REVIEW: Once On This Island

Madison Krumins Leave a comment

The highlight of my weekend, by far, was seeing Musket’s Once on This Island performed at the Power Center this Saturday night. I can easily say that this was one of the most fantastic performances I’ve ever seen on a stage—there was so much incredible talent on the stage and in the seams of this show, and the cast brought so much energy and love to this story.

Once on This Island is a story set in the modern day French Antilles. An orphan girl, spared by the gods from a storm that swept her village, is taken in by an older couple and lovingly nicknamed Ti Moune. One day, a car crashes with a wealthy boy from the other side of the island, Daniel, inside. Ti Moune saves his life and falls in love with him, but when she pursues him back to the city, she is shunned by him and his people. The gods make a deal betting which is stronger, love or death, and Ti Moune, full with love and forgiveness for Daniel, loses her life. The gods transform her into a beautiful and strong tree, a tree so large it breaks open the city’s gates and provides shade to all people of the island. 

Simone Clotile, a University of Michigan junior, led the cast as a stunning Ti Moune. Clotile’s vocals are unmatched: clear, strong, and full of heart. My lungs were knocked clean of air during Ti Moune’s introductory song, “Waiting for Life.” Other standout performances included Tonton Julian, played by Nile Andah, and the gods: Abigail Aziz as Erzulie with a stunning solo “The Human Heart,” Mama Euralie played by Sarah Oguntumilade, and a sly and (wonderfully) terrifying portrayal of Pape Ge, the death god, by Jackson Kanawha Perry. Everything from costumes to choreography shined. The band, which was on the stage, blended into the set and story seamlessly, contributing to the masterful collaboration of music, dance, and acting on stage.

Musket does a fantastic job with their productions, and this was no exception. Congrats to the cast and crew for an amazing performance!

REVIEW: Oscar nominated shorts – Live Action

Joann Leave a comment

I admire short films because their shortness does not represent the depth of the message they carry but only shows the limitation to the time they are allowed to trap the audience’s attention. Due to these resources, they have to be clever in picking what to show and tell. This will mean that the audience will be on a quick, dramatic ride. The five films, although very different in the subject of the emotion they are telling, shared the common theme of pain and fear. It could be pain from a man having to ‘turn off’ his wife after her brain death(On my mind), fear of being imprisoned by machines that run the jurisdiction system without the flexibility to correct a mistake(Please hold), the pain of not having ‘a normal’ body and being laughed at(The dress), racism and violence conducted under it that comes without warning(The Long Goodbye), or the pain of a girl who dreamt of continuing her studies in the city where she was kidnapped to a rural village to do an unwanted marriage under the village and family’s approval(Ala Kachuu). They are communicated concisely and strongly, resembling a roller coaster with five peaks.

On My Mind – Great connection between scenes to make a complete story. The interesting buildup keeps the audience curious and engage during the first half.

Please Hold – The exemplary model of criticism toward the status quo. Intelligently designed reference to current digital society’s dehumanization of operations (we all have the experience of being frustrated by the neverending loop of ARS that does not have the option I want) and digital advertisements that nag you to spend money on options, and the necessity to have money even to fix something that went wrong. A thriller that has amazing communication: it was really easy to connect to the horrors and frustrations of the protagonist. However, I think the real horror was not the mechanic voices. The ones who saw this will remember the scene where the human attorney exclaimed ‘not again!’ before ending the $1000 call in a few seconds-will this mean that the protagonist was not the first wrongly accused? Why was the system not discarded after the continued horror of sentencing 40+ years to innocent men?

The Dress – A deep sorrow told of an unfamiliar world.

The Long Goodbye – The bewildering transition from a peaceful family home to a scene of murder and violence told the emotion of horror very well, but the part that was very unique to this movie came at the very end by a monologue from one of the characters. The rage, sorrow, and desperation break through the fourth wall with the character speaking directly at the audience. The poetic, POWERFUL monologue; it can also be found on the main actor, Riz Ahmed’s youtube channel.

Ala Kachuu – I wondered why the protagonist did not throw a fight against her kidnappers after she was forced into marriage, and then I fully realized the horror of the situation. The dread of being someplace where she knows not where, where everyone is acting kindly but on the watch for her escape, being abandoned by her family, and having no one to trust is just horrible. To seat in a theater may make the rebellion look easier, but in her situation, she did not know whether the people will attack her depending on how she reacted. The message at the very end saying that this kind of kidnap is being continued in the world was dreadful. This movie did a great job of emotionally converting the dreadfulness of such situations.

