Daryl Perry
Arts Scholar
Pentathalon Semester 1
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my first semester of my second year. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
Chill With a Quill Arthouse #literature #artsscholars (Zoom)
November 17, 2020
For this event, it was interesting to see how many people interpreted poems and writing prompts differently. We read two poems and then write a poem based on one that we read that inspired us. I chose “Winter Poem” by Nikki Giovanni, which inspired me to write a prose poem about my January trip to New York City and how cold I felt during my friend and I’s first night out in the city. The Chill With a Quill Arthouse event is heavily connected to my creative writing minor through writing a piece of work inspired by another, which is slightly similar to an ekphrastic poem.
Fallapalooza: FINNEAS #music
November 12, 2020
This year's Fallapalooza was hosted online. FINNEAS performed through Zoom which was then live-streamed to the audience through Vimeo, which was interesting. The set was minimal, using only an acoustic guitar and keyboard. What was so interesting about this setup (besides the wonderful music) was how the audience was still able to communicate to each other and even with FINNEAS through the chat function, and how a virtual audience could somewhat resemble an in-person audience in that way. SEE"s virtual stream shows that there are many ways to distribute art, even in virtual concert form. And although it won't be the exact same as being in a pit, there are endless ways to create and put out art that doesn't only involve physical spaces.
Ballet Company M Class and Rehearsal #dance
October 19, 2020, Zoom
It was interesting to see how all of the dancers were in different locations but still made the most of their situations. The teacher of the class (one of the company members) was able to play sound from her computer but also still talk and be heard clearly, which was cool because I have no idea how to do that in Zoom. This class and rehearsal simply showed that art is still possible, even in unideal situations as doing everything through Zoom. The dancers were still able to follow the teacher and then rotate in small groups to learn choreography from The Nutcracker. Seeing their perseverance was inspiring!
Palm Springs #movie
September 4, 2020
After a very hectic week filled with many assignments, I sat down to rewatch Palm Springs, one of my favorite movies of the year, with my mom. It was nice to watch a well-thought-out film because as a writer, my job is to tell a good story. The character development, pacing and overall message of the story (change is hard to get used to but you need to allow it to happen so you can grow) connected with what I’ve learned in creative writing—that characters need to evolve over time in the store and end a changed person. It’s something I can definitely incorporate more into my writing, along with characters that are raw and honest (this film does that well).
Pentathlon Semester 2
Follow along this semester as I document my exciting arts experiences.
#film The Silent Child directed by Chris Overton
YouTube, Sunday, February 8, 2021
On Sunday I watched the Academy Award-winning short film The Silent Child on YouTube. This short won Best Live Action Short Film at the 2018 Oscar’s. The film’s about a profoundly deaf girl named Libby who learns British Sign Language (BSL) from a social worker, much to her mother’s chagrin. Libby’s mother, Sue, doesn’t seem to want to accept that her daughter is deaf and doesn’t appreciate that instead of learning to speak English, she is learning how to sign. She also doesn’t want to get her daughter accommodations at school. At the end of the short, two statistics were shown: 90% of deaf kids are born to hearing parents, and over 78% of deaf children are mainstreamed “with no specialist support in place.”
As someone with minimal knowledge of American Sign Language (BSL), it was interesting to see where BSL differed from ASL, and how some signs were the same. Additionally, it was also very informative since this is many kids’ reality—parents not wanting to accommodate their child’s disability. Many parts of the film were silent, which made the viewer be able to focus on the communication between Libby and her social worker, Joanne. This film further emphasized the many ways art can communicate an argument or message, and using art for positive social change—which we have covered in Arts Scholars multiple times through lectures and activities.
#music #film #ArtsScholars High School Musical
Zoom, Saturday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m.
A little over a week ago, I watched High School Musical for the first time in a few years. The movie is still enjoyable but not as amazing as I thought it was as a child in the early 2000s. It centers on Troy Bolton, basketball team captain, and son of the coach, and Gabriella Montez an intelligent transfer student from a different state. HSM follows these two as they learn to embrace their love for singing and each other while balancing the stresses of high school. The movie became an instant hit and garnered a cult following, ending up becoming a trilogy with multiple spin-offs, merchandise, video games, and even a live tour.
