4B - Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com *I

4B - Thursday, April 8, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

BANFF
From Page 3B
variety of topics, including biking,
boating, hiking, travel, skiing and
animals."
Each year, the festival receives
more than 300 film submissions.
"The films come from more than
35 countries and range from pro-
ductions created by high school
students to professional crews
working with companies like the
BBC and National Geographic,"
Stewart wrote.
In addition to agrand prize, seven
other awards are distributed at the
festival,including a Climbing award,
a Short-Mountain Film (under
fifteen minutes) award and Fea-
ture-Length Mountain Film (docu-
mentary or fiction) award. There is
also a People's Choice Award, select-
ed by audience members.
After the Banff competition,
25 films are selected for the world
tour. These films vary in style and
theme, from climbing and kayak-
ing to adventure, culture and the
environment.
The world tour circles the globe,
hitting countries in Europe, South
America and Asia. In total, about
200,000 people attend 500 screen-
ings in 285 locations. This year, the
festival will visit approximately
140 cities in the U.S. alone. In each
location, the host organization
picks films from the pool of 25 to
cater to its unique audience.
The proceeds gathered on the

festival's whirlwind tour benefit
the host organizations' respective
local communities.
"About 50 percent of the tour
screenings benefit an outdoor
program, community cause, or a
nonprofit organization. Some of
the causes supported by the tour
are bursaries for outdoor pursuits,
adventure programs for disadvan-
taged children, search and rescue
operations, climbing clubs, youth
ski programs and trail mainte-
nance groups," Stewart wrote.
The Banff Mountain Film Fes-
tival will screen at the Michigan

Theater at 7 p.m. Doors will open
at least a half hour before the show
time to give attendees the chance
to interact with local outdoor and
environmental organizations, who
will have set up tables in the lobby.
"Our desired outcome (in Ann
Arbor) is to increase the awareness
of the outdoor/environmental/
active community," Stawski added.
"We hope to let people know about
Outdoor Adventures. ... We want
to celebrate our successes of this
past year, highlight great student
employees and, above all, have
fun."

Nude models at the University are paid $15 an hour.


GROOVE SPOON
From Page 3B
The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and
Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."
The band writes original music
too, "generally by taking a little
nugget and trying to make a tune
out of it," Stratton said.
Groove Spoon has written six to
eight original songs, four of which
have been recorded in a student-
run sound booth on campus and
put online. Most of the songs have
been spontaneous, free-form and
highly based on feeling.
As lead vocalist, Stanley con-
tributes greatly to the songwriting
dynamic.
"'Twan will just come in with
whole tunes in his head, MJ style,"
Stratton enthused about Stanley's
musical resemblance to Michael
Jackson.
"MJ experience, right here,"
Stanley jokingly agreed.
Groove Spoon's original single
"I Love You" was based off an audi-
ence-influenced concert improvi-
sation. The song, like their music,
changes and evolves constantly as
the band gets new bursts of inspi-
ration.
Band members polished "I Love
You" at a recent rehearsal. After
practicing the punchy electric gui-
tar and soft keyboard, the entire
band jumped into an a capella
rendition of the chorus in order to
harmonize the vocals. The room
was buoyant with unity and exu-
berance.
The band's name is one feature
that has stuck through more than

two years and up to 30 revolv-
ing members. Groove Spoon was
originally called A New Univer-
sal Sound, which Stratton loved
but clubs hated, so he went on an
online name generator and found
the name Groove Spoon.
"I don't really like the name," he
added. "But that's what it is, and
it's grown on me."
Another constant - one looked
at with more enthusiasm - is the
band's home at the University.
Groove Spoon has pockets of fans
fromgroupsand programs inwhich
the members are active. It thrives
on the experimental environment

the student atmosphere generates.
"This vibe you could really only
find on a college campus," said gui-
tarist Justin Douglas, who gradu-
ated from LSA in December. "Just
a bunch of musicians who are
coming together without the pres-
sure to get gigs and make tons on
money."
But Stratton feels no trepida-
tion about advertising the band's
events, which was not always the
case for his previous bands.
"With other bands, I would feel
weird about promoting," he said.
"But this one, it's just like, 'Your
loss if you don't go."'

NUDE MODELS
From Page lB
"I have my own mental exercis-
es I go through, just sort of medi-
tating. Or, I think about music or
do whatever schoolwork I can do
inside my head," he said.
At this point, he's so comfort-
able modeling that, while holding
a pose, he's capable of thinking
through a lot of his homework
and then just writing down those
thoughts once he returns home.
Cirocco, on the other hand,
takes an approach less steeped in
reality, often role-playing charac-
ters as she poses for a class.
"Most of the time I direct my
own poses, and I try to really tell
a story with them," she said. "I try
to think of a person who might be
doing this pose. Like, where are
they? Who are they? Where are
they going? And I try to create a
persona.
"I don't know if that comes
across for the artists in the class,"
she conceded.
In Cirocco's estimation, the
role-playing method not only
serves to keep her occupied, but
also acts to the benefit of stu-
dents because it lets her find more
authentic human body positions.
While she models though, she's
dedicated to remaining aware of
her situation, because she appre-
ciates the novelty of the opportu-
nity. In her eyes, modeling lets her
"walk the line between fantasy
and reality."
For other models, the mid-ses-
sion mental aerobics tend toward
banal survivalism. Jenny Cun-
ningham, a recent University
graduate, spends her time posing
thinking through grocery lists,
reflecting on her other part-time
jobs and coming up with ways to
make rent.
"It still gets boring," she said,
despite her best efforts to make
the experience stimulating.
In addition to takingvery ambi-
tious steps to pass the time (like
playing entire symphonies in his
eady to

