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NOiR’s 17th annual Runway Fashion Show last night, April 2nd, was all around amazing! NOiR introduced the audience to the elements: earth, air, water, and fire in different scenes. The element themes featured clothes from Isaiah, Zack, Vincent, Greatness the One, Bivouac, Renaissance, Windsor, Pitaya, Junae Raye, Jaust, and Motivation. In the final scene, NOiR, the models wore the brand, Dutch. I was impressed by how the show really captured NOiR’s effort to bring together Michigan’s diverse community.

The first two sections, earth and air, the lingerie then formal scene, were great. I was stunned by how confident and how effortlessly fierce each model looked as they strutted down the runway. The models all looked as if they had been modeling for years. I commend NOiR for showcasing different body types, different races, different ethnicities, and different genders in every scene.

After the earth and air scenes, there was an intermission for raffle drawings. NOiR’s giveaways were no joke. They gave each attendee the chance to win a prize as a thank you for buying a ticket to the show. The prizes included a brand new Jim Harbaugh Autographed Football, 2 backstage VIP tickets to music matters Springfest Migos concert, a beats by Dre 2.0 pill, 5 Steve Madden handbags, free Domino’s pizza for a semester, Mary Kay gift bags, and a bduds gift card (which I won!!). The hosts interacted with the audience well and kept everyone entertained while the models changed by hosting a Milly Rock dance competition for a $100 visa gift card.

Succeeding the interactive intermission for the raffles, the rest of the show only got better. The music selection was perfect and I loved the outfits. My favorite parts of the show were the last two scenes, Fire and NOiR. In these two sections, the models complemented each other very well. I loved when two of the models came out and were in sync when they got to their moves at the end of the runway.

Before the NOiR finale, the president and vice president came out on stage. They spoke about the history of NOiR and pointed out that a few women from the program that all of their proceeds are going to this year, the Women-Inspired Neighborhood Network, were in the audience. I’m sure it was great for those women to see the hard work that NOiR put into the show and the packed tent full of students, families, and friends, supporting NOiR’s models and the cause they are walking for.

I could tell that NOiR’s members put a lot of time into the show because of how smoothly the show was conducted. There weren’t long pauses between scenes, the models always came out on time, and the videos that played between each scene were engaging and interesting to watch.

Although the weather didn’t turn out to be the greatest for the tent, the models for NOiR brought the heat. The show was very well executed and I can’t wait to go again next year!

Please visit www.noirrunway.org/donate-1 to support a local program that helps disadvantaged mothers in Detroit gain resources and support during their pregnancy and beyond!

If you are interested in being part of NOiR in the future, I suggest following them on Facebook and Instagram for information on their next model call.

With upbeat and swinging sounds, The Oh Hellos manage to be both fun and tender. Their songs have rising, crescendoing melodies and what starts as something sweet and simple will build until the whole band is a wall of sound. It’s the haunting kind of folk music. If you’re curious, I’d recommend checking out their Bandcamp page, where you can get their first two albums for free. They will be playing at The Ark, tonight, at 7pm and will be joined by The Collection. Unfortunately, tickets have been sold out for a couple weeks, but you can try to buy one off of someone!

The 17th annual NOiR Runway Fashion Show is happening tomorrow night! Come out and help this fashion philanthropy organization raise their goal of $4,000 to benefit a program that focuses on reducing infant mortality in Detroit.

This highly anticipated event will be held on April 2nd in a tent at Ingalls Mall. NOiR is making it easy for everyone to get to the event. Take a FREE Lyft to the show and after-party by using Promo Code NOIRXVII! 

The show starts at 7:00pm!

VIP tickets are sold out but general admission tickets are still available for $15 here.

What: A brilliant satire on the medical profession put on by our very own Theatre Department

When: Thursday March 31 and April 7 at 7:30, Friday April 1 and 8 at 8:00, Saturday April 2 and 9 at 8:00, Sunday April 3 and 10 at 2:00

Where: Arthur Miller Theatre

How Much: $28 for General Admission, $12 for Students

Don’t miss it!!!!

Monday night I went and saw an advanced screening of “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” at the State Theater. Since the movie does not actually premier until April 22nd, and I do not want to be responsible for any spoils, I will not be talking about any specifics of the movie. Instead I will discuss my impressions and feelings from seeing the movie and then encourage you to go see it for yourself. See if you agree!