But something I could not stop thinking about while listening to Troy’s parts in the soundtrack was how the actor who played Troy (Zac Efron) wasn’t actually the one singing. Because Efron had a hard time hitting the higher notes of Troy’s songs, Disney hired Canadian singer and actor Drew Seeley to record all of Troy’s songs. According to Broadway.com, Seeley also co-wrote “Get'cha Head in the Game.” Many fans were shocked to find out it wasn’t Efron singing, and it reminds me of the movie
It makes me wonder, why didn’t Disney cast a different actor since Efron wasn’t able to do all of what his role required him to, and seemingly wasn’t able to improve his voice in time? Another question I have is where is the line for an actor not being able to perform what’s asked of them? Learning this fact about the movie a few years ago was interesting and made me wonder how often this happens, and reminded me of Bohemian Rhapsody, and how the fact that Rami Malek lipsynched during the film wasn’t hidden like it was in High School Musical.
#presentation Everybody is Useful | Liz Powers | TEDxYouth@BeaconStreet
YouTube, Sunday, Mar. 28
This TEDx talk was by Liz Powers, an artist, which was emotionally moving. Powers explained the formation of her and her brother’s platform for homeless and disabled artists. This talk emphasized the importance of looking at people for their talents and who they are as a person rather than the circumstances they live in. Powers and her brother formed the company after while working as a social worker, she noticed beautiful art in various homeless shelters. ArtLifting works as a platform where artists can sell their work, and some have gotten bigger opportunities out of it. A common phrase Powers heard throughout groups was, “I don’t want handout. I want an opportunity.”
Hearing this talk made me think of how society usually views homeless and disabled people—as downtrodden and helpless. In reality, they are just as capable of creating art just as any non-homeless or able-bodied person. It’s convenient to look at someone who’s homeless or disabled and believe in stereotypes but once you break out of that mindset and understand that they should be seen for more than a small part of who they are. One artist named Eric, who has cerebral palsy isn’t able to use his hands to paint or his mouth to hold a paintbrush, which are some ways people paint if they don’t have a certain range of motion. Instead, art directors at a center for people with cerebral palsy rigged art supplies to the bottom of Eric’s wheelchair. This widened my view of how people of all abilities are able to create art, and how no two people create art in the same way.
#music BROCKHAMPTON: Live From the Chapel
Live Stream, Friday, Apr. 9
This virtual concert was on the day of BROCKHAMPTON’s album release for Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine. For an online event, the concert was quite immersive. Not only was there a virtual chatbox where fans could talk, but there were multiple camera angles and settings at the venue. It reminded me of a music festival live stream during pre-COVID times, which was impressive. The lighting design stuck out to me in one setting, where the background flashed an array of colors. Virtual concerts towards the beginning of the pandemic usually amounted to an artist singing a casual acoustic set on Instagram Live. But BROCKHAMPTON’s performance was stellar, and the production value of the concert made it feel like I was there. Oftentimes, I forgot I was watching everything through my laptop.
Seeing this show emphasized how technology can bring people together and further foster a community. This is already seen within social media, and fans bonded over favorite songs and joined group chats over liking the band. The concert also highlighted how important set design, lighting, wardrobe, etc. are still very important even during a virtual show. All aspects of production that would apply to a virtual production, and maybe even more so since the audience is able to see multiple angles, which we can’t do in-person. This experience made me think about the possible differences in planning for an in-person production and a virtual one. For example, this show had a horse in the beginning and I’m not sure how that would have happened in every show if they were on a worldwide tour. This concert displayed how there are endless ways to put on a performance in any setting, and that both types of productions involve planning and creativity to make them stand out.
#dance #film All Hands Meeting
YouTube, Monday, May 17
This 2012 “surreal” dance film was choreographed by Rebecca French, and centers on a woman who works an office job. All Hands Meeting’s choreography is abstract, but how I interpreted the film was that the main dancer wanted to leave her job but felt physically tied to the workplace. An interesting aspect to the film is that the office furniture was bolted in place, and throughout the piece dancers climbed on it. They hung off of the furniture as if they were unable to move around the room without either being attached to the wall with a window, the desk, or the filing cabinet.
This was my first time seeing a dance where props were so heavily involved in the movement of the dancers. The array of characters (the main dancers, her coworkers who were also all women, and a potential romantic partner) were so heavily reliant on the set of the performance. Dancers weaved through the bottom of the filing cabinet and over the desk, which showed me how set design can be interactive in dance shows. All Hands Meeting subverted my expectations in how set design and pieces can be utilized in a performance. Seeing this film has inspired me to consider abstract movement and interactive sets as part of my work more, and to think further outside of what an item is normally used for.