Category: Arts

REVIEW: Đêm Việt Nam

Sappy Leave a comment

I had a blast at this year’s Đêm Việt Nam (DVN)! Pictured above was my favorite performance from the night – the opening act done by The Detroit Lion Dance Association. I didn’t expect to see an actual traditional lion dance; it was my first time watching one as well!

It was fascinating in multiple ways. Exclaimed gasps were heard throughout the venue when the two lions suddenly appeared in the aisles. Their dance incorporated humor and storytelling, and the lions themselves showed so much emotion through their movements and eyes alone. One highlight for me was when the lions pretended to drink alcohol and afterward stumbled onto the ground in a deep slumber; then the sound of the drums awakened them and they gathered their surroundings to the rhythmic beat of the instruments. The crowd favorite was the moments when the lions would rise to face either the audience or each other. I’m truly impressed by the stamina and hard work that must’ve been put into this performance.

 

Despite being a non-dance-based organization, I enjoyed the performances the members of VSA prepared. They incorporated a lot of character and I could tell the students had a lot of fun on stage. I realized at DVN how important lighting is and how it can increase the quality of a viewer’s experience. Darker lighting heightened anticipation in the room; brighter lighting gave playful energy; and pure silhouettes on a colorful background emphasized the movements of the dancers. I think these special effects helped show off the energy the performers wanted to showcase. In my opinion, it also relieved the pressure of giving an immaculate and in-sync performance. The Power Center is an amazing venue and I hope to watch more performances there.

 

Guy/Girl traditional – this was another one of my favorite performances; the chemistry between the dancers was very charming and I loved all the romantic nuances hidden within their dance moves alongside the use of the hats

 

Fans – an example of how the background shift can change the atmosphere of a performance. The dark red was very alluring and the dark green let the shape and colors of the fans standout

 

Traditional Melody – one of the ending acts that incorporates multiple traditional dances and outfits

The event was an appropriate length: not too long that it was tiring or too short that it felt disappointing. I liked the intermittent mini-skits that helped create smooth transitions between different performances too. I even found myself smiling at the heartwarming atmosphere between the club members.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s DVN and hope you guys consider attending in the future too!

PREVIEW: Đêm Việt Nam

Sappy Leave a comment

If you have time tomorrow evening, consider coming to Đêm Việt Nam (also known as DVN), which is the Vietnamese Student Association’s annual show! The theme this year is “Tìm Đường Về”, which means “Find Your Way Home.”

This will be my first Đêm Việt Nam, so I don’t have a clear picture of what their show is like. However, I know there is a highlight on dancing. These are the specifics listed on their Instagram (@vsa_michigan) post teasing DVN a while back:

Guy/Girl Hiphop

Umbrellas

B2Viet

Guy Hiphop

Fans

Girl Hiphop

Traditional Melody

Guy/Girl traditional

Furthermore, they’re featuring a long list of guest performers, some that I found rather surprising:

The Detroit Lion Dance Association – This is a group I haven’t seen before

K-Motion + Female Gayo + DB3 (Kpop-focused dance groups collab)

Revolution (Chinese Yo-yo club)

UMTKD (The University of Michigan Tae Kwon Do Club) – I didn’t expect there to be a martial arts performance!

Photonix (Glowstick Performance Group)

It’ll be at the Power Center tomorrow, which is a really nice venue that holds various professional performances like ballet, theater, etc. The doors will open at 6:00 PM but the actual performances will be from 7-9 PM. You can buy tickets (they’re beautifully designed by the way) at the door, so if you’re looking for something to do Saturday night, stop by for some exciting performances!

REVIEW: Living

Ruth Leave a comment

I arrived very early to the theater to watch this film. It was a 6:45 showing and I’d finished dinner early, so I strolled into the auditorium to take my pick of the seats and hunkered down to wait. It was really a blessing in disguise to have arrived so early, as I got to witness the entrance of my fellow audience members. Couple after couple meandered into the room, all hand in hand, all whispering softly as they carefully chose their seats. All of their heads, peeking above the back of the chairs, were covered in variations of white and gray. Seeing all of these older couples together made me smile, it was such a quiet, sweet sort of beauty.

I describe this to you, because the film mirrored that quiet sweetness that I witnessed from the couples in the movie theater. Obviously, Living isn’t an action film nor is it a romance. It’s simply about an older man named Mr. Williams and what he did with his life after realizing that it would end far sooner than he’d imagined. The premise itself sounds cliché even as I write it, but the film didn’t make a dramatic moment of the whole event. Instead, Williams decided that how he lived from that moment on would change. If he was going to die, he wanted to know what it was like to live joyfully, and there was no one better to teach him how to accomplish that than a woman from his workplace by the name of Miss Margaret Harris. Miss Harris was the key to joyfulness for Mr. William.

In many ways, the title of the film doesn’t just describe the plot, but also the way the movie is put together. Our lives aren’t an endless string of events. There are periods of rest; not everything is exciting, there are many moments of banality. The film replicates this with many scenes were there isn’t any dialogue at all, just the soft instrumental soundtrack playing along as the camera pans across the characters simply sitting. At times, these static moments don’t even involve a character.

I greatly appreciated how this film replicates a more  realistic aspects of the lives we lead. It’s slow and soft; a bit boring at times and a bit sad at others.

Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who’s in the mood for something a little more real.

