T i a l h alFriday, November 30, 2012 -.7A

The.Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


PERFORMANCE , I
Cage-themed
compositions to be
showcased at 'U'
By LENA FINKEL Unlike other shows, most par-
Daily Arts Writer ticipants will be on stage at some
point, including the musicians
Though students enter the and composers.
"Dance and Related Arts" course Also distinct to the show is the
thinking it's just like any other original music produced. MT&D
class, the junior Nola Smith described how
resulting per- John Cage and his music pro-
formances, John Cage duction techniques inspired her
exhibited in is a Fungi group to listen to the sounds that
the Dance and often go unnoticed.
Related Arts Friday and "A lot of (Cage's) philosophy is
show, turn out Saturday listening to what's already there.
like nothing at 8 p.M. Music is all around. The role of
they've ever Betty Pease the artist is not to create, but to
created before. Studio Theatre take off the blinders," Smith said.
Though $5
all School of
Music, The- Students
atre & Dance students, the 29 to
undergraduate and graduate creatively cross
participants come from various
departments, including dance, discplines for
performance arts and technol-
ogy, music composition and class.
strings, and are undergradu-
ates and graduates. The class, a
requirement for dance majors,
encourages collaboration among ,Her group recorded the sounds
students from various disci- ofher classmates arrivingto class
plines. one day and then "took off from
The students were randomly there" to create their music.
divided into five groups consist- The resulting piece is "a little
ing of five or six members and creepy, but also touching," and
were asked to create a perfor- Smith hopes that students will
mance piece based on this year's feel the emotional impact. The
theme artist, John Cage, famed piece will feature a multimedia
composer of the '50s. Past years' collage being built before the
themes have included "Order and viewers' eyes.
Chaos," "Creation" and "Millen- Coleman wants students to
nium/Utopia." understand her group's perfor-
According to MT&D junior Ali mance, which takes a comedic
Coleman, the students are given approach to a serious topic -
"no limits or guidelines," but are which will be revealed on Friday.
given feedback throughout the Though the students hope to
semester from professors Bill De receive positive reactions from
Young and Stephen Rush. the audience, the performers
Coleman said, unlike other have already taken much from
pieces she has done, this perfor- the experience.
mance doesn't really have a lot Coleman explained that it's
of dancing - "just a lot of move- nice to make relationships with
ment with music." Her group also other people besides dance
incorporated vocalization, act- majors.
ing, mime and technology. "It's so interesting hearing
She added that her group's perspectives from other people
piece will "really broaden (stu- from other majors (than dance)
dents') perspective on what per- when it comes to creating a
formance arts can be." piece," Coleman said.
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UMMA art inspires
short films, 'Many Voices'

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Filmmakers "If someone is amusicianthey
can help someone else with the
ollaborate on music on their video, so there
should be a lot of cross-creative
ligital project energy going on," Patel said. "I
look forward to encouraging that
By JULIA KLINE and seeing what unpredictable
Daily Arts Writer things might come out of that."
Harrison, a former director
University of Michigan of the Ann Arbor Film Festi-
um of Art boasts more than val, feels that creativity can be
0 works from some of the enhanced by unlikely collabo-
creative and talented art- rations outside of one's usual
e world over. This winter, social circle.
rt will inspire new cre- "Some of the people are going
from filmmakers taking to be more technical, some of the
n the "Many Voices" video people more intuitive or ethereal
hop. or approaching it from their own
MA invited visual artists art practice or not having an art
orytellers of all ages and practice at all," he said.
evels to create a short film Harrison expects this aspect
on a work of art in the Uni- to be a central experience of the
y museum. Veteran film- workshop.
s Sharad Patel and Donald LSA sophomore Keshav
son are leading the work- Prasad is one of the "Many Voic-
eries, which evolves based es" filmmakers. While searching
needs and visions of the for a subject for his film, Prasad
ipants. stumbled upon the abstract
el, a freelance filmmaker, expressionist work "White Ter-
es that the project will fos- ritory" by painter Joan Mitchell.
Alaborations between the "I knew right away that that
ipants, leading to a richer was the one that I wanted to
of creative output. make a video about," Prasad

said. "It's kind of a white back-
ground covered in hues of
white and green paint and some
splotches of brown. It's a very
textured piece and it seemed
truly abstract. It doesn't look
like anything in the real world."
The pairiting reminded Prasad
of everything he loves about
abstract art. He saw his film as
an opportunity to help people
less familiar with abstract art
begin to see it in a different light.
"I want to work with the
painting itself in the video
close-ups or different angles of
the painting to help the viewer
think about how they actually
look at a painting and how that
affects their perception of the
painting," Prasad said. "An idea
I got from other group members
was to draw associations from
different textures and colors to
more tangible objects so that
the painting does become more
relatable."
For instance, one section of
the- painting reminded a fel-
low "Many Voices" filmmaker
of spreading peanut butter
on bread, an idea reflected in
Prasad's film.

