#nextnow2018

[juliettepcpsarts-blog]

Silent Disc-Glo at NextNow Fest - 09/08/18: This past Saturday, I helped set up for and participated in Silent Disc-Glo during NextNow Fest at the Clarice. Silent Disc-Glo is basically like any other dance party except everyone is wearing headphones that can be tuned in to three different channels so that, at any one time, people could be listening to three different songs. One of the channels played only classical music, one played mostly hip-hop, and the other played mostly pop songs. Before the event, I helped test the headphones to make sure they were working and began handing them out to people that wanted to participate in the event. I’m not a very good dancer, so I was a little nervous about participating in Silent Disc-Glo, but from the moment I started dancing with my friends I was having fun. It was so interesting listening to a different song than those around you and watching how your dance moves and rhythm differed from theirs. Every once and a while I would tune into the classical music channel and watch the people around me dance. The juxtaposition between the elegant and slow classical music with the more wild and quick dance movements of everyone around me almost made me feel like I was in a movie. It’s interesting how music can shape our mood and our perception of what is going on around us. The headphones had lights on them that would change color according to which channel you were listening to so you could tell when someone was listening to the same song as you or a different one. Whenever a song that everybody liked came on, everyone around you change to the same channel. My favorite moments were these moments, when everyone would listen to the same song (like “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire) together and you could take off your headphones and just listen to everyone belting out the song.

[hunterscpsarts-blog]

1. What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you?

The instillation by Osman Koc provided something completely new to me, as it was the first piece I’d ever seen to react to sound in real time. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to the artist himself about the piece, and learn how each element of the instillation reacted to different sounds. The piece provided me with an appreciation for the ways in which an audience can directly impact a work of art.

2. What was you favorite performance/ experience? Why was it your favorite?

My favorite performance was the comedy showcase. I’ve always been a fan of stand up, and it was refreshing to see kids my own age giving it a try. It was especially cool to see a freshman get on stage and blow the roof off the place. The comics were overall very funny, and the show header turned out to be incredibly funny. Definitely the highlight of the fest in my opinion.

3. How might one or more of the performances/ experiences relate to the Arts Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move?

Pertaining to this year’s Scholars theme, I again need to bring up Osman Koc’s instillation, as it in my mind best exemplifies this theme of migration. In Koc’s piece, what begins on the screen and what ends on the screen are never the same, and I see great beauty in that; however, this piece best reperesents migration due to the process between beginning and end being the most breathtaking. Like an actual migration, it is the journey itself, rather than the destination, from which the greatest understanding of the whole can be drawn.

[cubancurry-blog]

NextNOW Fest 2018

What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you?

I haven’t been to that many concerts in my life, and the ones I have been to have taken place in large arenas that are completely filled with people. Attending the Early Eyes concert was very new and exciting because it was a much more intimate setting for a concert. Though it was still crowded, there was a sense of calm and ease that the band projected to the crowd that made the performance seem like such a different experience than a stadium-esque concert.

2.   What was your favorite performance/experience? Why was it your favorite? 

My favorite performance was attending the Early Eyes concert because their music was so different from the things I would normally listen to. Their stage presence as a group was strong and drew me in as an audience member. I really enjoyed the way the instrumentalists seemed to bounce off of each other adding little riffs here and there based on how the audience was reacting. I also enjoyed how casual the show was. It didn’t seem like the band was putting on a formal performance; they were just playing their music for whoever would listen. 

3.    How might one or more of the performances/experiences relate to the Arts Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move? (2 points)

I think the Silent Disc-Glo event really exemplifies a the concept of populations and practices on the move. In this event, every participant was given a set of headphones and was able to listen to their choice of one of three channels playing different kinds of music. What made this event unique was the idea that no matter the channel or song you were listening to, everyone was still able to dance together. One of my favorite moments of this event was taking off my headphones at one point during the night and listening to everyone singing and laughing together despite differences in music. I think that this highlights the idea that though we are a diverse community of scholars, we can still come together and create something beautiful.

(The program from the modern dance showcase)

(The dueling DJs at Silent Disc-Glo)

(A photo of my roommate and I with the band Early Eyes after the concert)

[dolphinpet225-blog]

Q: What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you? A: I have never been to a live comedy show before. I also had a chance to listen to a style of jazz that sounded like it blended with a different genre with the Soul Rebels. If i could I would have stayed at the Soul Rebels portion of the evening for longer.

Q:  What was your favorite performance/experience? Why was it your favorite? A: My favorite performance was the Jazz masters session I went to. I love jazz so much and I had the opportunity to see professional jazz musicians play just based off the tunes inside their head instead of using sheet music. My favorite part of the night was when they played In a Sentimental Mood for an elderly couple who was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Q:  How might one or more of the performances/experiences relate to the Arts Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move?             A: Jazz has moved and evolved over several years, and with so many experiences. As more and more people listen to and play jazz, more people are exposed to it. I view the improvisation section of jazz charts to be a place within the music to express yourself and your own idea, and those ideas expand and change. They also change with each region, as was shown by the Soul Rebels, and the situation, as was shown by the Jazz Masters.

