This week's blog has two parts:
1. Describe your reaction to Swan Lake. Give concrete, specific details to support what you say.
2. Describe three important things you learned from Jonathan or Seneca about The Marriage of Figaro. Try to discuss different topics than topics someone else has talked about.
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51 comments:
Kenna Campbell
Period 6
1. I enjoyed swan lake for the most part. The first act was boring as you said but i really enjoyed the second and third act where all the swans were dancing. I liked the party in the third act where the different groups did dances because they were fun to watch them to more leaps and stuff. I didn't like how they died.
2. 3 things that Seneca talked about were the characters and how it was like a comedy type. Also that the music was from Mozart and that he didn't think it would be appropriate to talk about how funny it was because then it wouldn't actually be funny. He also talked about how the boy character was upsets with women and that is all he could ever sing and think about.
1. Swan Lake was by far my favorite performance we have gone to. I was actually as corny as it sounds very moved by the performance. Even though it was long, it seemed to be very entertaining and interesting, which is interesting because being that it was an opera it didn't have dialogue or singing and you had to be more perceptive to the things happening on stage through dance. My favorite part was the dances between just Odette and the prince. There interactions we're very full of love from the first dance between them and the chemistry was obvious. You notice this progression because Odette is facing outward most of the time but as the dances progress you see the connection between her and the prince and they begin to look at eachother during movement and the dances became much more sensual and romantic. Another favorite part of mine was that there was an obvious difference between the way Odette danced and the way Odile danced. Odette was much more fluid and Odile was choppier and quicker movements.
2. An interesting thing that Seneca talked about was the voice type for the young boy being cast as a woman as apposed to a man or even a counter tenor. When we did the taste test of the singers for this part I kept looking for a voice that matched a pubescant teenage boy and couldn't fully believe the characterizations of any of them but could more so see a counter tenor playing this role. Seneca also talked about the interactions between the males and females and how one of the messges being portrayed is the women outwitting the men which does seem very revolutionary for the time. Figaro submitting to his fiances song in the beggining is very telling of their relationship and foreshadows events later to come between the two.
Stephanie Bateman Period 2
1. There were parts I loved in Swan Lake and parts I didn't love as much but overall it was good. The daners were squeaking on the stage floor and I thought it really took away from the performance although it wasn't their fault. The swans were my absolute favorite part. I'm not a huge fan of the big costumes at the begginging and end but the swans were simple and elegant. I loved how there were so many and they were all together. The first act didn't do much for me, I think the squeaking was really bothering me, then I got used to it. I was hoping for more variety of music but i felt like alot of it was the same or the same sounding.
2. I was on at school related field trip :( so I missed what Seneca said. From what I read from other blogs and what people said it was interesting and it should be fun to go to!
Sam Franklin per. 6
1. Swan Lake was not my favorite performance we have attended this year. I thought it was kind of slow and boring, although some of the dancing was impressive. For example in the third act when the four swan dancers came on stage and danced together in perfect time at such high speed was cool to watch. but much of the time I found it hard to keep my attention on the stage. It also bothered me how the dancers bowed after each large dance.
2. Prior to Seneca talking to us I knew nothing about The Marriage of Figaro since we haven't talked about it in class together. It sounds like an interesting and funny show and I think I will enjoy it. He taught us about the use of voice types in the show. We also learned about how the characters sing about more every day topics such as how pretty a woman's hat is or the measurements of a room.
chris hong period 6
1) i thought swan lake was alright. like we talked about in the class it was very very slow in the begining. however, later starting from 2 act was great. swans commimng on to thw stage and doin their formation was incredible in my opinion.
2) jonathon actually taught us a lots of thing. we talked about chraracters in the opera and aslo thr teen age boy in this opera. also, we listen yo different singers sining the same part and compaired them. ir was interesting.
Andrew Song Period 6
1. When i went to watch Swan Lake i thought it was gonna be a much more boring than it actually was. I really enjoyed the first act with the party setting. The dance with one of his friends, who was drinking, was very good and funny and i enjoyed the use of dance in combination with the music.
2. When Seneca came to talk to us about the Marriage of Figaro, i didnt know squat bout it so pretty much everything was new. We learned about the characters and what kind of voice classes they were. We also did talk more about the 5 elements of music such as Harmony, Melody, Form, Color, and rhythm
Swan Lake was my favorite performance that we have been too this year! That is partly because I used to do pointe and ballet so it was more of something i could relate to but it was also just really beautiful and you could feel the emotion in every move they made. I will have to agree with you Schindler that one of the best parts is when the entire group of swans come out and dance together all at the exact same time just so perfect. It was almost like they were actual birds there movements were so flowing and elegant and the costumes were so simple but great at the same time that it made it just right. I know this has already been said but another part I also really enjoyed was when the four swans do the dance in unison because that was the part I had learned when I did dance and it was really exciting for me to see it actually performed. The first act was quite boring compared to the rest but i thought it made the second act better because when he first sees Odette and she comes out and does her dance it was actually breath taking. She was so elegant with her arms and the war she moved them so perfectly and sometimes it even looked like she was gracefully flapping her wings or something. It was just amazing and the two dancers really made you feel like they had chemistry which made the ending so much better and dramatic. Great Performance!