REVIEW: Oscar nominated shorts-Animation

Joann Leave a comment

Don’t expect kids’ favorite stories when you think of Animation. One (Robin, Robin) of the five of this year’s Oscar-nominated shorts (Robin, Robin / Boxballet / Affairs of the Art / Bestia / The Windshield Wiper ) did fall into this category, but the others either hold confusion, bizarreness, obsessions, and horror of the world. Here I’ll focus mainly on ‘Affairs of the Art’, an animation in a pencil-drawn style that reflects on how modern society defines art and allow strange things to happen in its name while giving short comments on others.

Robin, Robin – very cute, fluffy animation with the ever-selling theme of finding your value despite the environment that says otherwise. Cliche told again but not boring.

Boxballet – Very interesting visual contrast of the characters, explaining very much through this visual information. Surprising and bitter point-back to the political reality at the very end.

Affairs of the Art – Strong, grotesque criticism on ‘Arts’. This features a story of a middle-aged woman who gloats that she is doing ‘Art’ while forcing a model to move for her even when it’s clear that the model is suffering from it. Her story expands over her family members, who each seem to have a weird obsession. The main character gives an example of art as her sister’s obsession with dead and rotting things which occasionally involving animal abuse points could refer to obsessions and grotesque, even immoral things being allowed as ‘Art’, and her sister’s success seems to refer to the society’s funding poured to that form of ‘Art’ when it catches people’s attention and is demanded by the market. The main character’s gloat of finally doing art also criticizes how Art is praised like something divine and desired the snobbism, or the neglecting of questions asking whether the deeds done in the name of art are acceptable or right. The story tells about how obsessions for such art could be bizarre and grotesque, and even expands it toward a more commercialized form of art, the art of ‘the body’, by the main character’s sister saying that her reformed body is like ‘an exhibition’. The sweet art style of pencil drawing did not prevent this animation from conveying disturbing emotions. This one is a strong one.

Bestia – Chilling cross-showing of reality and mental breakdown based on a horrible historical villain of Chile. Dolls made of Regin were a perfect choice to convey the character. Because of its storyline crossing over reality and imagination, sometimes it was hard to tell whether a scene was in reality or not without the historical background.

The Windshield Wiper – Visually very satisfying and colorful. In this collection of short scenes, the scenes of each very short that last less than a minute, even with chunks of dialogues or not at all, tell a strong story and conveys emotions, and for that, I praise this film. However, how the scenes will add up was not as clear.

REVIEW: Holi Festival

Joann Leave a comment

Today, colorful puffs of clouds arose over Palmer Field.

Hosted by the Student life Multi-ethnic student affairs at the University of Michigan, students celebrated the annual Holi Festival on the afternoon of March 20th. The event went like this: first, students were checked in and were given color powders in Zipper bags. There were orange, yellow, lavender, blue, red, green-all very vibrant colors. The powder was very soft to the touch and felt good-safe to throw at people without worrying that they will get hurt. People were standing as a big group and jumping and singing along to the music. In this big jumble of people, friends courageously showered each other with colored powders while the more polite people would say, “May I?”, wait for the nod or laugh of approval, and gently rub colored powder as they say, “Happy Holi!”. Everyone’s face, hair, clothes, shoes, all parts of their body was covered with the vibrant colors of powders. I was surprised to see that lots of people were actually wearing white, not the most popular color choice when it comes to going to a place you know that your clothes will be stained, but the shirts did look amazing with paints on them. It was a really pretty color combination, fit for the event’s meaning – a celebration of spring: the season of joy and hope. The energy of youth was blazing as people jumped up and down to music, fit for the name of the festival. Click here for more information about the festival

The weather was nice and the puff of colors was pretty, but that was not the only thing that made the scene welcoming and memorable. Everyone was making sure that the other person was not being hurt by their touch and throw of powder, and this could be sensed so easily. It was a colorful, vibrant, and fun event-even shampooing three times afterward until the foam was not green anymore was good fun!

Lastly, some tips for future participants in Holi Festival:

  1. Make sure that you are wearing the clothes can be ruined – if you don’t want more colors on the clothes you are wearing, heavy cycle + warm water combination did the trick for me.
  2. Go empty-handed – I left my bag and jacket about 30 feet away from the festival field but still got some powder on it. I think it might be from the wind or people picking up their things afterward. If you want to make sure that your belongings stay color-free, it’s best not to bring them.
  3. Glass wearers – consider wearing contacts for the event. I did not know this and went with glasses, and people had a bit of difficulty rubbing colored powder on my face. I thus tucked away my glasses in my pocket, which mysteriously vanished by the time that the event was ended. Oh well, it was fun so it’s all good, but it doesn’t that you will also need to offer a glass for the colorful celebration!
  4. Don’t be shy to throw colors at strangers! They will often very likely smile and exclaim ‘happy Holi!’ and shower you with color powders!