[rachelhcpsarts]

NextNOW Fest!!

The three events I am choosing to reflect on are: Early Eyes, Alumni Play Commission, and The Soul Rebels. One thing that I saw that was New was the way the Soul Rebels mixed Traditional New Orleans music with Rap. I usually associate rap with more hip hop type of music and not live bands. Another thing is the wide variety of performances at the Alumni Play Commission and how they were all plays. It broke the normality of what I was used to a play being. My favorite was probably the Soul Rebels. I play the saxophone so seeing it used in a way other than jazz or marching band was very eye opening. The performers were also rapping about current social issues so it had mixed elements of social issues backed by powerful soul music. I absolutely loved it. The Alumni Play Commision related a lot to migration. Their performance was very politically charged and a lot of the social commentary was about migration and immigration and they had all their stories that brought them to Maryland and how their backgrounds shaped to how they got to Maryland and what they did once they got here.

[jackm00-arts]

1. What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you? (2 points)

Seeing the Upright Citizens Brigade Tour Co perform was the first time I had seen that level of improv being done before. As someone who has done some acting and has tried improv on occasion, it was really informative to see an actual performance, and their style was interested as well. the way they set up premises and evolved on them was something i had never seen before.

What was your favorite performance/experience? Why was it your favorite? (3 points)

I really enjoy the improv show, but my favorite performance was the set Early Eyes did. I had never heard of them before, and caught the performance coming out of the For the Students talk, but I was really entranced. They may seem like a standard indie-pop band, but their music is surprisingly complex, and it blends a lot of different really unique sounds. I also really appreciated the energy they had onstage, it was really upbeat and happy, and made me want to sit and watch them as long as possible. Ive seen some bands who really didnt have that energy, and its hard to watch.

How might one or more of the performances/experiences relate to the Arts Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move? (2 points)

In the For the Students Tour, Kei Henderson spoke about her journey as someone involved in the music production business. She describe how she has to move around constantly with her clients, namely 21 Savage, and how hard that can be. She also talked about leaving her hometown in Atlanta, coming back, and then moving to LA with her significant other. It really drove in that the work she does, producing and spreading music, really requires a global reach, and it is important to be worldly and able to transition between many cultures and areas and adapt to do these kinds of jobs.

[azeemlcpsarts]

NextNOW Fest 2018 - Pictured above - The Upright Citizens Brigade Tour Co (9/8/18) - Makeup Girl (9/8/18) - Early Eyes (9/8/18) 1. What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you? The Upright Citizens Brigade show had aspects that were completely new to me throughout. I was aware of the fact that some improv shows used audience participation to get subjects for skits, but the performers went above and beyond in this aspect, inviting audience members on stage for interviews. Not only were those audience responses used for skits, but those interviews made up a majority of the running gags throughout the show, an extension of the audience participation often used in improv that I hadn’t seen before. 2. What was your favorite performance/experience? Why was it your favorite? My favorite performance was Makeup Girl’s set, part of the Local Music Lover’s Stage. Their sound is reminiscent of one of my favorite indie bands, STRFKR, so finding another exploration of that style in a unique configuration was really interesting. Finding a band that I liked this much was definitely my favorite experience of the festival, and I can’t wait to dive into their discography. 3. How might one or more of the performances/experiences relate to the Arts Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move? One performance that directly related to the Arts Scholars theme was the Upright Citizens Brigade’s improv comedy show. The perfomers crafted each show to be unique, drawing on the stories and experiences of the crowd to create an individualized performance for every crowd and location. As with the theme, each location had its own unique experiences, and only through migrations can those individualized experiences be shared.

[explorinthearts-blog]

NextNOW Fest Reflection Questions & Answers

1. What did you see/hear/learn that was completely new to you?

As a new student to the university, I had no idea what to expect from this festival. What surprised me the most was the topics for most of the performances. During the Alumni Play Commission, many of the short titled plays seemed as though it was going to be an hour of small jokes and jabs at the political climate. I did not expect to hear so many personal stories on the effects of the presidency and other societal issues. I was not prepared for the stories I heard, but I greatly appreciated hearing them. 

2. What was your favorite performance/experience? Why was it your favorite?

My favorite performance was Early Eyes. My friends and I arrived 30 minutes early in order to stand at the front of the stage, completely unaware of who these people were or what they did. After the first song, I knew the next hour was gonna be fun. This was my favorite performance because of the amount of energy the whole band was giving off (especially the drummer who lost his glasses a couple times). The audience could tell they were having fun, making us want to be just as hyped up as they were. 

3. How might one or more of the performances/experiences relate to the Arts    Scholars theme of Migrations: Populations and Practices on the Move?

Most of the performers at the NextNOW Festival were not from Maryland, but travelled in order to express their art to university students. An example of this is Kurt Chiang from the Alumni Play Commission. Chiang is an alumni of the University of Maryland and lives in Chicago, working as the Artistic Director of The Neo-Futurist Theater. This theater specializes in performing several plays in a certain amount of time in a random sequence. This new, innovative way of performing plays, was brought to UMD during the Alumni Play Commission, allowing students to be exposed to a new idea that migrated from a different place.