head), Steve Cunningham relies
on a rather simple routine, lis-
tening in on professors as they
provide input and instructions to
students. A little coffee doesn't
hurt, either.
It "raises the threshold," as he
put it.
Still, even coffee can't lift the
brain beyond the deceptively
strong pull of boredom, and Steve
Cunningham and a few of his fel-
low figure models openly admit to
drifting into the occasional inad-
vertent nap, especially when they
are in reclining poses.
Most poses, however, do not
allow the figure models the plea-
sure of kicking back in a reclining
position. Instead, they often take
positions which become surprising-
ly strenuous, especially when the
model holds them for a particularly
long amount of time. The models
are given a few five-minute breaks
every session, but, in the end, the
physical exhaustion of modeling
rivals the mental exhaustion.
In the most extreme cases,
exhausted models have been known
to faint on their feet and slump to
the ground. Cirocco, who nearly
lost consciousness while holding a
standing pose inone of her first ses-
sions for a sculpture class, recalled
one story told to her by a professor.
"He told me about one time when
a model passed out, she fell off the
pedestal and he had to catch her,"
she said.
Shockingly, none of the students
in that particular class even rose to
help the professor shoulder the bur-
den of their fallen model, ostensibly
because they were so ingrained in
their work that they had begun to
perceive of the model as an infal-
lible object.
Of course, the models are never
perfect in their posing, even if
their injuries and mishaps don't
require heroic professor interven-
tion. Most of the time, they simply
get tired and sore.
"Ilearned pretty early on: Find-
ing a pose right away that I know
I can hold is pretty important,"
Merkin notes, acknowledging
how painful and unsustainable
certain poses can become.
"At the end of the semester
there were parts of my body that
just kind of hurt, chronically,"
he recounted, talking about a
sculpture course for which he
had to hold the same pose for the
entirety of every class for a whole
semester.
While Steve Cunningham
prides himself on being able to
endure physically demanding
poses, most of the models seem
to regard the numb toes and sore
knees inherent in the work more
as nuisances than badges of pride.
It's natural to assume that
the greatest impediment facing
any nude model would be sheer
nerves, but after talking to them,
it's no surprise that most of them
claim to have gotten over their
inhibitions in the first few min-
utes of a session and never looked
back. Indeed, by allowing them-
selves to appreciate the artistic
process they are making possi-
ble, or by temporarily perceiving

themselves as merely a collection
of lines and shapes, the models
can approach their work high on
satisfaction and low on reserva-
tions.
Impressively, the models all
seem as cognizant of the impor-
tance of nude models as the pro-
fessors and students do.
"It's never about me as a naked
person. It's about the body in its
natural state, and it just happens
to be my body that day," Jenny
Cunningham explained."It's real-
ly professional."
"I understand the importance
of having live bodies to work off
of. It's totally different if they're
wearing a leotard, or if it's a sculp-
ture that's already there. You real-
ly need an individual's body so you
can study how the muscles react
when you shift weight, and how
somebody's bones look and where
everything's situated."
Amanda Olson, an Art & Design
senior who has studied nude
models in figure drawing classes,
agrees that studying nude mod-
els, as opposed to clothed models
or objects, is essential to "under-
standing the form of the human
body."
Jeremy Daly, also an Art &
Design senior, put it similarly:
"There's nothing like drawing
from life."
In a form he hands out to stu-
dents at the onset of drawing
classes studying nude figures, Art
& Design and Residential College
professor Larry Cressman offers
his feelings on the importance of
nude models.
"Drawing from the nude model
is considered an essential part of
artistic training. It refers to the
larger experiences of life, with all
its shifting meanings and nuanc-
es."
He also shows a deep apprecia-
tion for the figure models making
the art possible.
"For the model it is hard work.
We treat themwithgreatrespect."
Given the propensity of part-
time work to crush enthusiasm
through monotony, it's encour-
aging to see how seriously most
models take their work - Jenny
Cunningham quickly recount-
ed how immensely guilty she
felt after accidentally sleeping
through a scheduled modeling
session. Not to mention how much
most of them enjoyit - Steve Cun-
ningham said that, even if model-
ing didn't pay, he'd pursue it as a
part-time hobby.
Because of the professionalism
and commitment of the models,
and the context in which they're
working, there's simply nothing
weird about nude modeling for
the parties involved. The study
of nude figures is a time-hon-
ored educational technique that
endures for good reason: The stu-
dents, professors and models all
find it~constructive.
Fortunately, university educa-
tion can provide a learning envi-
ronment free of taboos, and in
Jenny Cunningham's opinion,
nudity is no exception.
"It's totally normal here in the
art school:"
WANNA
WRITE

FOR ARTS
OVERTHE
SUMMER?
DOlIT!
Send an e-mail to
shacobs@umich.edu for
information on applying.

Groove Spoon does improvisation, covers and some original work