This weekend the UM School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is holding their BFA Dance Concert: Questioning Perceptions. The performance features original choreography by Daniela Blechner, Andrea Davis, Rachele Donofrio and Collen Shaughnessy, and will be held tonight (Nov. 18) and tomorrow night (Nov. 19) at 8 p.m. at the Betty Pease Studio Theatre, by the CCRB. Tickets are only $5 and go on sale at 7 p.m. before the show.
Where do I even begin to review this performance? I am actually at a loss for words. I was so pleasantly surprised last night at the Katie Herzig performance at The Blind Pig. Prior to the concert I had only heard one or two of her songs. I expected her to be a poppy solo artist, a chick with a guitar playing upbeat love songs all night, which would have been enjoyable, but what I saw was so much better!
Katie had a full band, and an extremely multi-talented one at that. They used instruments that you would rarely see in a live performance. She had a cellist, who also occasionally played the keyboard, a guitarist who also played the accordion, ukulele, french horn, and xylophone, a keyboardist, drummer, and bassist. It was really cool to see the musicians move between instruments with such ease. They clearly knew their music inside and out, and fully immersed themselves into the performance. They were completely comfortable onstage–it often felt like we were watching a private jam session rather than a concert, like we were all just hanging out and playing music. They really seemed to enjoy themselves, and so did the audience. They had energy, but more pronounced than that, they had heart. I felt that they were completely comfortable and open to sharing the best of their art with the audience.
Katie Herzig’s style is very unique. She has some poppy, upbeat love songs, like “Forevermore”, but even these have a unique sound, due to the variety of instruments used and the delicate, folky sound to her voice. Then she has fuller, more epic, rock/electronic songs, like “Lost and Found”, which was actually played in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Throughout the variability in the style of her music, her ethereal voice runs through, connecting her songs to create one genuinely unique artist.
Here’s a great example of Katie Herzig live (thought it still doesn’t compare to being there!)– a video someone took at one of her other concerts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eveegew3-Co
Katie Herzig, a folk-rock artist from Colorado, will be here in Ann Arbor at The Blind Pig Thursday night. Even if you don’t recognize her name, you would probably recognize her music, as several of her songs have been featured in movies and on television shows (including Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and Pretty Little Liars!). I personally recognized her from a favorite track on the Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack, “Look At You Now.” She certainly has a unique and varied style that’s worth checking out.
Check out her website! http://www.katieherzig.com/
To buy tickets go to The Blind Pig’s website: http://www.blindpigmusic.com/calendar.html
I ventured out of my campus apartment on Tuesday night to go see Howie Day at the Ark. I must admit, I’m not even a huge Howie Day fan. The only reason I recognized his name was because pretty much everyone has heard his song, “Collide,” at some point, myself included. I’ve been wanting to go to The Ark to see a show since I moved to Ann Arbor last year, but unfortunately I rarely recognize the artists that play there. So when I finally saw an artist’s name I had seen before, I jumped at the chance to check out this local concert venue.
First I must say, I was really pleased with the atmosphere of The Ark. If you haven’t been there before, it’s very relaxed. Everyone was very polite and laid-back–staff, volunteers, fellow concert-goers. Sometimes going to a concert can be stressful, with the crowds and crazy fans and mean-looking security guards, etc. Not so at The Ark. My only complaint however, for those of you who are over 21, is that you have to purchase a membership in order to buy a drink at the bar. They try to sell you a membership while you’re standing at the bar looking at the menu, but I know I won’t be coming back to The Ark frequently–that would make for a pretty expensive drink.
That being said, Howie Day is a pretty great performer. Despite not knowing any of his songs, I didn’t get bored for a moment during the concert. He is pretty funny and interacted a lot with the audience. Where acoustic songs can start to sound the same after a while, one after the other, he used samplers and effects pedals (which I had to look up on Wiki to find out exactly what it was called!), which is basically a system that allows him to record himself live then play it back immediately, layering tracks to accompany himself, to mix things up a bit. I was immediately impressed–it was so cool!
