olawunmitcpsarts-blog

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I went to go see the UMD jazz band and it was an amazing performance. This was my first time seeing the jazz band and they just happened to be performing when i was walking out of the Clarice. All in all it was a great performance

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

Capitial Funk

Capital Funk is a dance showcase hosted by Capital Funk which is a dance team from George Washington DC. This showcase features teams from all over the DMV and it is a time for us to share the talent within the DMV. This did not only include dance but also included spoken word and musical performances. I also participated with my dance team Phunktions. It was a great night full of talent.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

Smino Concert

This past weekend, I went to a concert by an artist named Smino. He is from St. Louis Missouri. He has a kind of RnB vibe but it is more modern. The concert was amazing and i will definitely be going to another one when he comes back.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

My Final Project

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It’s been a journey

To say that i have finished Art Scholars is a weird feeling. I really didn’t know how i was going to finish this project since it was not working out well for me but i can say that it worked. I really appreciate all the help i was able to receive and i would not have changed a thing. It was an amazing experience.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

It is a slow going process

I have been trying to write the poems before I start the choreography but writing the poems is difficult because there are so many topics and issues that I could write about and it is hard to narrow it down. I have been thinking a lot about the missing girls in DC and I want to talk about that but also reproductive rights since that has been a huge thing in the news with the whole Trumpcare debacle. This is difficult to say the least...

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I have known about this poem since I was in high school and this is what gave m made me get into spoken word. The poem talks about self confidence issues and it tackles that in a beautiful way. This is what gave me inspiration to write the poems I am writing.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I love this style and i like the simplicity of the movement. I feel this is something that I would do since I am not the most technically trained but I still want to emote the way the dancers in the video do.

So someone asked me recently where @j9andif and I got the inspiration for Within the Wires, and I mentioned that I had co-created a dance piece (Vulture-Wally) with choreographer Jillian Sweeney (also my wife) back in 2013 at St Marks Church in NYC. 

There was one section of that piece wherein Jillian (and dancers Tara Willis, Siobhan Burke, and Lydia Chrisman) created a patterned walking dance. Rather than lean into the rhythm of it with music, we decided to perform it to a poem. 

I thought I had lost that poem bc I couldn’t find the cassette we recorded it on, nor the original text. But I just remembered we had a visual recording of the thing! The video of that section is above.

I was really interested in old school relaxation cassettes at the time, so we went with that motif. And upon writing it & then putting it onto a cassette & playing it out loud, it seemed like one could create a series of relaxation cassettes that told an obtuse, ethereal, poetic story, one that required bodily focus, acute awareness of self to take in the whole story. That sounded hella fun to do, so Janina and I did it. 

And it has been hella fun.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

One of my favorite artists had a performance in D.C and i went to go see her. She is Noname and she is a Chicago based artist. I found out about her from her collaborations with another artist i listen to. That artist is Chance the Rapper. He is also a Chicago based artist. The concert was an amazing experience because the vibe was one that I enjoy being apart of. Everything was very chill and everyone was really into it. I was a great night as a fan and a person who listens to music.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I had the pleasure of going to the Graduate Dance Concert this past weekend. I was able to see works from all different creators that took on different themes. One piece was a commentary on how we as a society treat or environment and another one was a showcase of West African Dance. All in all, it was a great experience to see the diverse creators in the UMD community.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I went to the college park blues festival just on a whim and I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. It was not the demographic that i was expecting nor was there the blues music that I was expecting to be played playing. Also I was one of the youngest people there. Despite all this, there was such I lively atmosphere I had a great time.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I went to a dance thesis performance that my friend was a part of at the Kennedy center. The performance was not just dance but also had theatrical and musical elements as well. It was an interesting experience since part of the show took place inside and part of the show took place outside. All in all it was an amazing performance to witness

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

We had a movie night for our floor and it was just chill. It was nice to hang with everyone and just have a good time watching a move. The movie we watched was Zootopia and though I had seen it before it was still a nice time.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

The scholars winter coffee house was awesome. All of the performers were amazing and i even performed a song myself. It was a nice to be able to talk to other scholars and just have a good time

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

My dance team, Phunktions, and I had the pleasure of performing at east coast dance competition this past weekend. even though we did not place we still gave a great performance and had a great time!

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

I visited the stamp gallery. This exhibit really caught my eye becasue it was a lot of splintered wood that looked gnarled and delapadated. I think this piece is really reflective of the trauma that people go though and i though it was really cool.

[olawunmitcpsarts-blog]

Rip the Floor

I was able to go to the annual Rip the Floor dance competition. It is hosted every year by the Dynamic dance team. Different dance teams from around the dc area took part in the competition and all the dances were AMAZING. This year was also the 10th anniversary so there was a special alumni number. All in all it was amazing!