Tsukumo – [art]seen

REVIEW: Layla and Majnun

October 15, 2016October 15, 2016 Tsukumo Leave a comment

I bought my tickets last-minute to be at the performance of Layla and Majnun, which meant I’d be all the way at the top of the balcony at the Power Center. Granted, the view wasn’t the greatest — especially when the dancers were active on house left. However, I was still able to fully receive the emotions conveyed through music and movements on stage even when I was practically the farthest from stage. Colors, poems, and artists skillfully created a space where a tragic love story can be told. It may be an understatement to say I was impressed.

The first time I saw the Silk Road Ensemble perform was four years ago. I was curious about how the so-called Western and non-Western instruments can come together and form a cohesive ensemble. They proved me at that performance that it’s totally doable, and music can, indeed, transcend borders. The ensemble reinforced that again at this performance, where a group of string players — violin, viola, cello, bass, Persian kamanche, and Chinese pipa — supported the two Azerbaijani singers and the entire dance crew as a true ensemble. I was also moved by Mr. Evan Ziporyn for his skill on clarinet to be able to be mellow and flexible enough to adapt to the Azerbaijani musical tradition on an instrument made for Euro-American settings. I also appreciated the production team for making the music just loud enough, but not overpowering. With the music so sensitive, all it needed was a slight amplification to reach an audience afar (like me!) — which I thought was executed very well.

layla-majnun-1080-4-by-susana-miller-1620x1080 — Photo by Susana Miller. Father-and-daughter Alim Qasimov (left) and Fargana Qasimova (right) are incredible singers!

I had never heard of Mark Morris Dance Group, but the fact that Mr. Yo-Yo Ma has referred to the group as “the preeminent modern dance organization of our time” made me look forward to seeing them. Their movements on stage were very convincing, even to my non-dancer eyes. I was most impressed in the last act, titled “The Lovers’ Demise”, where the dancers fall down one-by-one to the ground after what seems to be a despairing moment but none of them fall exactly the same way. Their control over their own bodies and connections with other dancers and musicians are incredible and memorable.

Going to this performance was a great way to wrap up my busy week and start off my fall break. I was also happy to see many other students in the audience experiencing the same beauty, in an art form that I’m sure most of us were not very familiar with. Ann Arbor offers so many different performances that are new to me, and they never seem to disappoint.

PREVIEW: Layla and Majnun

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 Tsukumo Leave a comment

Layla and Majnun is an “opera” based on a Persian poem about lovers who will never be allowed to unite. Alim Qasinov and Fargana Qasimova, singers from Azerbaijan, will be showcasing their majestic voices accompanied by the Silk Road Ensemble and Mark Morris Dance Group as they tell this emotional story.

Just looking at the photos and sneak-peek videos make me happy. There are so many colors, emotions, movements, and art.

Layla and Majnun, to me, seems like the epitome of performing arts: a skillful combination of poetry, dances, fashion design, visual art, and of course, music — both improvised and composed. And that’s what excites me about it. Collaboration among different art forms is something that I’m striving to achieve in my final year of undergraduate degrees, and I can’t think of a better example than Layla and Majnun.

The show will be on Thursday October 13 at 7:30pm, and Friday & Saturday October 14 & 15 at 8pm. Tickets are running out, so get yours ASAP from the Michigan League Ticket Office or ums.org/students.

REVIEW: Taylor Mac

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 Tsukumo Leave a comment

For three hours, two nights in a row, Taylor Mac captivated audience with some “Radical Faerie Rituals” — where judy takes the lead and “controls” the audience. The result was a room full of people being uncomfortable, challenged, and educated. (Taylor Mac uses “judy” as a pronoun.) Taylor’s superb theatrical and musical talent, as well as the band’s virtuosity and the design team’s impressive creation of visual elements, made these nights very memorable and enjoyable.

