio for the rest of my time there. 

For the third and final demo, the virtual musicians got out their reed instruments and started moving around. Now I was really glad that nobody else was watching, because I ran around the room a lot at this stage. I ran back and forth a couple of times lengthwise with respect to the speaker array, just to hear how my movement would match up with the movement of the virtual musicians, and I ran towards and away from the virtual musicians. It was fun, at least in part because the entire thing felt surreal; the lack of visuals left a lot to the imagination.

While I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy messing around in the soundscape. I’m sure being alone helped a lot, since I was free to run around, switch through the demos, and generally be ridiculous. I’m left to wonder where this technology will find a home; theaters seem like an obvious choice, but what else could find use in this technology? Given that it’s as computationally expensive and monetarily expensive as it is, I don’t think wave field synthesis see widespread adoption anytime soon, but I’m eager to see what happens to the technology as time goes on.

Sagittarius A. was a sensational performance with underlying feminist messaging. Yara Travieso, the director, is known for mythologizing and demystifying the female figure. This performance exemplified the directors theme through dance, and an interpretive plot, that highlighted female elegance and female metaphysical awareness.

At the start, a woman, SA, was tied to four pieces of cloth to represent limbs, and cradled back and forth to show the elegance of having them. A wolf appears, and becomes jealous of her femininity. As the narrator mentioned, the wolf was particularly jealous of her ability to create, as a universal figure or woman, so the wolf rips her limbs off.

This is how it starts, but everything gets interupted. A woman, Dr. Amalia, emerged, with a sloppy walk, who muttered but them spoke out loud. She eventually dropped all her paperwork. It appeared that she was not acting, which may have tricked some of the audience into believing that this could be a real performance interruption. This act perhaps was to make people listen more carefully to what she had to say, to discern if the interruption was authentic; What she had to say was a story of star in space, which was represented and embodied by the dancing woman SA. The story was sensational, as she spoke of the cosmos and the star with many disparate features. A film then begins.

The film was of the woman, Ana. Body part words flash on screen, to direct the attention of the audience toward femininity, and human power with one’s bodily assets. Ana dances and we get a sense of elegance, and eventually this causes the camera to spin euphorically. However, Ana moves the dance into the forest. Ana’s dance is interrupted and she begins to fill with fear. A wolf from the forest eventually bites Ana, but she runs away, to a river where she bleeds until the water is red. Ana then decides to make a comeback against the wolf. We go in to first person, and view a second version of the forest scene dance scene, through the lense of supernatural viewpoint of Ana, like the wolf. I will postulate the meaning of this, assuming there is any meaning whatsoever; Ana becomes stronger than the wolf by losing the sense of fear that comes from surprise, that coming to confront herself as a supernatural being, perhaps through her imagination or dreams, to normalize the situation or fear. This confrontation with the subconscious, is like early how a early 20th century psychologist would tell someone to deal with the fear.

Dr. Amilia opens the conversation back into an abstract talk, and demonstration of the body using an animation above. This animation demonstrates a sense of empowerment through a bodily sense that is characteristic of the vastness of the universe. There is dancing, and we are told to hold up our phone lights and to wave and view them like stars. This interactivity is exciting. At the end there is a full performance where all senses of motion are triggered. SA straps herself to huge cloth on either side of the room, and has lights that cast her shadow on the cloth and other areas of the room. Then all screens turn on and elegance of motion and starry lights ensues everywhere. SA dances into the harness which causes the curtains to float, causing ones peripherals to make one feel like gravity had been lost. This overwhelming display shows that SA has gained much greater strength than at the beginning of the play. Then a repetitive message is made by the speaker, that our arms are ropes and stars, and this marks the end.

This performance was significantly more about feelings than storyline, perhaps evident by the constant description of SA’s body as if it was a floating object in a galaxy. This encapsulating experience of motion occurs frequently with large cloth and screens, or dancers running around the audience. Dr. Amalia seems dopey and uncontrolled at the beginning, but begins to seem more inspirational and empowering by the end, even beginning to dance herself. This show shows confidence, but after the storyline, supreme confidence. The performance reminded me of high/low aspects we discussed during the 60’s cultural revolution in class; there were times when the water was clear, but then it became blood red, times when a human was compared to a star life cycle, or when sentiment would shift between loneliness to self-empowerment.



Overall I loved the performance because of how it made me feel. The setting was meant to be involving to the audience, as carefully chosen sentences were made about space and the human body. I like that representation was fully encapsulating most senses of the whole theater, as opposed to minute stimulation, like interpreted dance typically feels like. Overall, the video elements and audience interaction elements added to the experience of the interpretive dance.

