Maafa

WEll, were to start I have to say MAAFA was an inspirational experience. I enjoyed the way they set up the theme in the church.But when i first walked into the church i felt a little frightened. The reason why was because i heard kids screaming from the auditorium, i had no idea what to think whatsoever. But then i realized it was all part of the play i thought that it was very creative. They made the play seem so real as if we had been sent back to the past of slavery.I was also very interested in the dancing the actors and actresses were doing it made the play lively and very entertaining.Towards the end of the play i felt very good because i had never experienced such an inspirational feeling like i did that night. The church was definitely a pleasure because i felt a sense of comfort like there was positive vibes throughout the church. All though the play was very longi still enjoyed it. By the time we arrived at moravian it was around 1:30 way to long for me. But i was pleased with the performance i had a chance to watch because it was definitely a healing experience! 

MAAFA: A Long, Inspiring Night

Not that I don't enjoy staying up late, but getting back from the city at 1:30 am was not what I had in mind. We attended the 6:00 pm showing of the MAAFA Suite and did not get back to school until late at night, or early the next morning I should say. Although, we were there all night trying to stay awake, it was a well done performance. I loved how the actor's led us through the halls into the big church room. They truly put their hearts into the performance. They tried to give their audience a feeling that you were truly experiencing the pain with them, for example, the kids SCREAMING at you as you walked through the door! Or when the actors gave you despising looks, which unfortunately was my experience. Overall, the performance was excellent and inspiring. There were a few technical errors, but the show was incredible. The only problem was the 3 hour long first act, but other than that, I would recommend the MAAFA Suite to anyone looking for a great performance!

Lower east Side Tenement Museum

The September 10th trip to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum has been my favorite first year seminar trip so far. I enjoyed that it wasn't the "average" museum. Instead, it was an authentic, untouched building with so much history to offer. Every item in the museum was what was left from the last tenents in the 1930's. Nothing was roped off and everything was in reach. All 22 layers of original wallpaper was still visible and air conditioning had never been installed. I was able to physically feel the environment the Tenement's residents lived in. The setup was brilliant and personally, I felt as though I learned more from this experience than from any other museum we've been to. Since the structure hadn't been modernized, I actually felt like I'd stepped back in time. An experience that power is hard to come by in a world where few people would prefer to maintain an old building over tearing it down and building something new. The Tenement Museum stands as a rarity and a mark in history. There's only so much to learn from documents and photographs. Experiences tend to thrive in peoples' memories while a reading is forgotten in time. The trip to the Tenement Museum is an experience I'm not likely to forget.

Grey Hounds in NYC Museums

My first year seminar class, which is for freshman at Moravian College to take that focuses on a topic that relates to the student's course of study. My class is all about exploring the Museums of New York. We have embarked on two trips to visit four museums in total (so far) including the Guggenheim, Museum of Modern Art, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and the national Museum of the American Indian.

A favorite trip of mine was when we visited MoMA. This museum includes many types of drawings and paintings that I love. For instance, I saw a well known piece from one of my favorite artists, Andrew Wyeth. This painting is called "Christina's World."

It is a tempera painting on a gessoed panel from 1948. The subject matter includes a woman (assumed to be Christina) laying in a barren landscape in from of two lonely buildings.

I really appreciate the distance or depth that Wyeth created between Christina and the background. Christina's body lies in the foreground, facing away from the viewer - towards the house that is palced all the way out on the horizon. The depth isenhanced with scale. The size of the house in comparison with Christina is miniscule.
With some research I read that Christina, whose full name is Christina Olsen, was a neighbor of Andrew Wyeth's and she had polio which left her lower body paralyzed.

I believe that a majority of my peers in my class enjoyed the Museum of Modern Art due to the collection's variety and quantity. Not only did I find various pieces of art that I was familiar with and obsessed over but, I found new artists and their work.

I found an etching entiteld "Large Head." It was created by Lucian Freud in 1993. The subject matter of this image is precisely the same as the title. A picture of a large man's head takes up most of the center of the composition. The first thing I notice with this painting is a large head but one that seems to have "too much on top" as in the head does not look proportioned correctly (basically it looks like a defective egg.)

Then, I see details on the man's face that appear carved due to the artist's use of contour and cross contour lines. There is a mole on the man's left cheek, a scar that runs from his forehead down across his left eye, and he has very bulky and masculine features. The "thing" about the etching and the point I want to make about it is the model's contrary pose. He is most likely sitting and looking down or his eyes are closed which makes him look as though he's reflectingor pondering. It is a peaceful, non-aggressive expression that does not mimic the artist's almost brutal depiction of the man.