Here is the best example I could find on youtube of him using this live. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UttDDxRsFno
As much as I loved this initially, he used it A LOT throughout the night, to the point where all of the songs started to blend together. It sort of seemed to defeat its purpose. I’m sure as a solo acoustic performer he gets bored playing the same songs night after night, and he sure seems to enjoy using the layered tracks during his performance. However, this technique ended up seeming a bit more for his enjoyment than for the audience. I was really excited to hear more of his songs, since I was hearing them for the first time, but unfortunately several of the songs were long and drawn out because he kept layering tracks and building the music long after the song was finished. And for those who are big Howie Day fans and already know all of his songs, several of them were shouting out requests from the audience, most of which he never get around to playing because he had his own agenda.
I can’t say I’ve been converted to a big fan of Howie Day after seeing him live. I went back and listened to some of his recorded songs, and I just can’t get really into any of them. But he is a really entertaining performer, and worth going to see live, if for no other reason than to experience the famous “Collide” live in person.
How many of you readers know who Boyce Avenue is? I was pleasantly surprised when I got to EMU’s Pease Auditorium last night at how many people are Boyce Avenue fans–the place was packed! I saw them in concert last spring at The Blind Pig, a much smaller venue, so it was awesome to see how their fan base has grown in the past six months. For those of you who don’t know who they are, Boyce Avenue is a band comprised of three Puerto Rican-American brothers from Florida–Alejandro, Daniel and Fabian Manzano. Alejandro is the dreamy lead singer… I think its all in the name! Anyway, they started out singing acoustic covers of popular songs and posting videos of their studio performances on Youtube. That’s how I found out about them, from their sweet and romantic renditions of “Only Girl” by Rihanna, and “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. Check out their Youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/boyceavenue.
The concert last night got off to a slow start, with two opening acts for Boyce Avenue. The first was Alex Goot, a kid in a t-shirt, flannel, and glasses who played a mean piano. I enjoyed hearing him play, however I wasn’t a big fan of his original songs–not bad, but not great either. A bit too teenie-bopper for my taste. But, here’s his Youtube page if you want to decide for yourself! http://www.youtube.com/user/gootmusic
After Alex, Green River Ordinance took the stage (with a long time waiting in between for the band to set up their own equipment!). Green River Ordinance (GRO for short) were a lot more rock n’ roll. Though again, I wasn’t crazy about any of their songs, they were really great performers, getting the crowd involved and excited. And being from Texas, the lead singer had that charming southern drawl when he spoke. They were really fun to watch! Their style was indie-rock with a little bit of country thrown in there too. What really impressed me was that they did an “unplugged” piece at the end of the performance, where they all walked away from the drums and electric guitars and microphones, quieted the audience and sang and played a country/bluegrass song at the foot of the stage with nothing but their acoustic guitar, banjo, accordion and voices. Here’s their website–check them out! http://www.greenriverordinance.com/
After Alex and GRO, I was ready for Boyce Avenue to take the stage. However, the house lights came on again and GRO took down their equipment, and some other guys came out on stage to get ready for Boyce Avenue. I grew pretty impatient. The waiting in between sets was my least favorite part of this concert. The crowd lost energy in between performances, as people shuffled out of the auditorium to use the restroom, and others sat texting on their cell phones. Finally, the lights lowered and Boyce Avenue came out strong, rocking out to one of their hits, “Tonight”.
The concert was amazing–Boyce Avenue sounds even better live than they do recorded. They are all impressive musicians as well, with incredible skills on the guitar. Though I love their original songs, I love their acoustic covers even more, so I was really excited when they played songs like “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman and “Who I Am” by The Goo Goo Dolls. My only complaint with Boyce Avenue live is that they aren’t the best at interacting with the audience, the little comedic banter that many musicians do in between songs. Alejandro is quite serious and didn’t provide much comic relief, or show us much of his personality throughout the performance. Nevertheless, the crowd was very involved, standing throughout the performance, screaming and yelling like crazy! Their performance was over too soon, so the crowd cheered for an encore–and they got one. Alejandro came back out to his keyboard first by himself, then his brothers joined after the first song. They seemed to loosen up a bit in the last few songs, and they ended the concert on a high note.
