Columbia Art Museum Event

Describe the photograph - how big is it, who owns it, who shot it, who is the photograph of and what year was the photo taken. Is black and white, color or some sort of special photographic process. If you don't know what this process is, look it up and describe it.

The photo that stood out to me the most while going through the Who Shot Rock and Roll exhibit at the Columbia Art Museum was Michael Jackson in New York City.  The photograph was huge.  It was almost extended from floor to ceiling.  The photograph was not just one big picture; it was a series of pictures put together.  Albert Watson was the man who shot the photograph.  He shot the photograph in the year 1999.  It was then printed in the year 2000.  The photograph is owned by a private collection.  Every picture was of the great artist Michael Jackson.  All of the little photos that make up this huge big photograph are all in black and white.  Albert Watson put this photograph together by the process of photomontage.  Photomontage is a collage of photographic images.  He took tons of pictures of Michael Jackson and placed them together to create a bigger image.

Analyze the photograph - What is the photo about, what are/is the people/person doing in the photo, what is the setting, what are clothes like? What does the photograph reveal about the person in the picture?

In this huge photograph Albert Watson is portraying Michael Jackson, one of the best dancers of all time, and his dance moves.  Each series of photos show Michael Jackson doing some type of dance move.  By looking at looking at each series of photos you can truly see how talented Michael Jackson was and what an amazing dancer he was. Rather than seeing just one picture of Michael Jackson dancing, Watson shows his viewers many dance moves of Michael Jackson.  This picture definitely shows Michael Jackson justice and what a talented artist and dancer he was in our society.  The setting of this photograph is most likely just Michael Jackson in a music video or a concert.  The photographs do not show a background and are solely a white background and Michael Jackson is in black.  The clothes that Michael Jackson is wearing in every picture is black leather jacket, black leather pants, and a white under shirt.  This was the typical outfit that Michael Jackson would perform in.  This photograph definitely reveals that Michael Jackson is a very talented dancer and performer.  Seeing his dance moves in a step by step process truly shower how much energy and rhythm he possessed.  Looking at this photograph makes people remember the great memories of Michael Jackson and the mark he made on our society and music.  People fell in love with not only Michael Jackson’s music, but more importantly him as a performer.  He knew how to get a crowd going.  Michael Jackson worked hard to get where he was and truly made a mark on our society.    

This video shows Michael Jackson doing his famous moon walk.  He also is sporting his typical outfit he wear when porforming, just like in the photos in the photograph.  This short video shows how talented Michael Jackson was as a dancer and a porformer!

Relate some of the photographer's or the person in the photographs history.

Going through the exhibit I came across many artists that I knew.  The exhibit did a great job of showing all different kinds of artists and music from all different times in history.  Another one of my favorite photographs to look at was the one of U2.  I have grown up listening to U2 with my older brothers.  I loved how the exhibit also provided a little clip of U2 singing.  Just like Michael Jackson, U2 is known worldwide!  They both have toured the world and made an impact on music today.  While Michael Jackson speaks through his dance moves, Bono speaks though his powerful words.  There were also many photographs of artists who had died.  The ones that I remember seeing were Michael Jackson, Biggie, Elvis, and more.  These photographs are paying  tribute to these great artist and allowing people to remember them and the impact that they had in the music world and our society. 

All of these famous singers have died but will never be forgotten!

Big Apple Art Event

Even though the shag is danced to music that is 4/4 time, how does the dancer count when they are dancing the shag?

The shag is a six count partner dance.  There is a lead for the dance and the partner follows in that persons lead.  The lead counts 1 and 2 , 3 and 4, 5 and 6 to get the six count.  The leader is the one who spins their partner and leads them in the direction they are going to take.  In this video you can see how the leader counts out to his partner the 6 count and holds her hand as they both move together.  He is even telling her when to cross her feet and spins her!  They both seem very happy and the leader does a great job of counting and showing the girl the moves of the dance.

2. Discuss the Big Apple building. Discuss its features architechtural feature of Columbia, and a brief history. What was the first name of the building?