2. When Seneca came in to talk to us about Marriage of Figaro I had no clue what it was really about at all. I learned that it was going to be somewhat of a comedy but more like hidden comedy you have to pick up on a little. We also talked about how all the different music would be sounding for each character like the ordinary day characters is different then someone of higher class or more in power which would be more of an intense sound of Mozart's music. I also learned that the females are supposed to show more dominance in parts of the play and you get to see how they wear the pants in some of the relationships going on so that probably adds to the comedy. I think it will be really different than other opera's we've seen and maybe not as slow. The demo's of music he showed us seemed to have more "umph!" and character which should make it more enjoyable.
Kyle Glaser
Period 2
1. I thought that Swan Lake was very impressive but I also thought that it didnt need to be that long nor did the story need to move that slowly. I liked parts like the three swans and the part when the male balerina did huge splits and jumps. I didnt not like how in the third act, the dancers came out and tried to dance styles from all around the world. I thought it was unneccessary and was just a reason for them to show off.
2. Some things that Seneca talked about was that he gave us a "taste test" on different singers singing the same song to see who likes who as a singer and which one was the most popular. He also talked about how the three main parts are all basses and one person could theortically play all three parts in their life time.
I MISS YOU SCHINDLER! GET BETTER!
Regan McComb p.6
I really enjoyed Swan Lake despite the first act. It was kind of boring but i liked the costumes and the really young dancers were cute. It was actually a lot more comical than i thought it would be. Odette was exactly like I had pictured her and the "swans" were really fun to watch. I agree with Stephanie in that their shoes were making annoying noises on the stage and it was kind of distracting but other than that, it progressively got better as the ballet went on.
2. Seneca's presentation was very informative because he talked a lot about each of the characters and what their role was in the Marriage of Figarro, so it will be a lot easier to follow along once we actually see the performance. He also played some samples of different performers and we learned that one person can play characters of different ages in the same play throughout their life. We learned some stuff about Mozart as well.
Kayla Aldridge
Period 6
1)Overall i really enjoyed swan lake, far more than all the other performances we have been to so far. I didn't like the first act i thought it was extremely boring but i enjoyed the rest of the performance. I thought the dancing was incredible and very unique. My favorite part was when all the swans came out together and danced in unison, they made it look so real. I also thought the costumes were great.
2) Senicas presentation was very interesting and helpful in many ways. I really had no clue what the Marriage of Figaro was about but it made a lot more sense after he explained each character and got into more depth of the plot. I think I will be able to follow along when we see the performance much more because of I what I learned during his presentation. He played samples of Mozart which was very interesting as well.
Cristina Rice
Period 2
1.I didn't really like Swan Lake, well I generally don't like ballets in general. I think they are boring probably because they don't talk. I found it hard to understand what was happening in the ballet because there were no words. My favorite part was the swans. That was the thing I liked about the performance. I looked very cool with them all in sync with each other and there were so many of them. I liked how they danced. I think the second act was the best.
2. I learned that it was a very controversial ballet/play because it showed how the servants basically were in charge of the mistress and mistresses. I also learned that the music was from Mozart who started playing at the age of 2. I was very surprised by that. Also I learned that three parts in the play can all be played by the same guy and it actually was, one when he was young, middle aged, and old. I found that very interesting.
Rebecca Taicz
Period 6
1. I really enjoyed Swan Lake. Despite Mr. Schindler mentioning how the first act could be a bit dragging, I actually found it really interesting. Although more amazing stunts were pulled by the dancers later in the ballet in the first act I had yet to see any of it and so their dances and leaps were really amazing, especially amidst all the bright colors and lively action of the party scene, such as when the prince did his first leaps, it looked like he was jumping very high. I was also extremely impressed with how well the swans were all able to move in almost perfect synchronization.
2. One of the most interesting things Seneca said in his presentation was the contrasting of multiple characters who had the same voice type,such as Figaro, the Dr., and the gardner. Although their voices were all at the same pitch it was actually really easy to tell them apart simply by the personality that each singer put into their singing, helped along of course by Mozart's music. I am very excited to see this opera.
Kristina Thorson
per 2
1. I really enjoyed swan lake. I brought my mom with me to both ballets we saw and she said this on was very different from the Broadway Suite. I really enjoyed how story like the sets and scenery was on stage. The dancing was amazing. I wanted to keep watching it even though most of the dances were pretty short and sweet! My favorite part of the ballet was the end. I loved the dramatic aspect of the way it ended. I liked it very much.
2. When Seneca came to talk to us I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say. He talked about the characters in the opera and how different some of the characters were to each other. Like there are three bass parts and each one has a different part to play in the overall aspect of the story line. I also learned that Figaro and his bride to be are more servant like then the other characters. Seneca told us about the beginning of the opera, with Figaro measuring the room to see if the bed could fit. It made the whole opera seem much different in my mind.
Tess Opincarne
Period 6
1. I really like Swan Lake as a whole. I thought it did a really good job of keeping the interest of the audience. There was a good mix of pantomime and dancing, so the audience could understand what was happening but it was still aesthetically pleasing. I didn't like the ending, how Odette was swept off with Rothbart and the Prince collapsed, it didn't really make it clear what happened. When the Prince was declaring his love for Odeal I literally got shivers. I really think we should watch the Swan Princess in class. I also thought the squeaking sound produced by all the swans' shoes on the floor while dancing in unison was pretty funny. The music was really smooth and expressive. I saw a large parallel between the dancing scene in the Nutcracker and that in Swan Lake, down to the woman who looked like a belly-dancer and the peacock - they were almost identical.