DESCENT: The Story of Venus and Andromeda

My experience of DESCENT is complicated and even now, a couple weeks removed from my viewing of the piece, I still don’t quite know what to think of it. 

I’ll start with some background information.  The basic idea of this performance is to tell a story, which by the way is based on writings by French sculptor Auguste Rodin about Venus and Andromeda, choreographed by Alice Sheppard.  One major difference between Mrs. Sheppard and her dance partner, Laurel Lawson, is that both use wheelchairs in their everyday lives.  This distinct difference between “normal” dance and DESCENT allows for a broader range of movement and expression since each dancer essentially has two ways to navigate the stage.  This is something that Alice Sheppard speaks about, how she doesn’t view her wheelchair or crunches as obstacles to overcome but instead as opportunities for more creative expression. 

Speaking of the stage, it is a work of art in itself, was designed by Sara Hendren along with Yevgeniya Zastavker from Olin College.  Standing at nearly six feet tall and covering a twenty-four by fifteen area.  With the front half of the stage having a small downward slope and the back half holding the long ramp, which is orientated parallel to the long axis of the stage. This incredible set design gives the performance the ability to exist in an alternate dimension, the one where the story takes place.  My favorite part of the show is the lighting though.  The lighting was beautifully choreographed to give emotion to the performance.  I also enjoyed how the setting was created by a projection on the back wall which changed throughout the performance.  For example, right before the end of the first part of the show the background showed the constellations associated with the beginning poses (the way that both characters started the show) before fading to black.  The lighting was found the happy medium, it was just impressive enough to keep my attention, but not to overpowering that I lost track of the performers in front of it.  The stage itself also acted as a mural for the lights to play with.  It had a supremely reflective surface which was very helpful in setting the scene as the dancers worked their way around it. 

I was able to follow the story, for the most part, up until the intermission.  After the performance resumed, I was lost.  For some reason I couldn’t grasp the emotion that the dancers were trying to portray, which might be partly because this was the point where Sheppard and Lawson started to showcase their more complicated maneuvers.  For me it felt almost forced at this point, as if Alison Sheppard was struck with the idea of including a maneuver where Lawson’s character is held above Sheppard’s character while both are fastened into their chairs, and did not let the choreography take the piece in a natural direction. 

Overall, I immensely enjoyed the first half of the performance and thought the idea was incredible at first.  However, I found that the second half of the show lacked the flow that the first half showed.  There was more rapid movement, less continuity between each emotion.

- Zachary Schaller

A review on What we left unfinished

The events I saw for this review is What we left unfinished. Although the film is not quite finished and still at the post production period, the clips in the film still stunned me and gave me a lot of space to think.

The film What we left unfinished is based on the history of the Afghan Film Archive. It   reconstructs hidden and parallel narratives of both state propaganda and the experience of the Afghan Film Archive’s management and film directors during the period of Afghan Communism. The artists who are currently working on the film are Mariam Ghani and Qasim Naqvi.

The film talks about the art of film under the “iron curtain” of the Afghan Communism. During that time art was considered as the decoration for the government. Artists were not allowed to make art freely. They could not use pens and brushes to release the emotion in their mind. They were only allowed to make art about the positive side of the local Communist government. Any art works that violated the main idea (describing how good the Communist government was) would be eliminated and the artist was going to get himself into a lot of troubles. Art, during that time under the Afghan Communism, was not art anymore. In my opinion, the art became a positive propaganda tool to deceive people – only told people the positive side of the government. Films became the best way. Due to the passion that people had towards films during that time, films became the best way to spread the appraisal toward the government. So, the government forced the film directors to make films to eulogize the government.

The part that touched me most was the part that one of the directors said that he would never make films that were fake or cried out a voice that was different from the voice deep in his mind. But if he did that and made a film about the truth (containing the critics towards the government), he would get himself in a lot of large troubles. He had to worried about that someone who worked for the government would break into his house during night and got him arrested.

The favorite part of the film is the theme of the film. It showed me how art became in other part of the world. Art is not always a fancy thing. Most of the artists use art as a tool, or a medium to express the voice in their mind. They use art to express their appraisal to the world or to express their feelings. At some point, they use art as weapons to attack. During the revolution time artists made art to confront the old government and society. But art could also be used by the person in power to control the people. Art is not as fancy and free as we see it today.

