Blogs
The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts (NACTA) and the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies (TDPS) embarked on a new collaboration on October 28 as part of the five-year partnership that created the bi-lingual co-production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
A NACTA contingent, including two junior professors and one graduate student will spend three weeks working in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center with TDPS faculty, students and production staff, sharing each culture’s fundamental approach to theatrical production, stage management and theatre technology.
Innovation and musical exploration are trademarks of the UMD School of Music, so it’s no surprise that two SOM staff members, both alumni of the school, have embodied that concept in the inventive music of Inscape Chamber Orchestra.
This post is by Lisa Driscoll, a Junior Vocal Performance and Broadcast Journalism double major. You can read more of her writing on her blog
The Kronos Quartet celebrated its 40th anniversary on October 24 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center with a vast variety of musical styles and an East Coast premiere of Philip Glass’ String Quartet No. 6, which was co-commissioned by the Center for the occasion. The performance was also the Center debut of new member and cellist Sunny Yang.
Sim Sholom by Alter Yechiel Karniol was probably my favorite piece of the evening, as it showed how expressive the quartet is as a whole, but particularly Yang. Her dynamics and virtuoso musicianship were stunning.
This post is by Lisa Driscoll, a Junior Vocal Performance and Broadcast Journalism double major. You can read more of her writing on her blog.
The Kogod Theatre transformed into the likes of a D.C. lounge to host the Pedrito Martinez Group on October 18. It was a night of colorful and percussive music and dancing, an experience that brought several classical music students like myself out of our shells and onto the dance floor.
All four members of the group come from unique musical backgrounds and together produce a lively fusion of Latin sounds. Pedrito Martinez, a world-renowned percussionist, and Ariacne Trujillo, pianist and vocalist, both come from Havana, Cuba; bassist Alvaro Benavides is from Caracas, Venezuela; and percussionist Jhair Sala is from Lima, Peru.
It was truly a unique experience to venture out of a classical music setting into such a lively, relaxed atmosphere where we were warmly welcomed into the Rumba de la Isla.
This blog post is Emily Schweich, a sophomore Broadcast Journalism major.
Vibrant costumes and perfectly coiffed hairstyles shone on the Kay Theatre stage as the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies presented Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker this October. As the actors moved effortlessly around the stage in their 1880s attire, one could hardly believe that many of them walked into the dressing room bare-faced, wearing sweatpants and some ponytails, just an hour before the show.
It’s like this pressure hour. They come in in sweatpants, with no makeup on, no pin curls, nothing. They have to completely redo their hair, do their face and put on this multi-layered, multi-piece costume.
The Clarice Smith Center and the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission invite choreographers 18 years and older to submit applications to audition for the 31st Annual Choreographers’ Showcase. The deadline to apply is Saturday, November 30, 2013.
From Thursday, October 24 through Sunday, November 3, you can experience the Visible Seams video installation in our Grand Pavilion:
Due to other on-campus events, we anticipate that parking will be difficult on the evenings of Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19. Please plan on arriving early and allow extral travel time.
Because we anticipate that Lots 1B and Z will be congested, we recommend parking in Stadium Drive Garage.
You can skip the long lines at the parking pay stations by setting up a Parkmobile app account in advance. For Stadium Drive Garage, use Parkmobile zone number 6105 and your parking space number.
This blog post is by Drew Barker, Graduate Student and MLS Candidate.
If you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss the beginning — however, this dance piece will demand your attention soon enough. What starts with the dinging of a bell quickly scales stairs and then ushers you outside only to look back in at a space you have never seen in such a way. Ladies in bright colors dance/run down corridors, pause, revel in a modern arabesque with arms churning, and then disappear around a corner. Visible Seams is a dance piece choreographed by MFA candidate Erin Crawley-Woods which utilizes the interior and exterior of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in ways epic and sensual.
Crawley-Woods blends an entertaining sense of humor with a swaying meditation on human relations.
This post is by Lauren Burns, a sophomore Multiplatform Journalism and History double major.
The typical dance performance does not come with a warning to wear comfortable shoes and to bring an umbrella in case of rain, but Visible Seams is not the typical dance performance. For Erin Crawley-Woods’ MFA Dance Thesis, she creates a site-specific piece, starring 15 graduate and undergraduate dancers, that incorporates the architecture of the Clarice Smith Center in its choreography. Erin explains her inspiration and vision for Visible Seams in the following Q&A interview.
I guess my inspiration was this place – not just the building but everything that goes on within it, and my interest in pursuing this project was to create a thread through all of that, through the process of making a dance.