2. Seneca talked about the role upheaval and it's revolutionary aspect, how the women were outwitting the men and the servants were outwitting the upper class. He also talked about how the story extended before and after the Opera we will see, like as Dr. Bortolo is actually Figaro's father. The last thing I learned is that the First Night rule never actually existed, it was just portrayed in many stories.
Talia Cowan
per 6
1) Swan lake was very interesting. It wasn't quite clear the story line judging from the dancing. What i found kind of cool was that the costumes showed class status. In the first act it was more earthly tones for the less than noble, but then the nobles had bright and strong colors.
2) we talked alot about how a characters music portrayed their mood or personality. Like one noble has a very short temper which you can tell by his music. the main servant in the opening is a simple but strong individual. where as the main female servant has a little more complex part that over bears and takes in the male servants part.
Mackenzie Engel
Period 6
1. I felt that Swan Lake was by far the best performance we have attended. In general, i prefer ballet to opera but that fact aside I was very drawn into the motion of the ballerinas. I found every dance to be very emotional and alive. One thing i noticed between Odete and the prince was that in their early dances they seem to keep a distance between each other, even while physically touching, but as the performance progressed they became more intimate and seemed to move as one being rather than two separate ones. Specifically i enjoyed the final scene when the prince is being forced to say goodbye forever to Odete and all of the other swans are surrounding her. Because the floor material and lighting created something of a reflective floor, it actually appeared that the swans were dancing on a real lake. I also thought Rothbart's bat-like costume was interesting.
2. We learned the marriage of Figaro is somewhat of a comedy. This knowledge will be useful because otherwise I doubt I would have understood if something was meant to be funny. We also reviewed the 5 elements of music, which i found helpful. Lastly we learned that the "first night" idea of the king sleeping with a new bride is actually a myth. I had heard of it before and completely believed it to be true, so that fact i found very interesting.
Michelle Le
period 2
1. I obviously liked Swan Lake. It was by far my favorite performance this year. I thought Act II was the best out of the four. Its the most famous, and I the different formations the swans make are really unique. The choreography is impressive because the movements portray swans very well. The pas de deaux in the third act, between Odile and the Prince was the most impressive. Especially for the ballerina who plays both Odette and Odile. The 32 turns that Odile does at the end of her dance is very famous, and it comes at a time when she is extremely tired. I also liked how the dancer was able to change from being the soft, fragile Odette, to the fierce Odile. That is very difficult for a dancer to do.
2. I thought it was interesting how Seneca told us that the Gardener, Figaro, and the prince were interchangeable. One opera singer had been all three in his lifetime. I also liked listening to how the singing varied from each class, to show the difference. The maids sounded different than the queen. The queen sounded more regal. It was also interesting how a woman is supposed to play the role of a pubescent boy. It was intersting to hear how different female singers sang that part. I think the ones that didn't have such a rich voice sounded better for the part, because if you listen to little boys sing, their voices aren't that rich. They have a lighter quality to them.
Shae Hurst Period 6
1. I thought that Swan Lake had some interesting scenes, but was slightly too long to keep my attention completely. I did however really like the use of fog and the character Von Rothbart. The way that the evil magician moved with his really long cape/wings was really neat. He kind of glided across the fog in the second act. The Swan dances got a little long for my tastes, and I enjoyed the parts of the opera that had story lines better. With that being said I liked the comical bit in the beginning when Siegfried and his friend where laughing at Wolfgang's dancing ability because he was drunk. Even though the characters were not talking they made gestures towards the cups they were drinking out of and I thought it was very clear and funny what was going on.
2. When Seneca came and told us about The Marriage of Figaro I didn't know anything about the opera. I found it interesting when he said that The Marriage of Figaro has been a very long running opera and is especially popular. He also said that this opera will always draw a good crowd because it is so thoroughly enjoyed and that is why it is performed so often. Also we talked about the length of the opera and why it was so long. Seneca told us that back in the times of Mozart people didn't have any other way to listen to quality music and wanted to go all out when they did. The opera was an excellent time for them to enjoy themselves for a good chunk of time since they didn't have many opportunities to do so. Seneca also told us about Mozart's annoying laugh. I didn't know what he was referring to until we watched that movie in class. That portrayal of Mozart's laugh is apparently fairly accurate.
Jordan Adam Per. 4
I don’t think I’m much of a ballet person. Watching pretty people prancing was interesting to watch for maybe the first hour, but I grew tired of it. I kept craving more plot and character development, especially after seeing five different numbers featuring only the swan maids. All the dancers there were incredible, but their feats couldn’t hold my attention for terribly long. I found Slaughter on Tenth Avenue more interesting, having a much clearer storyline and less pure dancing.
Count Rothbart’s costume was probably my favourite part of the performance. The wings he had integrated into his cape fascinated me. They gave him a wonderfully intimidating avian look that suited his character perfectly. (Interesting side note: fog didn’t indicate the lake, it signaled the arrival of the Count at the lake. I checked.)