REVIEW: Mission Improbable: Yotonix Spytacular

Himaja 1 Comment

As the lights dimmed in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater on Saturday night, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. As a senior, I knew why — we were back for an annual tradition that we hadn’t seen since our freshman year.

Yotonix is the annual show featuring a collaboration between two very talented student orgs on campus: Revolution and Photonix. Revolution is our Chinese Yo-Yo team. Photonix is known for their glowsticking and visual arts performances.

The 2020 Yotonix show was tragically scheduled for March 14, the day after things officially turned topsy turvy, and they had to cancel due to the pandemic. 2021 Yotonix was a brilliantly crafted virtual show . But nothing can replace a live, in-person arts performance. This year marked the return of the in-person version of the show, and everyone in attendance was ECSTATIC. It was a night full of amazing art and there wasn’t a dull moment.

The show was, as it promised, both “Spy-tacular” and spectacular. The performers made their craft look so easy, but that was just the mark of their talent and months of practice.

The Chinese Yo-Yo, or Diabolo, is not what most people picture when they think of a yoyo. It evolved completely independently of the Western yoyo in China and grew popular as a toy in Europe. It requires a lot of skill to do most Diabolo tricks because you need to constantly maintain a fast enough spin so it stays stable…while it’s being whipped around and jumped over and caught all over the place.

Glowsticking originates from poi, a performance art first practiced by the Maori people of New Zealand that involves swinging weighted tethers called poi in geometric patterns. Glowsticking evolved from this as a performance done in the dark while either swinging glowsticks attached to strings, twirling glowing batons, or “freehanding” it by tossing/spinning the glowsticks directly in each hand. Learning this also requires a great deal of skill because you need to swing the glowsticks at high speeds for them to trace continuous patterns in the dark and it’s easy for them to get tangled or smack you in the face in the process.

It makes sense why, in the weeks leading up to the show, I often saw both orgs practicing in Mason Hall late at night! They were not taking on easy routines. My photos really don’t do them justice.

I really liked the choreo both groups demonstrated this year. Most Yoyo shows I’ve seen tend to stick to the same high-energy EDM music that gets a little overused after a while. Revolution’s creativity really shined through in the routines they put together to all sorts of musical genres, both fast and slow. Photonix also came through, experimenting with innovative glow suits with lights sewn into them and adding hula hoops and music-synced lights into their performance. *applause*

I also want to write a little ode to an oft-underrecognized part of any performance: the audience. I love the energy of the crowds during these student shows. We’re not there to see a professional, polished thing – we’re there to cheer on our pals. When someone drops their Yo-Yo or tangles up their glowstick and has to dart offstage, we only cheer and clap even louder in support. Because everyone in that theater was there to celebrate the passion and creativity and camaraderie that these students poured into this show – for once, not for any resume or class assignment or final project – but simply to HAVE FUN and express themselves.

I give Yotonix 2021 five out of five stars 🙂

PREVIEW: Oscar nominated Shorts – Live Action

Joann Leave a comment

Shorts TV annually released oscar nominated short films. This year’s nominations are:

On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson / Denmark)

Please Hold ( K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse / USA)

The Dress (Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki / Poland)

The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed / UK/Netherlands)

Ala Kachuu – Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger/ Kyrgyzstan/Switzerland)

Ranging from 12-38 minutes, they all seem to tell strong stories within a short time span. Click here for trailers.

Among the movies, the synopsis of ‘Please Hold’ was especially interesting. It’s based in the future in a mysterious jail controlled by the ‘computed bureaucracy of the privatized American justice system‘. The trailer of ‘The Long Goodbye’ also intrigued my interest as well – the irony between bright, cheerful rap music as the background and something serious and dangerous seems to be happening to the characters made me wonder what’s going on.

Again, U of M students can get a ticket to the Oscar-nominated shorts series free if they use the Passport to the Arts before March 22th. The movie is playing on the 19th and 22nd at the Michigan theater. Please refer to the webpage of Arts at Michigan for further information on where to find the ticket / how to use them.