The Big Apple is an old historical building in Columbia, South Carolina.  The building was named the Big Apple because of an old religious dance that was founded by African Americans on plantations in South Carolina and Georgia.  The dance was a group dance, where people would form a huge circle and do arm gestures that resembled the Big Apple.  In the 1930s the African Americans started a Big Apple Night Club in what was formally the House of Peace Synagogue.  The building was located on Park Street in Columbia, South Carolina and is now known as the Big Apple.  After the dance club was opened not only blacks danced there, whites did as well.  The Big Apple attracted many students from the University of South Carolina!  The House of Peace Synagogue started being built in 1907 and was completed in 1909.  The Big Apple was built in the Greek architectural structure just like several other buildings in Columbia.  The building still contains it dome ceiling that it had in the synagogue, just like the dome feature that the state house has in downtown Columbia.  The building contains two doric columns on the entrance of the building, but also there are some inside the building in the dance room.  The Big Apple has very long stained glass windows that are on all sides of the building.  The building has been kept up, but still has it old historic charm.

3. Discuss the Shag. What is the history of the shag and what is its relevance to South Carolina

The shag is the state dance of North and South Carolina.  It is known as the swing dance of the south.  The shag originated in the late 30s in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The roots of shag dancing began with black music and club dancers in Myrtle Beach.  By the 40s teenagers loved to dance the shag on the beach.  By the 50s the shag had slowed down to a more low beat rhythm.  The shag is a very smooth dance that you can enjoy with your partner.  Some of the famous shag dancers of all time are Billy Jeffers and Maggie Lunn Foss.  The shag is relevant to South Carolina because it was founded in Myrtle Beach and is a southern dance.  Being from the North I had never heard of the shag until I came to the University of South Carolina. The first time I shagged, I absolutely loved it and having someone lead me through the dance.  It is a very classy dance that is a lot of fun to not only dance but watch.  I hope to learn how to do the Carolina shag while i am attending school at USC, so I can show my friends and family up north what a great tradition shagging is to the south!    

Teenagers dancing the shag by the beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!

assignment 6

1.  The Baroque period of dance lasted from 1600-1750.  Baroque dances are historical dances that are derived from the Portuguese word borroco.  It is a theatrical and social dance of Europeans upper class.  The dance was characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion, and self-confident rhetoric.  Baroque dancing includes both ballroom dancing and ballet.  This type of dance expressed grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, and emotional exuberance.  Even though there are no words in the music that is playing to accompany the dancers, the movement of the dances is what speaks to the audience and expresses all these emotions and feelings.  Baroque dancing has a tendency to blur distinctions between various arts.       

In this segment from the baroque dance of Gavotte and from Atys, you can see two girl dancers dressed in old fashion European dresses dancing to classical music.  They are dancing simultaneously and side by side.  The mode and moves of the dance are very elegant.  They both have smiles on their faces, making this a happy dance.  Even though the music does not have words the moves and facial expressions of the dancers is what carries the mode and tone of the dance.

2.  People dance because it is fun and a way that they can express themselves.  One of the biggest aspect of dance is music.  In several forms of dance dancers are accompanied by music.  People love to listen to music and dance allows people to not only listen to music but watch people move with the music.  The moves that dances do are what allow them to express themselves and tell a story.  Dance is not only fun to do but very entertaining to watch.  Nothing is more impressive than watching a group of dancers engage in the same moves at the same time.  Dance is also a good was to get in shape and workout.  Dance is a big part of social entertainment and usually occurs at events such as weddings.  Dance has become very popular to our culture and is not only performed in shows, but also in movies and on television shows.  Dance has grown and changed so much over time, that it is very fascinating to learn and watch different types of dance.  Finally, dancing makes people happy and can bring joy to people’s lives whether they are involved in it or watching it.

This youtube clip is from the show Dancing With The Stars.  Mario Lopez and his professional dancing partner dance the tango.  In this dance you can see the passion by the looks on their faces and how close they get to each other.  Their moves are very sharp and concise.  This is a very entertaining dance to watch and the moves look very complicated.  But, the show Dancing with the Stars shows how dance is so popular in our society.  This show makes these couples dance all kinds of dances like ballroom, tango, jazz, hip hop, and the quick step.  This allows America to see all different types of dances and how much work dance truly takes.  We do not forget about the dances that have gotten dance where it is today, This show wants to challenge these dances to be diverse dancers.

3. 

Butoh is a type of dance that we as Americans are not use to seeing.  The movements are not smooth and composed.  The Butoh dancers appear to look scary and unnatural.  But, we have to realize that this is a different type of culture and this is how they express their emotions and feelings.  In this youtube video a man is moving his body all throughout the dance and really showing off his strength.  The music that is in the background is rather upbeat and the man is even smiling.  While the man looks unhealthy and scary, this dance is supposed to be parsing.