Seneca’s presentation on the Marriage of Figaro was very interesting. I loved learning that Mozart’s score reflected the characters’ personalities, intentions, emotions, etc. In the beginning for instance, when Figaro is measuring an area for his bed, the orchestra plays with a very even rhythm in a work song style. The music is meant to show that Figaro is a simple middle-class man, not a man of much societal importance. Hearing how women were cast as Cherubino bugged me a little bit. A woman’s voice just doesn’t match a teenage boy’s well enough for me to accept it. When I’m told a character is a boy, I want to hear them have a boy’s voice, darn it. And although I know Seneca has given us musical “taste tests” before, the differences between performers’ voices never really stuck with me until now. It just took a few times for that idea to stick.
Andrew Kemis Period 6
To me ballet is a musical without the intriguing song aspects of nusicals. Musicals which tend to be my favorite kind of pieces. This is for two reasons interesting and fast paced dance along with beautiful music and plot. This is not to say that other pieces are not well preformed or masterpieces within themselves however there are two draw backs in my mind for ballet. I feel that no matter how one dances that the audiences especially me does not and will not understand the plot. Secondly without verbal content I feel a connection is lost between the viewer and the show. Ballets, operas, straight plays they are all different but because something lacks one thing and another is heavy in another does not mean that the piece is bad. I feel that it is pure preference and does not affect the mastery of a particular piece. Swan Lake in itself was preformed and directed perfectly from what all I know about ballet however in my mind I could never get into the piece. Sure it is evident one is able to see the movement which is very intriguing and the music is very pretty but I failed to make the connection. The most important part of shows which is demostrated by what I have seen and learned is plot development and spoken verbal engagment. I did enjoy it and the dancing was very impressive. Acts two and three were very slow hoever unlike your opinion Mr. S, I found act one and four the most engaging to a certain extent.
Seneca had the class take many taste tests and in most every case I quietly differed from the concensus of the class. In the majority of the situations I prefered the vocals from the older productions. As time has progressed something has changed that to me makes the pieces more raspy. In one of the taste tests we were to compare three women playing a young mans role when angered. It was interesting to see that the class chose the newer versions of the songs however I enjoyed the older. Another thing that we talked about was the use of a countertenor instead of the women playing mens roles. The countertenor in my opinion would have been the best choice and Seneca informed us that it is seldom done. Another thing that we learned was why women are playing more mens roles than countertenors.
Countertenors are less common and so in order to get a close voice women are used. This in my opinion is a shame because countertenors are great. Hope you get better Mr. S
1. After viewing Swan Lake, I left feeling a little disappointed. The costuming was very ornate and opulent, but it wasn't very pretty. It felt very straight out of the package, and it seemed like there were a lot more artistic license you could take to make the ballet a lot better. Even though Swan Lake is supposed to be the quintesential ballet, I guess I wouldn't really want to see any more ballet of the same 'quintessentiallism'.
2. Three things which I learned from Seneca was that sometimes men played women who dressed up like men, and that would be quite funny back in the day. Also that some sort of royalty having a wife before her husband was made up and not real, and that the music Mozart composed reflected the individual's character and personalities.
Selena Swaim, per 2
1. When we were listening to the music of Swan Lake in class one thing we did was try to pick out the different parts of the music. (Like when the curtain rose, when there was scene changes, or even when a new person entered the room). After doing that in class I tried to do the same thing at the performance. It worked at first and it definitely did make it less redundant and more interesting, however after a little while that faded away and I was bored with the music. After going to see a few ballets, I was definitely impressed with the precision. Many of the ones we've gone to see in the past, there will be only two dancers who even still have difficulty staying together at points. In Swan Lake, there were over 20 dancers/swans at once and not one of them was off count. In the Pas de Quatre, they could've pulled off being one really large person... with 8 legs, just because their movements were so synchronized.
2. Like Stephanie, I was at a class field trip as well during Seneca's presentation. I didn't know (and still don't know very well) anything about the Marriage of Figaro, so when we came back to class on Wednesday I was confused why we were watching a video on Mozart. Obviously I figured it out once the opera was brought up in the video. So I hope we go over whats going on in the opera more in class next week, otherwise I will have to research it on my own :)
Gabe Gonzalez - Period 2
1. I thought Swan Lake was a little bit slow although the music was nice and the some of the dances were well performed. The second act was the most enjoyable part of the ballet when the swans danced in groups going through different patterns and formations. Throughout the performance I thought the dancing worked well with the music to carry along the plot of the story.
2. When Seneca came in to talk about the Marriage of Figaro he mostly talked about characters and character relationships. The story is based around the clever Figaro and his fiance Susanna. Issues come from several other characters and situations including the Count and his troubled marriage with the Countess.
Heather Thomas
Period 2
For the most part, I really enjoyed Swan Lake. I thought the first act was kind of boring and slow. It was hard for me to pay attention and follow the story. Although, I really enjoyed the second act! The swans were so beautiful. Mostly, I thought it was so cool of how many swans there were on stage at once. I also really liked the four ballarinas that did the dance together.