I had the sense, especially during the beginning of the movie (probably the first 30 to 45 min), of being lost as to what the timeframe of the movie was. I hadn’t been sure when I went to go see the movie if this was a prequel or a sequel; one of the trailers mentions this is the story before Snow White but other shots in the trailer seemed to take place after the events of the film “Snow White and the Huntsman”. The movie starts obviously before Snow White’s story but I was not sure where the movie was going because events started clipping along right from the beginning; it was looking like it was going to be a short movie. But instead of ending, the film skipped 7 years ahead to AFTER Snow White’s story. The film is both a prequel AND a sequel!

Now while this is an efficient method to pack a lot of twists and turns, action scenes, characters, and special effects into one film, as I an audience member, I’m not sure how much it worked. You really did have to have seen the first film, because it’s the entire middle of the story that they are weaving and it was not shown. And they really did have more than enough material to be two separate movies; separating much shorter stories into two or three or even four movies has been a common strategy in Hollywood and for once, I think that might have been better for the story they were telling.

That being said, once I understood it was a prequel and sequel I found it more enjoyable. So I think simply better advertising over what audiences can expect would have solved much of my confusion. There were a fair number of comedic lines, loveable characters, and intrigue; It kept me constantly watching to follow the many turns. Audience members are in for a ride!

The First Annual University of Michigan Improv Festival went off with barely a hiccup, and its successful debut hopefully foreshadows many more. The first show was at 6 pm and moderately attended. The 9 pm had more people but still didn’t nearly fill Rackham, which was surprising for a top notch performance that was free. Those who didn’t attend missed out!

The only hiccup for patrons, in the otherwise smooth comedic journey, was the RSVP feature the festival had tried to instigate. As advertised, by RSVPing people would get to sit 15 min before the public. In reality the difference in time and pick of seat was almost nothing. The idea was good, and also potentially effective in crowd control if there had been more people, but the execution wasn’t quite there and might want to be changed if they use the system in future years.

A lively audience sat down to an alternative rock playlist before the show began with a short skit by Funny or Die, one of the organizing groups. The sketch featured a president who continually mispronounced words so they became nonsense and was charmingly unaware of the frustration this caused. I can’t hope to do justice in describing each group’s performance but I’ll talk about some of the highlights from each group in an effort to make showcase the array of talent that was present.

After Funny or Die, George Washington University’s Recess performed some sketch comedy. From a Jersey Shore rendition of the Final Supper, a not so appropriate sexual misconduct in the workplace seminar, and a girl named Meredith making up illnesses to get boys to kiss her, their cast was varied and talented, gaining lots of laughs from the audience. Recess was followed by Paperback Rhinos from the University of Iowa, who wanted to interview someone in the audience who’d had an interesting day. And it was an interesting, intricate, and wandering journey the audience member had been on which inspired some bizarre and hilarious comedy. Wet Bus then performed, followed by Alterboyz, both of which are post-college improv groups. Wet Bus was my favorite group at the 6 pm show, while I honestly couldn’t quite get into Alterboyz’s set. Wet Bus got a suggestion from the audience, cheese, and then preceded to start with a technique I’ve never seen before. One person started speaking, and then one at a time, people joined and raised their voices so they all took turns following one person’s lead but all speaking at the same time. It was amazing! And the rest of the show worked on associations with that first piece, even as they performed different scenes, where characters were repeated, and interwoven in a continuous flow of ever changing scenes. It was beautiful to watch!

At the 9 pm show Midnight Book Club and ComCo opened for Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company (UCB). They did UofM proud and got the audience in the right mood for the featured UCB. UCB started just asking for random information about the campus with audience members jist shouting things out. One of the UCB players was a UofM alumni and seemed to have a lot of fun being back! They then interviewed an audience member who was in the acting school and part of greek life. She spilled about the inner workings of the infamous ski trip and taught us about the variety of shapes condoms come in. Both of which became great fuel for the improv UCB then performed. I also learned that the man who plays the washboard outside the library is a professor here at the University, not just a talented community member! UCB put on an amazing show featuring a crazy moth bred Miley Cyrus, a silent rendition of Chopsticks played by jumping on a giant imaginary floor piano, lots of rolling on the floor, and even off the stage at one point!

The Festival was a hit and I look forward to another one next year!