Non Western dance form are from the continents of Asia, Africa, South America, and countries in the Middle East whereas western dance are from Europe.  Butoh is a “dance of the dark soul” that started in 1959.  It is an experimental Japanese dance characterized by emotional insanity.  The dance can incorporate grotesque images and the setting of the dance can be in absurd environments.  One physical appearance that classifies this dance is the white make up that the dances have to wear.  This dance was created to attribute to the Japanese legends Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno.

Art Film

1.  The establishing shot of the film White Material is an image of the main character, Maria, standing in the middle of a dirt road surrounding by a cocoa field.   The first thing I noticed when looking at this image was the way Maria was standing in the road.  She is faced sideways starring out into the field with a look of distraught on her face.   By looking at her stance and facial expression I could get a feel that this movie was going to be very serious and that Maria played a very significant role.  The second thing that caught my eye when looking at this image was the dirt road in the distance.  This showed allowed viewers to see the type of setting that this movie was going to take place in.  The area that surrounds Maria in this picture shows to viewers the area that people in this film are living in.  Understanding the setting of this film is crucial in understanding the conflict in this film.  By seeing Maria look out at the cocoa field showed to viewers from the very beginning of the film that Maria had a strong attachment for the cocoa fields.  I believe this image was meant for viewers to be able to not only get a view of the area that this film is going to take place, but also to be able to foreshadow into the struggles and conflicts that the plot of this movie presents.  

2.  One of the interesting camera angles that I remember seeing a lot during the film deep focus shots of the cocoa fields.  These shots would show how big and long the fields were because you would look at the field in a distance.  A great example of this is in the establishing shot.  The main focus of the shot is surrounded by the setting of the film.  Another camera shot that occurred a lot during the film was long shot.  Because the main character, Maria, played such an important role in this movie she was constantly being filmed for a long time and there would be close ups of her face.  The reason for the close ups was to show her emotion on her face.  This film was very emotional and the characters went through a lot during the movie.  Maria was always under a lot of stress and wanted more than anything for her plantation to stay alive.  In both pictures of picture of Maria also exhibits a point of view shot.  A point of view shot is a shot that show a character and what she is looking at.  In the establishing shot she is looking at the plantation of cocoa and that symbolizes what Maria truly lives for.  The plantation means everything to her, even more than her own family’s safety.  In the second photo of the close up of Maria’s face, you can see that she was looking at a radio of some sorts and then looked away.  You can tell from the look on her face that she heard something and was clearly looking for something because she is standing in the woods.  The facial expressions and setting of where Maria is are what allow viewers to feel the real tome of the film.

3.  The film White Material took place in Africa.  Maria and her husband owned a coffee plantation and many civilians in the area worked on their coffee plantation.  They had one teenage son who also lived with them on the plantation.  But, during this time in the film a civil war broke out and the rebel soldiers were committing all acts of violence.  Many of these soldiers were young boys who were brainwashed to commit these crimes!  The area was no longer safe for Maria and her family to live in, but Maria was not giving up on her coffee plantation.  Their family was from France, and she had no desire to return home.  She said that Africa was now her home and she would do anything to keep her coffee plantation running.  What Maria didn’t realize is how much danger she was putting her family in.  One scene in the film that really bothered me was when her son shaved all his hair off of his head and was going around the house fooling around with their shotguns.  The scene scared me a little bit because I hate to see kids act out and threaten to kill themselves or others.  Also during this time in the film, her son teamed up with the rebel soldiers and gave them all of his family’s food and medicine.  The son and the soldiers than began eating the medicine in large doses.   These few scenes showed how truly disturbed the children were that were growing up in this terrible environment.  This film had a lot of violent scenes with a lot of killing, but the one that stood out to me was the one where Maria found her son dead in one of the shed son the plantation.  He had burned to death.  This was a very sad scene and terrible for a mother to ever have to go through.  But, at the same time this should have been a wakeup call to Maria that she put her family in danger and is no long safe in Africa.  Both these scenes reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Long Way Gone, because this novel also deals with rebel armies and the brainwashing of these young boys.  This novel was taken plaec in Lebon and the affects of the war had a huge impact on this young man's life who wrote the novel.  He lived to tell his story to make others around the worl aware of what people are livng like in these countries.  It makes me realize how lucky I am to live in such a safe environment.