The thing I remember Seneca saying the most was about the young boy who is normally played by a women, who can only talk about sex and being with other women. I also found it interesting that the music was from Mozart and yet we didn't discuss Mozarts music that much at all. Also, I thought it was interesting how in the story of Figaro, he is so wanting any other women but his own wife and at the end learns to love her. I'm excited to see the proformance after learning about it from Seneca!
Bergen Anderson per. 2
Swan Lake has been one of my favorite perfromances of the year. I've realized how much I love the ballets over toher performance types. The music was so beautiful and my favorite part was of course the second act in the forest where all 24 swans were performing. I really loved to see them dance in unison. The only part I didn't like was how their pointe shoes squeaked on the stage because it detracted from the dancing. The costumes were also lovely and I liked how the dancers movements actually mimicked those of a swan.
When Seneca came he focused alot on different voice types but more specifically different people singing the same voice type and which one we preferred. Honestly it was sometimes hard for me to tell the differences. he also shared how three different characters could all be sung by the same person even though each character had their own sound. Lastly he shared motives behind some of the male characters singing which became obvious when listening to them.
Megan Lowry per 2
1. My reaction to swan lake was mixed. On one hand, I enjoyed seeing the dancers display thier skill. However, I struggled with staying engaged in the story. I do the same thing during opera since at some parts the plot moves very slowly. Plus, I'm not a big fan of tragedies, so I have to admit that the story was not my favorite.
2. 1- One thing I learned from Senaca's lecture was how specific each role is. This is different than most other things we've seen, since every character in this opera has a very different personality.
2- Another thing I found interesting was the 'taste testing' we did for different vicings of the same character. I don't think that much about the fact that a single character has been played by hundreds of different people, and that they all bring something different to the part
3- The last thing I learned was how this opera was organized differently in relation to things like arias. It uses things like quartets and trios to move the plot along.
Phillip Foshee
period 6
1. My reaction to swan lake was like no other performance that we have been to. This ballet was hands down the best performance we have seen in the entire year. It was fun beautifull and energetic. My favorete scence was act two when sigfreud sees the swans.
2. Jonathan was a good person to teach us more about the marrige of figuro. He had allot to say about the differnt voice types and the charecters in the opera. My favorete thing about his presentation was the music and how he incorperated it into the power point. It made me understand a bit more about what our final perfromance will be about.
Jessica Karr, period 4
1. For the most part, I really enjoyed this performance. I do think I prefer operas, just because it makes it easier to follow along with a concrete story. I found it hard to concentrate on what was actually happening in the big picture, but I did enjoy just sitting back and enjoying how so many dancers could dance in such different styles. Just about every dancer had a slightly different style to his or her dancing to show their personality and to separate themselves from the others. It really showed how emotions can be expressed without words.
2. Three interesting things I leaned from Seneca were that the point of a recitative is to create interaction between different characters. Also, in the first scene when Figaro and Susanna sing their own parts, then sing together, they both sing Susanna's part, not Figaro's. I thought this was a very subtle but clever way of showing that she is in charge. Lastly, I thought it was amazing that one opera singer was able to sing all three parts of Figaro, Dr.Bartolo, and Antonio at three different times in his life.
Matt MacDougall
Per 4
I really enjoyed Swan Lake despite the first act. It was kind of boring but i liked the costumes and the really young dancers were cute. It was actually a lot more comical than i thought it would be. Odette was exactly like I had pictured her and the "swans" were really fun to watch. I agree with Stephanie in that their shoes were making annoying noises on the stage and it was kind of distracting but other than that, it progressively got better as the ballet went on.
2. Seneca's presentation was very informative because he talked a lot about each of the characters and what their role was in the Marriage of Figarro, so it will be a lot easier to follow along once we actually see the performance. He also played some samples of different performers and we learned that one person can play characters of different ages in the same play throughout their life. We learned some stuff about Mozart as well.
Christin Thrane
Period 4
I’ve never really been a fan of ballet, but I found the Swan Lake surprisingly enjoyable. I liked how graceful and beautiful the dancers looked on stage, and how well it was coordinated. I actually liked the first act because we’d gone through the story in class, which made it easier to follow. I don’t think I would have liked it as much if I didn’t know what is was about, but because I did, most of it made sense. I was however more impressed by the dancing in the second act. There was more going on, and it looked like there was more challenging dance techniques used. It was fun to see how they interpreted the music and put dance to it. I liked the fact that all the swan’s costumes were beautiful, but that the swan princesses’ was particularly stunning. It made her stand out, but it was similar enough to make them look like was one of them.
In class, we talked about the marriage of Figaro and a little bit about who the different characters are. We went briefly over the 5 elements of music again and he talked about how comedy was different back when the opera was written, and that the opera includes a lot of musical humor, which I’m sure we wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t told us. We learned that Mozart wrote the opera based on a play that already existed. I liked the samples of music that he played in class because it showed how different singers can interpret the same piece of music in different ways.
Karin Ochsner
Period 4
1.) I really enjoyed swan lake. I have seen it with my mom a couple of times. It is definitely one of my favorite ballets. The first couple acts arent my favorite. But once the prince joins a group of swans in the lake, i enjoy it much better. I love the way they choreographed everything. Just the whole story line is great. Its really easy to follow and is never really boring.