 

 

 

REVIEW: Your Sexts Are Shit: Older Better Letters

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

**featured image from the performance trailer on UMS.org

8:00pm • Saturday, February 4, 2023 • Arthur Miller Theater

Yet again, I was mistaken in my assumption that Your Sexts Are Shit would be a simple comedy performance. Through a combination of love (and sex) letters among historical figures, screenshots of sexts (and not-sexts), and her own constructed narrative, Rachel Mars paid tribute to the voices and stories we have historically neglected to value.

Mars took a different approach to sharing each form of writing with the audience. Each style was represented visually onstage–to the right was a chest of drawers topped with a noisy, old-fashioned carousel slide projector that cast the slightly-askew letters onto a small screen. At the center, a modern projector flicked between sexts at the click of a remote. To the left, a pristine home office complete with studio lighting and Mac were set up on a slight platform. Each location lent its own interpretation to the written words Mars read, and in the Q&A, she described how these connected with the different impacts forms of communication have on their readers. For example, there is a different kind of eroticism behind sending a letter and the uncertainty of waiting for a response than in the immediacy of texting.

Also in the Q&A, Mars shared the intentionality behind her curation of the letters and texts. James Joyce’s letters to Nora Barnacle were included first, because her chance encounter with them in 2020 was what led to the project in the first place. However, she used his letters to draw attention to the fact that while the famous author’s letters have been preserved, history has not assigned the same value to his partner’s voice. This was a common theme among the letters chosen: they represented voices, or relationships, we erase. We erase women who own their sexuality, and we erase the evidence of people in power who don’t fit our expectations of womanhood or manhood. During the performance I heard one of the older audience-members next to me asking his partner, “Are these real?” I feel like it demonstrated the extent of that erasure, where even if evidence is right before our eyes we question its integrity because it clashes so intensely with our pre-conceived understanding of reality.

Something Mars said which struck me was that she takes the letters, and the texts, “quite seriously.” While we might laugh at the brazenness of Joyce’s letters, they are still the remnants of a real relationship between two real people. While I may have entered the performance with the mindset that it would be all easy laughter (which perhaps already says something about how society has taught me to think about sexuality), I left with a newfound curiosity about the other stories we neglect to take seriously.

REVIEW: Our Carnal Hearts

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

**featured image from UMS.org

8:00pm • Friday, February 3, 2023 • Arthur Miller Theater

I feel that I did Our Carnal Hearts an injustice in my preview for the show by calling it a “comedy performance,” because it contained so much more. There were moments of humor, but it was the kind of humor that is a bit uncomfortable, the sort necessary to make a difficult reality easier to swallow. The show dealt with the un-picturesque reality of human jealousy and competitiveness in an age of both unprecedented wealth and heightening economic disparity, made starkly visible by a performative social media culture. Rachel Mars rendered envy both relatable and ridiculous, both a vindication of those with reason for envy and a criticism of an upper class with everything that still demands more.

Much of the performance conveyed a sense of frustration, maybe even righteous anger, that felt like a justification for jealousy. For example, Mars’ use of “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. with its repetitive “All I wanna do is… (gun shot, shot, shot, reload, cash register) and take your money” and the song’s connotations of barriers to immigration and work, advanced the social themes of the performance. In another scene, Mars repeated the mantra, “Congratulations, I’m so happy for you,” her throat constricting with pent-up anger until it was more of a forced wheeze than a well-wish.

One of my favorite elements of the performance drove home the point that envy can be gratifying, but in the end it is a two-way street. It began with an eerily mocking song from the three vocalists. Mars walked out into the audience and took a seat and, speaking to the guest next to her while the sound system broadcast their “conversation” to the rest of us, introduced the premise. A fairy has arrived at your doorstep, and told you that finally, out of everyone else in the world, you have been chosen to receive a wish–but there’s a catch. Whatever you wish for will be delivered to your neighbor twofold. Assuming the voice of our collective unconscious, Mars rallied off all the riches and glories we would like to receive–before doing a double-take, recalling the catch. At that point, her jealousy got the best of her and she scrapped all of those nice ideas–instead, Mars suggested, give her mild depression. Take away half her money. Cut out one of her legs, or better yet, one of her kidneys. We all laughed, but near the end of the performance, the lights lowered, and Mars began again. A fairy has arrived at your door, but this time, it says, “I’ve just come from your neighbor’s house…”

Our Carnal Hearts gave me a lot to think about in terms of the role of jealousy in my own life, how “envy” can be a misinterpreted reaction to injustice, and who is “permitted” to feel envious. Jealousy and revenge are eternally salient themes in the world of art, and I enjoyed Mars’ modern interpretation.

PREVIEW: Your Sexts Are Shit: Older Better Letters

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

**featured image from the performance trailer on UMS.org

What: a comedy performance created by Rachel Mars, a British artist, comparing raunchy love letters to modern sexts

When: Saturday, January 4, 8pm

Where: Arthur Miller Theater

Tickets: currently sold-out

In Your Sexts Are Shit: Older Better Letters, artist Rachel Mars weaves together a combination of century-old erotic letters and modern sexts, creating a show that is uniquely funny, erotic, and intimate. The piece is inspired by sex letters from James Joyce to Nora Barnacle, and if you don’t get the chance to see this weekend’s performances, Mars also created two short videos inspired by those letters, available on her website, that are quite entertaining. I am curious to see how Mars relates these communications to the “queer female body,” which the show’s description includes as one of this piece’s main themes. Saturday’s show will include a Q&A with the artist after the performance, and I’m hoping to either ask or hear about the process of collecting and curating the source material for this piece. I can’t wait to see how Mars interprets written forms of love and lust through the ages, and I’m looking forward to a night of laughter.