4.  In the film White Material there were 4 main characters, Maria, Andre, Manuel, and Andre’s father.  Andre was Maria’s husband and Manuel was her son.  Maria was the first character that the viewers were introduced to in the film.  Throughout the movie you could see her strong sense of determination.  But, even though she was so determined she was very inconsiderate of her family and those around her.  She was so concerned with her plantation dh having what she wanted that she did not care that she was putting others in danger by making them work on the plantation.  By the end of the movie she finally realized that she lost what was most valuable in her life and that was her family!  Her husband, Andre, was much more realistic about the plantation and knew that if they were going to survive they needed to give it up.  He loved his wife, but saw her slipping away when the war struck and she feared having to change her life.  He played the role as the peace maker in this film, but struggled gaining the support of his wife.  Their son Manuel grew up in a very rough environment.  He was surrounded by violence and all his mother wanted him to ever do was help her on the plantation.  Because he wanted to leave Africa so badly and hated the environment in which he lived, he acted out by becoming one of the rebels.  He felt as if this would catch someone’s attention and he no longer would have to pretend.

5.  The music in the film did not have words and would just play in the background as Maria would be running all over town trying to get people to work on her plantation in order to keep it alive.  The musical instrument that I could hear the most was the strings.  The music was very serious and set the tone for the movie.  By listening to the music I could tell that this movie was very going to be very intense and violence was going to occur.  Just by listening and watching this short trailer scene you get a vibe of strong emotion that occurs during this film and that the characters are holding on for their life.

6.  The genre of this film is Action/Adventure.  It has a lot of action in it because there is a lot of violence going on throughout the movie.  It is an adventure because the plot is centered on an adventure for Maria to save her plantation, but in order for her to do that she had to fight against the rebel forces.  This film is definitely a thriller, and while not based on a true story it reflects a very real thing that is occurring in Africa and other countries today. 

7.  After seeing the film, White Material, and understanding the plot I could really take away a message from this movie.  In high school I read a lot of books on the issue that is occurring in Africa and other poor corrupt countries in the world.  Films like White Material are making people aware of the violence that is going on in these countries and how people are dying every day.  While this film is centered on Maria and her family’s coffee plantation, the message people are supposed to take away from this film is to be aware of these issues that are occurring in our world and to also be grateful that we live in such a safe environment.  The message that I took away from Maria’s character in this movie is to always put my family and the people in my life before anything else, because at the end of the day they are what are truly going to matter!

 

Assignment 5

1.    Describe Jazz music. Where did it come from, and what makes it particularly unique to Americans?

Jazz music is a type of popular music characterized by improvisation on popular melodies and a swinging rhythm.  Jazz music is a language that is inspired by ones passion and life time experiences.  Jazz music originated by African American musicians in the early 1900s in New Orleans and now is performed worldwide.  Jazz music was one of America’s greatest cultural achievements.  The music brought Americans together by uniting people of all races and people who lived in different regions across the country.  Jazz music was filled with passion always had moving words about freedom and what it meant to be an American.  The musicians sang about personal experiences.  Overall people could relate to jazz music and the songs spoke to them.  The rise of jazz music was a very positive and important part of our nation’s history.  One of my favorite jazz songs is Don’t Stop the Music by Jamie Cullum.  I love the music video to this song because it is centered around musical instruments and shows how powerful they truly are.  Musical instruments are what make up the backbone of a song. In this song you can hear all different kinds of percussion instruments that make this song have such a great beat, but the piano is what carries the rhythm of this song.  In the beginning Cullum is simply just tapping his hands on the wood of the piano establishing a solid rhythm for this song and then the harmonizing melody of the piano comes in.  Watching this music video and listening to the rhythm and words of the song allowed me to able to get a feel for what jazz music really is and that I should listen to it more often.  The music is very soothing and would be a nice change from all the loud and popular music that I listen to today.

 Don't Stop The Music by Jamie Cullum

2. In Peter and the Wolf, what instruments play Peter, the duck, the wolf, the bird, Grandfather and the Hunters?
Peter was played by the strings in the orchestra

The duck the oboe

The wolf the French horn

The bird the flute

The Grandfather the bassoon

The Hunters the timpani drums.