2.) I learned a lot from Jonathon. He taught the whole class about each of the charcters like the gardner who is always drinking and hates when people step on his flowers. He also taught us the voice types of each like how for a little boy they used girls because they didnt want the teenagers voice to change during all the performances. During his presentation he showed us some of mozarts work. its crazy how good it is. Overall i think this gave me a way better understanding of Marriage of Figaro. Now knowing what the opera is about i think it will be way more enjoyable.
Kenny Exelby
Period 4
1.) Swan Lake was incredibly boring in the beginning, the whole first act to be exact, and even though everyone was saying that it was going to be boring, I had no idea how true it was. The saving grace of this performance were the incredible dancing scenes. The best one in my opinion was in the last act, when all of the swan dancers came in and did some very quick fluid intense dancing and it really made you appreciate ballet as a dance form as well as an art form.
2.) I thought that presentation by Johnathan was basically what he has been saying all year. He revisited the 5 form of music again and basically explained to us that the marriage of Figaro was a comedy. That's all I really got from it, he did talk about the characters but I forgot or got them all mixed up pretty quickly. However I found that I've been learning more from the movie Amadeus then from Johnathan. I think its because the movie is so much more interesting, plus its also comical and entertaining and Mozart's laugh is ridiculous.
Montana Ferris / Period 2
1. I enjoyed Swan Lake, because of it's progression from somewhat dull to following the story that we had studied in class. By the time the first intermission had ended, I was enjoying the ballet much more than previously. One thing I liked in particular, was when there were many dancers out on the stage at once. They were running and weaving in patterns that were very entertaining and a good break from the typical dancing. I also enjoyed the sets that they had created and when the fog was used. It added a sense of realism to the ballet.
2. When Seneca taught the class about Marriage of Figaro, it gave me a good insight into what kind of singing I could expect to hear. I liked the interactive piece he did when we chose which singer we would prefer to hear. Also, the review of the five elements of music helped remind me what each was about and what to look for in the next performance.
Jessica Taylor
per 2
1. I really like the performance of Swan Lake. My favorite part I would have to say was in the third act where all the swans were doing the same moves. It looked really cool from the audience’s point of view. I didn't care too much for the style of the ballet though. Although there was a story line I think I would have liked it better if there had been words, but that is just the way I would prefer it. I think the costume designer did a really good job on the costumes; my favorite was Odette's.
2. Seneca talked to us about a lot of different things when he came to visit. I think the most interesting thing that he told us was that the young boy was usually played by a female. Then he had us listen to some different people singing as the young boy. I didn’t really care for any of them because they all seemed too feminine. I think the part would be better played by a counter tenor. Seneca also talked to us more about the 5 elements of music, just a short review to make sure we knew what they were all about.
Andrew Pilgrim Period 4
1. I found that Swan Lake was different than I thought it would be. I didn't realize they would have so much of the dances from other countries in the third act, like when they had the Persian dance and the Dutch people and all. The ballet went by quicker than I expected it would and I noted the visual motifs of fog for the foreboding Count as well as the auditory motifs that we went over in class. The ballet overall was well done and the athletecism of the dancers was impressive. The use of the lightning at the end of the fourth act was well done.
2. I learned a lot about the opera that we are going to see. I didn't realize that Mozart wrote the three parts for baritones that can be played by singers of different ages. It is interesting how he was able to make parts for the same voice type and have them all be different enough to not become confusing. We did a lot of taste tests with Seneca and I found that I still like the counter tenor better for the part that is generally sung by a mezo soprano. I am interested to see the opera, especially after listening to Seneca and seeing the movie. The part that keeps building with more and more voices on top of each other should be very interesting to see on stage.
Daniel Reisz
Period 6
1. For the most part I enjoyed seeing Swan Lake, it was very cool to get to see a classic performance that is highly popular around the world. Although I felt that Swan Lake sstarted slow, the music intergration with the movement was very cool. My favorite part was the party scene and getting to see swans dance. I would defantly see another performance like this.
2. I was absent on the day Seneca came, it was a bummer I had to miss him this time, i always enjoy the insider input on the performances
Bryttany Enge, Period 6
1.) I really enjoyed Swan Lake. Like Schindler said, the beginning was definitely slow. However, after the first act, the ballet was amazing. My favorite act was the second where the group of swans danced. I thought their dance was most enjoyable because of the different, graceful formations they continued to make throughout the act.
2.) I thought it was interesting when Seneca discussed Shakespeare’s plays and contrasted them with today’s plays. For example when he explained that Shakespeare cast only men, including men to play women parts and how this is different today when women play the part of men. I also always enjoy comparing different opera singers singing the same performance. During Seneca’s presentation, he taught us about four or five different female opera singers playing the part of a teenage boy singing Voi Che Sapete. Lastly, Seneca also talked about the different characters in the Marriage of Figaro. I thought it was interesting and funny when Seneca described the man that lusted for every woman he saw.
Joel Maltos
P-4
1. So, I went to see swan lake on saturday night and had different seats than most the students, but my seat had a much better view than we usually get. I was on the second floor and right in the middle of the stage, so i could see everything perfectly. I thought the dancing in swan lake was absolutely amazing, especially the second act. The dancers footsteps were perfectly together and the steps were so fast and technicle. But the dancers made them look so smooth and were flawless throughout the entire ballet.