There is one little thing that I don’t like about the film. The starting of the film was just flashing black and white. It really hurt my eyes a lot and made me dizzy.

A Review of Isle is Full of Noises

Professor Michael Century's The Isle is Full of Noises is an immersive, sound art installation that was showing in EMPAC from November 27, 2018 to November 29, 2018. Composed by Century, with the assistance of PhD student (Electronic Arts) Eric Miller, this environmental sound piece spatializes an 8 channel sound composition using Wave Field Synthesis speaker arrays. These eight channels have island sounds (birds, animals), spoken text of Shakespeare's The Tempest (voiced by local actors Kevin Craig West and Erica Tyron for the parts of Caliban and Miranda, respectively), and phonemic particles of language. Initial programming support for the composition was provided by former-MFA student Matt Wellins, and sound was recorded by Senem Pirler. 

This installation was in EMPAC Goodman Studio 1, which is a black box. When an audience member enters, they see some computer monitors across the room from them, being managed by the composer. To their right, they see eight spotlights, showcasing two bean bag chairs, two wheel-ed chairs, two regular chairs, and two empty spaces. Then, to the right of these spots, there is an array of Wave Field Synthesis speakers - this is where all of the sound comes from. The composer has eight channels with which they are able to work, as explained above. The composer can alter the volume, pitch, tempo, and other features of these eight channels as they please, and this is all done in real time as the audience explores the space. The audience members are encouraged to sit or stand under the eight spotlights, as those are where the sound is best heard. Because of the nature of Wave Field Synthesis, the sound moves from one side of the room to the other, and this can be experienced from any point in the room (though the eight focal points are well chosen and do make the experience more intense). 

Personally, I enjoyed the lines spoken by Caliban and Miranda. I've very glad that I had time before attending the installation to read up a little bit about The Tempest and these two characters, as that gave me a better understanding of the island atmosphere and the dialog that goes on between them. During the installation, these lines were broken up and distorted, and if I had not done any reading beforehand, I may not have been able to understand what the two characters were saying. As it was, I could really only understand some of the words, and I could pick up on the tone. The story told by the characters still came through very well, even though the content of their speech was not very clear. 

The use of Wave Field Synthesis speaker arrays was another part of the installation that I enjoyed. The sound traveled through the room - it went from one end to the other at a rate which the composer was able to increase or decrease to change the mood of the piece. This immersive sound experience made the space feel like a different environment than it really was - the island atmosphere really came across. 

In the Mood for Frankie

           In the Mood for Frankie is an interpretive dance piece that, I believe, was the last performance of EMPAC's 10 year anniversary. Unlike many other performances this was free and not set in a stage, but rather in the lobby of EMPAC for anyone to come and see. It was set on three unassuming large tiles, with goldfish in the middle of two of them. I don't claim to be an expert in interpreting anything, I could not follow the story. But that didn't matter to me, I enjoyed the show. Watching the dancers fluid, unpredictable movements, their innate balance, the costume changes, all of it added to this atmosphere of peace and tranquility that was just very relaxing. After reading more on what this was based on, I understand that things were not calm and tranquil, but like I said before I’m awful at interpretation.

            What I gathered through a little bit of research was that this was based on Japanese Butoh, and had to do with a wedding, a marriage, and an end to that marriage. The costume changes signified different characters, and also a change in characters from before, with different costumes acting as symbols of the characters feelings. The performance was centered on 3 performers on a stage made of the three tiles mentioned in the beginning. The performance began with slow music and one performer who was, I believe, wherein a shawl, or something to cover most of his face. His movements were slow, but fluid, his heels never touching the floor his face never changing from his stoic expression. The second performer came out to a change in music, his face one of a happier emotion, his movements slightly faster but also extremely fluid, and his heels never touched the floor. The third performer came out, and my memory may be failing, but this time there was no change in music. The third performer’s movement style was similar to the seconds, slightly faster and with an air of happiness, his heels also never touched the floor. After the beginning scene, the performers began intermingling in scenes, which was contrary to the first part where they acted very separately. The dynamic scene changes, mixed with the fluid costume changes made it seem as if there were far more than just three performers.  

Throughout all of the fluid scene changes, the costume changes, and being under the incredibly bright and hot lights, the performance never once faltered. After they got off stage, I could see them wiping off massive amounts of sweat from only 2 or 3 minutes of being on stage, and then almost immediately getting back on stage for an even longer time. The time, commitment, and dedication of the performers to this absolutely beautiful piece made it that much more enjoyable to watch.