I was sad to leave the concert hall last night. I really enjoyed hearing Boyce Avenue live. Their songs are sweet and heartfelt, in no way raunchy or dirty like a lot of popular music is these days. They even change the lyrics of pop songs to make them more romantic and innocent, melting girls’ hearts who dare to listen to Alejandro’s pure voice. It was interesting to see how this manifested even in the type of people who came to the show. As we were all piling out of the auditorium and the congested parking lot, everyone was SO nice, letting other people into the line of traffic ahead of them, no pushing or shoving whatsoever–all in all, it’s good to be a Boyce Avenue fan!
The dance lover that I am, I couldn’t wait to see the unique dance company from Taiwan, The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, perform at the Power Center on Friday night. I had heard how uniquely beautiful their movement style is, due to their wide range of training in modern dance, classical ballet, tai chi, and Chinese opera movement. Though I was feeling a little under-the-weather, I pulled myself off of my futon and went to the show.
The Power Center was packed, and not long after I found my seat the lights lowered and the curtain opened to reveal a white floor, tilted so that it was higher upstage, away from the audience, swooping gradually down to meet with the black Power Center stage, making it feel throughout the performance as if the dancers would roll right down into the audience. The dance began slowly, too slowly, as the dancers took small, careful steps out onto the stage, performing miniscule movements for the first long minutes of the performance to high-pitched, eerie music that hurt my ears. When I began to wonder where the breath-taking movement was that I had been promised of the Cloud Gate dancers, they exited the stage, the music still going, leaving us all to stare awkwardly at an empty stage, wondering uncomfortably when they’re coming back.
Though I’m not sure I enjoyed or agreed with the choice to leave the stage empty for a few moments so soon in the performance, before I saw any real dancing, it did make sense in light of the overall concept of the piece, concerning Chinese calligraphy, and the white stage as a metaphor for the rice paper on which calligraphy is done. Throughout the piece there were dark “clouds” that rolled over the white floor, at various speeds and intensities, sometimes casting a shadowy grey color over the entire stage, and at other times frantically spinning black cloud-shapes over the stage as the dancers jumped and rolled on the floor in equal speed and intensity. The empty stage gave us the opportunity to appreciate this unique staging choice.
The dancers soon re-entered and the performance continued. Though there were many clear exits and entrances, breaks and shifts in the music, as well as in the style of dance–ranging from impressive slow, controlled movements of the arms cutting through space, to quick, frantic leaps and falls, rolling on the ground–these pieces flowed easily from one to the next, blurring the lines between one section of choreography and the next. Though I felt there was some story to the piece, something possibly concerning cultural history, gender, and sorrow, this story was incredibly abstract, and anything but clear, so is often the case with modern dance. Regardless of what the choreographer was intending to communicate through the movement, the piece was certainly a unique expression, with the white floor, and uniform white costumes, contrasting with the black forms projected onto the floor, and the often eerie music and mood.
Now, the ballet-trained dancer in me couldn’t help but critique the repeatedly sickled (turned-in), flexed feet, obviously a choice made by the choreographer, but annoying to me nonetheless. Maybe it’s the result of years of being told how great a sin it is to sickle your feet in ballet, but it still just looks ugly to me! I was also disappointed at the limited range of movement used in the piece. Though I am aware that dance as an art form isn’t all about doing big leaps and turns and fancy moves that impress the audience with your technique, I had heard so much about the control and expertise of these dancers’ movements, and I felt like they were capable of so much more than the choreography allowed them to show us. I felt that the movement was very repetitive, abstract, and contained.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. It was refreshing to see dance again–I miss it so much! Hearing the breath of the dancers in moments when the music was quiet, hearing their feet landing on the stage as they jumped and traveled across the floor… music to my ears. The Cloud Gate dancers are truly amazing dancers, technically and artistically. And thankfully, the performance lasted only about an hour, so I was able to go back home to my futon and sleep off my sickness–perfection!