2. Seneca gave our class a very strong base of facts about The Marriage of Figaro. He taught us about the characters, plot, and we also listened to different singers would sang the teenage boy in the opera. The singers for the teenage boy were all ladies too, which i found to be very interesting, because you usually see men switching gender to play women but i have never seen a women switching gender to play a man or young boy.
First of all, I mostly enjoyed the ballet. The first & third act I found greatly uninteresting, though I loved all the scenes at the Lake because the swans formations were absolutely genius and it was amazing to see such a large group to dance in amazing unison. I also loved watching Odette & Sigfred dance together, they had some great tender moments together. The thing I found extremely interesting was at the ball where Sigfred was to decide on his wife was almost exactly like the Nutcracker when a certain group would come out and dance for the royals. I did not particularly like that part, it was a bit too much for me. Another part I aboslutely hate was the ending. I do not even understand what happened at the end, did Rothbart die? Did Odette die? I was completely confused.
Unfortunately on the day Seneca came in, the class was very low energy and completely tired. What I did like though was the taste tests he would give us. I particularly like it when he showed us Cherbino, who is usually a young boy played by a man and I must say I prefered the Counter-Tenor's voice over all the females. I also am very excited because the plot seems absolutely hilarious from what he told us.
FEEL BETTER SCHIND! WE MISS YOU!
Sam Bellefeuille
Period 6
1. My reaction to Swan Lake is quite interesting actually. So there is a movie that i used to watch as a kid that had to same story line as the performance. just thought i would throw that out there. So it was really interesting to me to see another perspective of the same plot! The dancing was astounding and it was really funny that when the music would die off you could hear the dancers thumping and squeeking on the stage. My favorite part of the performance was at the climax of the play when the four swans came together and had a dance session. it was really cool how they were all in sync.
2. three important things that i learned for the speaker.. well its kind of hard to not repeat anything everyone has said because well he only had an hour so he couldnt cover everything he knew! so the things that i remember from our discussion was that it is really hard for cast directors to find boys with high pitch voices now a days because of what they have to do to train to be that high! also i learned about the characters and the story outline for the play. he gave me alot of insight and hearing the music was a bonus because now i know what to expect.
Stuart Dransfield
Period 4
1. My reaction to Swan Lake was that the music was extremely good. The band played in perfect unison to what was happening on the stage. The choice of music was also very good, the balence between the high and low notes was oviously thought out completely. The first act was really slow and there seemed to be a lot of unnessary material, like when he was walking around for half an hour trying to find someone to dance with, or how when they were hunting they were running around and waving at each other for 15 minutes.
2. When Senaca came in he talked about how sometimes they will get boys with really high voices to sing the parts of women. Also he talked about the first part of The Marriage of Fiaro when the guy is being forced to marry someone who he dosent want to marry. Senaca also talked about Mozarts annoying laugh which i thought was really funny.
Jinny Kim Period 4
1. I had a cold and I was very sick on Sunday so I didn't go to ballet. I really want to go there but, I couldn't. I am so sorry about that.
2. The three important things that I learned from Jonathan and Seneca about The Marriage of Figaro is the composer of this opera is Mozart. He also talked about how the young boy cast by women and women dress up like a men.
Jamae Coonts
p 6
1. I have been looking forward to swan lake this whole year. Its the only thing in this class that i can relate to and that i really liked. I wish we had spent more time learning about ballet as a whole like we did with operahs because i thik the class would enjoy and appreciate swan lake more if they knew where it came from and all of its AMAZING history.
2. 3 things that i learned from seneca were that mozart composed the marriage of figaro, i learned part of the story line, and i learned how the women overruled the men and you could tell by how when the men and women had their duets, they would sing the womens part.
Megan Pinzon
period 4
1. I've come to realize that I am more of an opera person than a ballet person, but I thought Swan Lake was beautiful. The first act wasn't as slow as I thought it would be. The problem for me was that in the second act when the two were dancing together all I could hear was some guy coughing and hacking away. My favorite pieces had to be the ones where all the swans were dancing together, I feel like that would be a hard thing to pull off but it was executed very well and everyone was in perfect unison.
2. I learned how the speed and instruments of the music can help show the feelings of the character. Also, Mozart wrote a sort of pun with the horns playing when Figaro is jealous and thinks that Susanna is going to sleep with the count. The third thing I learned was about how Marriage of Figaro is another popular opera that they will preform to make money and get a full house.
Kaiti Staup
Period 4
1. I was completely entranced by Swan Lake. Unfortunately I couldn't attend on Sunday with the rest of the class, so I went Saturday night with my mom. Before we went in I explained to her what we had learned so far about the plot of the ballet so that she would have some understanding of the story line, and I found that restating what we learned in class to someone else was very beneficial to my personal understanding. After the first act we were both ready for things to pick up a little bit, and I was not disappointed after the second part. I found that while the entire "flock" of swans were dancing I was holding my breath. When they paused for applause I literally gasped and clapped more genuinely than I ever have before.
2. Three things that Seneca talked about were the characters and how it was like a comedy type. Also that the music was from Mozart and that he didn't think it would be appropriate to talk about how funny it was because then it wouldn't actually be funny. He also talked about how the boy character was upsets with women and that is all he could ever sing and think about.