So far I love being able to experience new York's greatest Museums. I feel so fortuante to see different kinds of art whether it's paintings, etchings, or three dimensional. It is exciting and rewarding to see the masterpieces that I spend hours looking at in books and then get the chance to see the work in full size (and touching distance.)

MaAfA rEfLecTioN

Though The MAAFA Suite seemed to last forevvverrrr, I am glad that I was able to experience it all the same. Yes, the twisted faces of the actors were unbearable to look at; the pain of their ancestors was clearly evident. I felt heated embarrassment every time they looked at me. I felt as though being white myself meant that I too held the blame for the hatred and cruelty that infested the slave trade. Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile show. I not only felt that I better understood the history and impacts of slavery, but African culture as well.
During the show, I was most impressed with the dances. Dance always seems to captivate me, despite my lack in talent. I was engaged and emotionally intrigued when the performers danced on the stage. I was dazzled by the number of people that could move so exactly, that they did not collide with one another. The dances were energetic: colorful clothing set the upbeat mood, left feet danced around right feet, toes kicked high up into the air.
Watching the twenty or so teenagers dance in unison ignited a longing in me to be a part of it. I wanted to be part of a culture like that -where traditions and dances centuries old were still practiced. But I am not African. Not to mention super white. So joining The MAAFA Suite 2012 was obviously not an option. I decided to dig into my own roots this weekend and go to Celtic Fest.
Of course the first thing I wanted to see was the dancers. I saw The Lord of the Dance when I was younger and absolutely loved it. Every time somebody came to the house to visit I showed them my moves. The dance company that was performing at the festival consisted of several national champions; four of them were nine years old. It was somewhat disappointing to see modern outfits rather than traditional ones, but culture shined through in their dancing.
Being surrounded by the men and kilts and girls with heads full of ringlets was what I had been searching for since we watched MAAFA Suite. Like the Performance in a local Baptist church, the Celtic festival in downtown Bethlehem was an attempt to keep traditions alive. In the show, stories such as that of the Djembe were passed down through generations so that the history of the drum and how it was made would not be lost in the folds of slavery. Likewise, the Irish told old wives tales at the festival in hope that it would rejuvenate a branch of the culture that has been slowly fading.
If I had not seen The MAAFA Suite and the pride of the actors who revitalized a long history of culture, I do not think I would have discovered my longing to understand my own history and culture.

Everything So Far

Oh boy! What's up bloggggggger and my fellow seminar students! This is my first post. Super exciting! So, where do I start? Well, I missed the first weekend in the city. So when everybody saw Follies, I wasn't there. However, I was there the following weekend to see Hair, and Traces. They were really great shows. I preferred Traces. But, Hair, was really good too.

I was also not there for the production of MAAFA. From what I heard, it was ridiculous. People said how it was just absurd and sort of uncomfortable and a little offensive. For example, I heard that when the actors were speaking about white babies dying, people were cheering. From what I heard, I would've absolutely hated MAAFA.

The MAAFA Suite

Visiting Brooklyn to see The MAAFA Suite was like nothing I had ever done before. The church and the atmosphere alone was extraordinarily important in creating our thoughts and opinions about our first impressions of the show.

As it started out as a regular African American worship service, many of us were exposed to a new and different cultural and religious way of worshiping.

The way that the church inside was set up to go along with the set of the actual performance was interesting to see, because I am sure that St. Paul's isn't always set up like this. I wonder what the "St. Paul regulars" think of that and whether or not the opinion differs due to age difference.

I was extremely impressed to see the number of young and talented performers in the show. The congregation as a whole seemed to be mainly middle aged with not very many children.

The show itself, based on slavery and freedom, was incredibly moving. It was very easy to get into the emotions of the characters because they really felt hatred towards what used to go on. You could tell this by the way the congregation reacted to certain vicious acts.

The amazing dancing, singing, and acting was performed by strong, trained actors and actresses who you could tell worked very hard to do what they were doing on stage, and you could also tell that the other people in the audience were also impressed.

Overall, even though I was a bit under the weather and we didn't get back until very late (causing me to miss classes), I don't think I would have been happy with myself if I missed this performance. It was very different than what we have seen as a group so far, and I feel like the diversity offers a whole new outlet of performance to be seen.