Lisa Borgsdorf, manager of
Public Programs & Campus
Engagement at UMMA, said that
some of the "Many Voices" film-
makers plan to take a documen-
tary approach, while others will
use the art as a starting point for
a film that veers in a totally dif-
ferent direction. She feels that
the project will not only benefit
the participants but also enrich
the experience of the gallery's
visitors.
Borgsdorf hopes the proj-
ect benefits artists as well as
enhances the gallery's visitors.
"We think of it as a little tri-
angle," she said. "There's the
work of art, there's the video
and then there's the visitor who
is experiencing both. (We try)
to remember all three of those
in the creative process as we are
developing ideas."
The finished films will be vis-
ible through QR codes located
near the works of art in the
UMMA gallery that visitors can
scan with smartphones. They
will also be available for view-
ing at the UMMA's dialog table,
a digital interface used for story-
telling and dynamic learning.

TV NOTEBOOK
Intimate moments, characters
impress in fearless 'Parenthood'

By RADHIKA MENON
DailyArts Writer
Need I express my love for
"Friday Night Lights" for you
all? Anyone who knows me
knows that I can't say enough
about the show - literally, I
won't shut up about it. With its
gritty and sincere storytelling
coupled with its magnificent
cast's acting chops, executive
producer and head writer Jason
Katims created something truly
spectacular, even though it was
only enjoyed bya handful of peo-
pie. But this isn't an article about
"Friday Night Lights." Rather,
it's about Ratims's next project:
the equally impressive "Parent-
hood."
I stumbled upon "Parenthood"
completely by accident. Caught in
deep depression after my beloved
"Friday Night Lights" ended its
fantastic five-season run, I was

"... and then I gave that bitch a sloth. Bitches love sloths."

looking
to get m
the void
Ion, Tee
the BraN
Californ

C

for something, anything Katims's distinct style with hon-
e over this loss and to fill est acting by another extraordi-
of Coach Taylor and Dil- nary cast and gripping storylines.
xas. Enter- "Parenthood," Using the same, patented hand-
verman family and sunny held style, "Parenthood" takes the
ia. intimacy of "Friday Night Lights"
and applies it to the broader fam-
ily drama.
lear eyes Being so closely connected to
"Friday Night Lights" and shar-
live on. ing a large portion of its audience,
"Parenthood" drops many Eas-
ter eggs for lovers of both shows,
most clearly in the form of cross-
k God for Jason Katims. over actors: Thus far after three
gh geographically miles and a half seasons, the count is six.
:m his first show; "Parent- These aren't just cameo perfor-
s a welcome twin'to the mances, with Lyla Garrity(Minka
Night Lights" legacy in Kelly), Luke Cafferty (Matt Lau-
vision landscape, melding ria) or Vince Howard (Michael B.

Jordan) stoppingby for anepisode
or two. No, these are long arcs
with characters that are intricate-
ly involved in the central Braver-
man story. The most fun crossover
so far is Lauria's addition in sea-
son four as Ryan, Amber's (Mae
Whitman) love interest and a sol-
dier who has returned from Iraq
- a nice nod to viewers of both
shows about Luke Cafferty's fate.
"Parenthood" is fearless in
tackling life's difficult obstacles:
There are no second thoughts
about delving into the difficulties
of living with Asperger's Syn-
drome, being laid off from your
job or facing a life-threatening
illness like cancer. In fact, the
writers of "Parenthood" welcome

these hurdles and subsequently
write a perfect story arc that is
complemented by truly moving
performances from the cast.
Take, for example, the bur-
geoning storyline in the current
fourth season. In the second
episode, "Left Field," Kristina
Braverman (Monica Potter)
finds out that she has a cancer-
ous tumor growing in her breast.
Cancer arcs can often be overly
dramatic and trite, but "Parent-
hood" writes itin a waythattruly
captures the emotional toil of
both those immediately involved
and those on the periphery.
While Kristina is battling her
illness, her son Max (Max Burk-
See PARENTHOOD, Page SA

Than
Thous
away fro
hood" i:
"Friday
the tele%