On February 5 and 6, Taylor Mac presented “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1956–1986” at the Mendelssohn Theater. This project looks at music popular in the United States from 1776 to 2016, and with each of these 24 decades, Taylor features stories of various marginalized communities. In October, this project culminates in a 24-hour long concert (or “ex-tra-va-gan-za” as Taylor would say), one hour per decade.These performances comprise of many things: history, activism, identity politics, drag, Elizabethan fool, glitters, and of course, popular music. Ann Arbor audiences enjoyed the workshop version of Act VII, consisting of three decades: 1956-66, 1966-76, and 1976-86. In addition to that, Taylor Mac, musical director Matt Ray, and designer Machine Dazzle did a residency for a week, where they visited various U-M classes, served in panel discussions, and facilitated workshops.

I must admit that I might be just a little biased about Taylor. I had an internship with UMS and SMTD, with which I was able to work with judy and Pomegranate Arts, an independent arts production group. During my two months there, I observed five shows and a couple of rehearsals. Because of this, the visit to Ann Arbor by the band members and production team felt like a reunion. (Read about my experience here.)

I also experienced these performances a bit differently from the regular audience members; I was one of the four “Dandy Minions” — I guess you could call us stage hands with lots of costume and makeups, offering some dandy help to Taylor. We were part of the visual element to the show, with our own “drag.” It was SO much fun to make a fool out of myself with three of my wonderful co-Minions.

When you walk into Taylor’s performance, you realize it’s not a typical performance. You’re walking into Taylor’s church. And in a church, you listen to the preacher — because the preacher has pretty darn good things to say about identities, activism, and history through music. Also, it’s much more fun if you challenge yourself to get out of your shell and let yourself do whatever is being asked. I remembered the excitement that I first felt with Taylor’s performance back in June 2015; I believe and hope that the audience members from those two nights got the same chills I got.

PREVIEW: Taylor Mac

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 Tsukumo Leave a comment

What do you get when you combine theater, popular music, drag culture, Elizabethan fool, activism, and history? Taylor Mac!

Taylor is a theater artist with a powerful presence, heavily invested in queer and feminist performance, and interested in mining feminism, gender, race, sexuality, and queer identity through a project called “A 24-Decade History of American Popular Music“. Also, it’s one of few shows on U-M campus that challenges the gender binary (man/woman). Taylor, who uses the pronoun “judy,” will be doing two performances of the 1956-1986 era from “A 24-Decade History of American Popular Music.”

It’s hard to describe judy and judy’s work without visuals. Here are a few:

(Yup, that’s me talking. I got to work with Taylor Mac over the summer, for an internship with UMS and SMTD. Here’s my story.)

The shows will be on this Friday and Saturday, February 5-6, at 8pm. It will be at Lydia Mendelssohn Theater inside Michigan League — the lobby of which is being decorated by Machine Dazzle, artist who has done extensive work on installation art and also the costume designer for Taylor! (I got a sneak peek of it; it looks freaking awesome. It’s hard to miss.)

Tickets are sold online at UMS’s website, or you can buy them in person at the Michigan League Ticket Office. Just like other UMS shows, students tickets are as cheap as $12!

Are you still there? For more fabulous interviews, check out the following videos too.

Let’s hear from performers themselves:

…And finally, directly from Taylor:

I hope you can make it. You might find me in costumes doing dandy things for Taylor those nights. 😛

REVIEW: “I’MMA DO ME”

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 Tsukumo Leave a comment

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at the University of Michigan is a special day in which the U-M community comes together to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, and explore our roles in activism. As a part of this year’s MLK Symposium, playwright and actor April Dae Rochon brought to campus a “15-character one-woman play” that explored multiple stories of poverty in present-day United States. This play, “I’MMA DO ME,” challenged the audience to look at the issue of poverty in an entertaining and educational way.

Ms. Rochon gave her performance of “I’MMA DO ME” to a full house on Monday, January 18 at 7pm. I had a chance to attend her encore performance on the day after, on Tuesday, with my fellow Residential Staff (ResStaff) members.