Peter and The Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev

 

Classical music was the period of music from about 1750-1810, the time of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; the music embodies clarity of form and logic of development.  The classical period is distinguished from classical music in general.  Because the classical period was expanded over thousands it was organized into six historical periods, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.  Classical music’s audience is usually better educated, wealthier, and increasingly older, which was to the dismay of music administrators and marketers.  When attending a classical music event people are expected to dress very nice, this makes classical music have a certain prestige or an awful stigma.  For most people it is more work listening to classical music because you need to fully concentrate on the music to get the full meaning and effect of the music.  But, if you put forth the time you will get more out of the music and have a better understanding of what you were listening too.  Since I played piano for eight years when I was younger, I always enjoyed listening and learning about Beethoven.  By having to look at some of his work such as, Moonlight Sonata, I got to appreciate classical music and the amount of effort classical musicians put into their musical pieces.      

Moonlight Sonata composed by Beethoven

     

 

Assignment 4

 

The building on campus I decided to take a picture of was Sims Resident Hall in the Women's Quad.  This beautiful building has several Greek columns in the front of the building.  When first looking at the building, the columns are what caught my attention.  They really give the building that old historical look.  There are three Greek column styles, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthians.  These columns are Corinthian style.  Corinthian colunms are the most ornate style out of the three Greek style of colunms.  They contain fluted colunms and have very decorated capitals.  Capitals are located at the top of the colunm and are what allow you to distinguish what type of style the column is.  The Caorinthian capitals are decorated with leaves and scrolls.  These columns attribute to much of this building beauty.  The second feature I notices when looking at Sims was a small dome located on the top of the bulding in the center.  A dome is a hallow upper half of a cirlce.  I found that with this dome being small it allowed me to look at the overall building instead of just a huge dome.  For exmaple, when I look at the South Carolina State House in Columbia I find my attention totally directed to the dome and overlooking the other architectural features of the building.  Both of these architectural features provide beautiful decoration to the building making it a pretty sight to look at!

The architectural style of Sims is Greek Revival.  The two architectural features that classify this building as Greek Revival are the Greek columns in the front of the building and the dome on top.  The buildings that are the Greek Revival style of architectural are much older and have a history behind them.  The buildings are modeled after historical architectural structures such as the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  This is my favorite style of architecture because the buildings have so much elaborate detail on them that it makes them so pretty to look at.  The buildings on the University of South Carolina's campus are one of the first things I noticed when visiting here for the first time.  So many of the buildings on this campus are old and have so much history behind them.  I would much rather look at an old building modeled after the Greeks than a modern styled building.  Our buildings are what make our campus look uniform and united. 

Pathenon in Athens, Greece

Assignment 3

1.  Every night before I go to bed I listen to my ipod for about a half an hour.  My room is completely dark and the only light shining in the room is the backlight from my ipod.  As soon as I turn on my ipod I go right to my country music playlists, so I can start to relax my mind.  Once I choose a song, I close my eyes and just listen to the soothing and comforting words of Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Sugarland, and many more.  Just listening to the melody of the music puts me in a relaxed state and allows me to let my mind wander into my own world.  Country songs are like a story to me and inspire me to look at my life in such a upbeat and optimistic  way.  I feel as if the words speak to me and I can relate to many of the messages in the songs.  After I have listened to six or seven songs my eye lids become heavy and I start to slowly fall asleep.

2.

While I was listening to Pavarott sing his song I could tell from the very beginning that the song was about love.  So, I immediately went to my read and started drawing red lines for love.  But, as the song went on I could sense a feeling of sadness in his voice, so I then moved on to my blues.  My yellow color is what brought the two emotions together.  While love can bring someone so much happiness, it can also bring them pain and sadness because it is such a powerful thing.  I felt that this was a very deep and meaningful song that conveyed many emotions.

3.  An establising shot in a movie that always stuck out to me was in Harry Potter movies when viewers see the castle and know that now the movie is transitioning to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  The purpose of this short scence is to show the main setting of the movie and show a new beginning.  Seeing Hogwarts means that the students are starting a new school year that will be full of adventures.  As the viewers of the film it tells us where the move is heading and establishes the setting, so the movie can then go on to unravel the plot.  The estbalishing plot of these movies is crucial for the viewers.  The Harry Potter movies can get very confusing because there are so many parts, so by establshing the the setting of the movie and where the characters are will help the viewers to follow along with the plot better.