mmctam's blog

​Modern Cuba is home to an incongruous mixture of modern and traditional. Bustling, urban Havana is a remarkable contrast with the remote and isolated countryside, where many Cubans live and work. 

Laurie Frederik Meer arrived in Cuba's eastern Guantanamo Province on the back of a Russian flatbed truck accompanied by twenty-four Cuban artists and theatre performers. The professor in UMD's School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies conducted ethnographic field research for over two years, attached to a troupe of performing artists who trekked into the most isolated parts of Cuba's mountain terrain. These artists presented outdoor theatre that celebrated cubanía (Cuban-ness) and the beloved campesino (farmer), while at the same time questioning their traditional role in a modern Communist society.

As an anthropologist, [Dr. Laurie Frederik Meer] examines how and why particular cultures use theatre to define themselves and deal with social and ethical conflicts.

Sarah York has been a student at the University of Maryland School of Music since 2007 and is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Violin Performance. This is Sarah’s first time attending and blogging about the National Orchestral Institute.

Although this is the National Orchestral Institute, and we will be playing a number of monumental full orchestra works under some great conductors in the next month, our first week focused on working in small chamber groups and three unconducted chamber orchestras.

I’ve learned, especially sitting on the last stand of second violins, that every player is responsible for propelling the music forward, and if we wait for others to move, the music loses its momentum.

It’s been said “Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.” But well-designed things are a joy to experience, and that’s what you’ll find at the 2013 MFA Design Exhibition, which can be enjoyed in two different locations this year.

Jack Kay has been called a visionary for a number of reasons. He led the successful real estate management firm, Kay Management and developed thousands of homes in suburban Maryland communities like Kemp Mill Village after World War II. But perhaps his greatest pioneering work was done as a philanthropist, particularly in the performing arts.

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An educator knows they’ve genuinely connected when their students create a Facebook fan page for them with over 50 members. The “Scot Reese Appreciation Society” is such a site, and is testament to the impact this dynamic professor has had on his students and colleagues.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the academic excellence and lives of multi-ethnic students at the University of Maryland, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) professor Scot Reese is being awarded the 2013 Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education Academy of Academic Excellence "Excellence in Service" medal for Outstanding Faculty.