Preston Longoni Period 4
I though the beginning of Swan Lake was horrible because it was soooo boring. Then the second part, after the intermission, I thought was awesome. I thought the fog and the rest of the props on stage were perfect and the 24 ballerinas were really good. My favorite thing about this part was when they danced in groups of 4 because their feet did some pretty amazing things. Overall I enjoyed Swan Lake more than most of the others we have seen as a class.
I was late to class when Seneca was giving the presentation. I honestly can't go into much detail im so sorry Schind. I was there for the part when he gave us the taste tests. I thought it was interesting how the one guy sung three different characters parts throughout his lifetime. We listened to samples from the four different women and i like the third the best. Sorry I cant give any names.
Alex Garcia Period 6
1. I enjoyed going to Swan Lake. I felt like it was really long and it was challenging to stay engaged and interested throughout the entire performance. With that being said, I most enjoyed the second act. I liked the dances performed by the group of swans and the way they utilized having so many dancers on stage at one time. There was 24 swans plus Odette and the moves they did in unison created a unique illusion which I have never seen done so precisely and accurate. The dance when 4 swans have their arms linked was very interesting to see because my sisters dance academy perfomed the same dance and it was fun to compare the professionals to my sister and the dancers at her studio. I also liked the effects such as the fog, stobe lights, and the moon to create a completely different setting, mood, and feel on stage. In the third act I kind of thought the Prince was an idiot. If he trully loved Odette like he portrayed than how could he get her confused with a completely different girl. I would have chose Odile anyway because black is my favorite color and is sexy. I liked seeing the different cultures perfom their own interpretation of ballet and the different costumes worn by each different country being represented. I also liked the way the director had Odette appear in Von Rothbart's mind outside the window while he was dancing with Odile. The Prince's finale dance with Odette back in the moonlight after he had realized what he had done was very good also. Ballet isn't exactly my favorite thing but I tried to appreciate it as an artform along with the music which was fantastic and was a good experience and im glad I was able to see Swan Lake.
2. Some things I learned from Seneca include the technique of recitative as drama and it is the thing that holds everything together and is the specific plot points. I also learned about the cast which is:
-Figaro and Susana
-The Count and Countess
-Marcellina and Bartolo
-Cherubino and Barbarina
Seneca told us how Cherubino is cast as a woman because there aren't many men who could play the role and how Bartolo is arrogant and quick/short tempered. I also learned that Antonio is an old drunk man who has become angry in his old age and Figaro is a confident strong person.
Alyssa De Hoop
Period 4
1. Even before I arrived at the ballet I was anticipating I would fall asleep. I had seen Swan Lake a long time ago and couldn't really remember anything about it because I fell asleep. As soon as the curtain came up I loved it. The dancing was so beautiful and such a complete change of pace from every other piece of theatre I have seen before. I did feel that the first act could have been shortened by cutting out some of the solos because it did feel pretty long. The second act was when I fell in love. I had no idea there were going to be so many swans on stage. They kept coming and coming! They were all in perfect unison and never even flinched when they were frozen during the duet pieces. I also really enjoyed seeing the costumes from the different countries and the different style dancing during the third act. The one thing that bothered me but also made me laugh a lot was the squeaking of the shoes in every dance number. Very distracting, but on some level, funny. I thoroughly enjoyed Swan Lake.
2. Three important things I learned from Seneca about the Marriage of Figaro was the plot of the story, that there are three tenor parts in the show and have been sung by the same actor at different points in his career, and that the teenage boy is actually played by a woman.
Mandi DeLaVergne
Period 6
1. I was deffinately most excited to go see swan lake out of all of the other performances. Although I had to leave early due to family purposes (you knew about this Schindler) what I did see was very good. The setting in the first act was very interesting in my opinion. However, otherwise the act was rather boring. I hear the rest of the performance was absolutely amazing and I will deffinately go see it again when it comes back into town!
2. There were many things that Seneca talked about in class that I found interesting. One thing I enjoyed was the different types of music we got to listen to and how we compared different singers. Another thing that we learned about were the different characters. We learned that the young boy is usually sung by a woman which I thought was interesting. Finally, we also talked about the actual music. The characters sing on every day topics and not just major things. Prior to this I had no knowledge on this show and now I do.
Jacob Carpenter
1. Misses the Opera
2. I enjoyed senecas presentation on marrige of figgaro, esspesially the samples of the motzart music. as a young lad i grew up playing the clarinet, quickly moved to the alto sax and then rounded up junior high plaing the tenor sax. I thought it was interesting that figgaro pretty much only sang about his lover and would die for her. i think... And from the main idea of the story i am expecting a much rather up beat opera, which will be very enjoyable.
Erika Hodges per. 6
i was not in class for jonathan's presentation.
i loved how fluid swan lake was. the dancers were in their own world and it was beautiful to see into it. the swans were gorgeous but my favorite costume was odette as rathbarts daughter. the male dancers reminded me of gumby cause ive never seen ang male jump that high or be that flexible. ballet makes football look like a nonmasculine sport. i was also awed by the sets and how intricate everything was, i really liked the moon. i would have to say swan lake and a servant of two masters have been my favorite performances.
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