Reina's Thoughts on March 20th

March 20th has come and passed. It's hard to rate the success of the performances. On the one hand we made connections all over the world and everyone had an opportunity to perform. On the other hand, we ran late, 2 people did all the "tech"work, and not all of the projects happened as they were envisioned.

I also wonder what I could have done as a producer/director to have made the process smoother, created a more equal delegation of tasks, run an on-time performance, and made sure that all collaborations happened as they were envisioned.

For example, my piece did not happen as I originally intended, which seemed too complicated when I discussed my initial thoughts with Andreas and Stephen. (Looping live music and dance and layering it with additional live music and dance.) Although they seemed willing to try it, I was overwhelmed by the necessary steps to make it happen. What was slightly upsetting was that my plan B also did not happen as planned. Due to a faulty cable the camera that should have been used to project the live feed was not available. I wanted the projection to show the live dancing in front of the pre-recorded footage. Instead I think a weird angle of the live dance was projected. Ohh well, perhaps next time it will work out. At least, a connection was made and something was shown.

In terms of our final performance April 29th I wonder what will change. Will I become as capable as Stephen and Andreas when it comes to the tech components? How many times did they ask for cables and I had no idea what was what. When will I be fluent in these technologies?

Reina's Dilemma Resolved

It's amazing how over the course of time things just figure themselves out. I went to meet with my friend and he had already put thought and time into the project. So I decided to choose him over the cellist. The cellist understood and hopefully I can work with her in the future.

It's been a bit frustrating organizing the March 20th project. Individuals haven't been the most responsive. I wish we had more class time to discuss and organize. I also wish we had one class to test out connections and talk through our project face to face, rather than via google docs.

Reina's Dilemma

I really thought I was on top of my March 20^th collaboration. In mid-February I met a cellist who was interested in performing with me. I e-mailed her and facebooked message her a couple of times at the end of February and did not hear from her. I decided I needed a back-up in case she chose to ignore all my messages. A close friend of mine agreed to work with me. He plays drums, piano, and guitar recreationally. His repertoire consists of pop songs that he figures out how to play on his own, he does not write original music nor plays anything classical. Although it would be good enough for the performance, the cellist, a classically trained musician, would be a better fit for what I want to do. But something is better than nothing. I set up a time to meet with my backup artist when I finally get an e-mail from the cellist. She is available and is still interested to do the collaboration. Phew. I e-mail her back asking for sound clips, her schedule, what is the best way to be in touch, clearly e-mail is not her thing. I then head to meet with my back-up artist to let him know in person that my cellist finally got in touch with me, but at the same time secure him still for back up in case the cellist flakes out on me. Three days go by and I do not hear from my cellist. Now, I am getting nervous as we just had class and I feel this pressure to know what is going on. I confirm with my backup that I am going to use him and e-mail the cellist that it won't work out for this project but we might have an opportunity to collaborate in the future. For the first time in our correspondence the cellist e-mails me within the day apologizing for her delay and explaining her busy schedule and that over the next week she has spring break and will have time to collaborate. 

Here is the dilemma, my back up agreed to do it as long as I "really mean it" and I told him I did. But that was before the cellist e-mailed me explaining herself. Do I bail on my friend, because the cellist finally got back to me? She clearly isn't responsible, how hard is it to e-mail something to the affect of I'm really busy now but my schedule frees up the week before the performance let's talk then, etc.? At the same time we'd create a better piece and since when are the creative types the easiest to work with? 

So I'm not sure what to do. I told the cellist that I need to think this over as I feel really badly about stringing along my friend and that I would get back to her on Monday March 12th, which is today. 

Do I choose the better performer? But what if she once again doesn't communicate or worse never skype's in? Ugh. I'm really frustrated by this whole situation. 

To be continued... 

Reina's Thoughts on Sound Mixers

In our last class we were introduced to a sound mixer. I listened to Prof. Beyer’s presentation, I took notes on what he was saying, and I even had the opportunity to interact with it, and I still have no idea how it works. Getting sound in and out of the mixer is for me all trial and error. I turn every dial hoping this will be the action that will produce the necessary sound and every time I was wrong. Thankfully I am not the sound technician for our March 20^th showcase, but that does not make feel any better that I have no idea how to operate a sound mixer. In addition, I am bothered that for the performances on March 20^th each collaborator is taking on a familiar role rather than expanding his/her skills and trying something out of his/her comfort zone. At the same time, I remind myself that there is a time constraint and we want everything to run smoothly. In addition, we are getting assessed on how well we work together so it is natural that we want everyone to contribute with his/her strengths, enabling the best possible outcome. In short, having experienced technicians running audio and video is the wisest choice. 

These thoughts reminded me of why I disliked “So you think you can dance” when I saw it for the first time during its inaugural season. I remember initially thinking to myself: This is fantastic, dancers are being pushed to learn new styles and genres of dance! When it came time for the final performances my initial reaction soon changed to disdain. Dancers reverted back to their original style of dance, hardly anyone incorporated something new that they learned while on the show. I remember thinking to myself what is the point of this show? The final performances are almost a replica of the auditions. What are these dancers learning from their experiences on the show? Well for starters the show is entertainment that is its objective, not learning. But our class is different and learning is part of its intrinsic value. I do hope that over the course of the next month in preparation for the final performance we take on roles that were originally unfamiliar to us, showing ourselves and one another that we are not just relying on past strengths, but new ones.