Through her performance, Ms. Rochon has convinced me that theater is a powerful tool for social change. By hearing and recreating real stories from real people, and presenting those in an entertaining and eye-opening form, Ms. Rochon gives the audience a shared experience that all audience members could reflect on together. “I’MMA DO ME” gives us a lens to talk about the cultural experience that not all audience members may share — poverty, drug addiction, living with constant fear of gun shootings, police brutality, teen pregnancy, college discussion on privilege at a “unique” university, and many others. Throughout the play, members of the audience nodded, snapped, cringed, groaned, laughed, sighed, and clapped — because many of us could relate to the sentiments shared on stage, although our experiences are not the same at all.

At the conclusion of this play, Ms. Rochon and the director of the play, Mr. Lumumba Reynolds, engaged us in a dialogue on what this theatric experience was like for us — what made us uncomfortable? What did you see? What didn’t you see? Do we know these characters in our lives? It is difficult to talk about what you don’t know without any shared cultural representations of them, and it was amazing to see this play acting as an agent for that difficult dialogue to happen with total strangers in the room. Ms. Rochon also shared with us the importance of presenting the reality, regardless of who is in the audience. Because the play presents ugly pictures of white privilege and extreme inequality, some audience members may not be as open as others. Even with that danger, she firmly believes in not watering down the truths and meaning what she says. This philosophy is extremely important in my work as a performing artist and an activist. I learned from this “talk-back” session just as much as I did from the play itself.

During the scene with six college students arguing about privilege (represented by differently colored pencils), an African American student character in the play declares: “Luxury of being ignorant is one among many things we can’t afford.” By seeing “I’MMA DO ME,” we could take the first step to combat ignorance — self-education on the issues of poverty. It’s a powerful example of how theater can influence the society.

Ms. Rochon representing an African American college student in her play “I’MMA DO ME.” Click to go to her Facebook page.

REVIEW: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015 Tsukumo

October has been a very exciting month for orchestra lovers; from the New York Philharmonic’s residency in Ann Arbor earlier this month to this performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, we have not been disappointed.

A bit of bragging moment: earlier that day, I had an opportunity to play for Dwight Parry, an oboist from Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra who has been touring with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the principal oboe. He was very inspirational — with much focus on technique as well as musicality, I learned a lot from him. Here’s a proof:

Oboist Dwight Parry (right) instructing me to play with more forward motion. — Oboist Dwight Parry (right) instructing me at the master class.

As a orchestral musician, Mr. Parry has a lot of experience in auditioning and judging auditions. Many of us classical musicians stress over the whole audition process all the time. Winning a position in an orchestra through auditions is extremely difficult — with hundreds of well-qualified applicants fighting over one seat, which is typically to be filled for decades once someone wins the spot. He mentioned that, when he is judging auditions, he is looking for a “colleague” — someone that can play in tune and in tempo, and that is overall pleasant to work with. These words stuck out to me as a lesson.

After that interaction with Mr. Parry, seeing him among many other superb musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra made me feel much closer to the orchestra. And I thought a lot about colleagues in an ensemble. What does it mean to play with the same people on your left and on your right for many, many years? Ideally, these players would develop the chemistry among them that make the “group” sound instead of “individual” sounds. However, this is not always the case, as conflicts and drama do happen. How do you act professional and deliver high-quality music to the audience with your colleagues?

To me, CSO seemed to do this very well. From the first “overture” — “The Victors” — to the last movement of Mahler’s First Symphony, the chemistry was there. (Has “The Victors” become a new tradition for all orchestras visiting Ann Arbor to play?) Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (with the iconic “duh-duh-duh-dummmmm” in the first movement) and Mahler’s First Symphony (with full of contrasts and shining moments for all instruments) are both classic favorites, and CSO gave no less than spectacular.

UMS has two more (international!) orchestras coming this season: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London in January, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra from Quebec in March. I am very much looking forward to exploring more orchestral artistry in the upcoming months.