The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, December 1, 2017 — 5
COURTESY OF GROOVE
Groove to rock the masses
at Michigan Theater show
You’re
walking
out
of
Mason Hall as you make your
way toward Hatcher. You hear
rattles and rhythms pounding
from the heart of the Diag.
These rattles and
rhythms express
a
cohesive
unity — a unity
of
drumming,
cheering
and
meticulous
beats.
No,
it’s
not the Michigan
Drum Line, and
no,
you’re
not
making it up in
your head. It’s
the
eccentric
musical
group
rocking out on
trash cans and a
step ladder: It’s Groove, and
it’s the sound you’ve been
waiting to hear all semester.
A
night
filled
with
alternative methods of music
and
entertainment,
Groove
will be taking over Michigan
Theater tomorrow for their
concert “Drumpalooza.”
More
than
a
group
of
creative
minds,
Groove
is
designed to bring new talent
to the campus’s music scene.
They believe their personality
is built on extremes, ranging
from simple and accessible to
complex and striking.
The best way to describe
the work of the 32 Groovers
would to be a mix of The
Blue Man Group and Stomp,
however, the group sets out to
make an independent name for
themselves.
“Groove pushes the limit
of what people consider to
be music and instruments ...
Any of the groups we compare
ourselves to are going in
different directions than us,”
said College of Engineering
sophomore
and
Groove’s
Music
Director
Bryan
Schildcrout.
Although drumming is their
core, the group seeks to find
talent outside of percussion.
Whether it be dancing or
playing the trumpet, Groove is
all about seeing “what unique
quality you can bring to us.”
Groove
still
celebrates
their
focus
in
percussion,
meanwhile forming a mosaic
of
unique
and
talented
students. But that doesn’t stop
the group from recruiting
drummers.“There
are
members in our group who
have never touched a drum
before,” Schildcrout said. So
as hard-working and music-
sharing Groovers do, they
teach their new members how
to drum.
Before Groove, College of
Engineering
freshman
and
new
Groover
Ryan
“Bruce”
Mersol-Barg
only
played
a
solo
drum
set.
But
joining
a
group
with
coordination and
trust,
Mersol-
Barg
learned
what it means to
give and take and
to become aware
of all the features
that
happen
during a performance.
“There
are
a
lot
of
things you have to learn …
Learning to play with other
percussionists is challenging
in some regards. It’s definitely
something different, and some
of the songs can get complex.
You have to trust people to be
on time and make sure that
you’re with them. It’s all very
coordinated … it’s fun, but
it’s a challenge,” Mersol-Barg
said.
Additionally,
with
so
many
ideas,
skills
and
talents, Groove has to find
organization through all the
craze.
“The best part of Groove is
the creativity,” said LSA senior
and Groove President Hannah
Buck. “But the hardest part
is harnessing that creativity.”
This harnessing translates to
ensuring that members come
to scheduled rehearsals and
giving deadlines for newly
written music pieces.
A
myriad
of
artistry,
Groovers
build
their
own
sets, share their expertise
and write their own songs and
choreography –– they’re also
known to be “innovators.”
“You are not just a player
in this grand scheme you’re
joining,”
Mersol-Barg
said.
“You’re in it. And you’re in
every part of it.” The same
could be said for the audience’s
attention, soaking in all the
talent the group puts forth.
Creative,
explosive
and
most definitely engaging, the
audience can relate to the
performance because of their
relatability and accessibility.
I walked into their rehearsal
space to see shopping carts,
pots, pans, buckets and trash
cans –– these everyday objects
are used as the foundation to
produce power-house, raging
beats. And that’s what makes
Groove’s sound so special.
“People would expect to
come to our show and just see
just 10 trashcans, but that’s
not at all what our shows are,”
Buck said. “Groove is more
than drumming on trash cans
and more than drumming.”
Their past shows’ lineups have
included wild piano pieces,
improv,
dance
numbers,
blacklight
shows,
funny
skits and overall incredible
instrumentation.
Regardless
of
what
instrument or ordinary object
Groove is rockin’ out with,
through their willingness to
spread musical talent and to
use of all kinds of materials,
they prove to their viewers
that anyone can make music
and anyone can be a performer.
“Groove takes down the
barrier
between
audience
and performer,” Schildcrout
said. “I think our music is
something that people see and
say ‘We could be doing that.’”
Filled with heart-pounding
beats and intricate musical
scores,
Groovers
continue
to be risk-taking, passionate
and fluorescent performers;
and most importantly, they’re
a tight-knit group of friends
who yearn to share their love
for art.
ERIKA SHEVCHEK
Daily Community Culture Editor
Groove
presents
“Drumpalooza”
Michigan Theater
Saturday,
December 2nd @
7:30 p.m.
$5 students, $8
adults
TED
Transnational mystery
center of new Allende book
Acclaimed
Chilean-
American
author
Isabel
Allende is known for her
sprawling, multigenerational
and multinational narratives,
and
her
new
novel
“In
the
Midst of Winter”
is no exception.
Allende’s
classic
blend
of cultures and
personalities,
best
known
in
South American
epic “The House of the Spirits”
and
California
saga
“The
Japanese Lover,” is at full force
in her newest work. But this
novel, published in Spanish
earlier this year and premeired
in English on October 31,
adds an unexpected “murder
mystery” twist to her familiar
style.
Allende’s latest story spans
decades and global borders,
but it begins closer to home,
in
present-day
Brooklyn
during a snowstorm. Richard,
an
American
professor
at
NYU, and Lucia, his Chilean
tenant, shiver through the
storm in an old brownstone
until Richard ventures out
and gets in a car crash. Drama
ensues with the other car’s
driver,
young
Guatemalan
immigrant Evelyn, and the
three characters are thrown
together in a wintry adventure
that
has
it
all:
romance,
murder and intrigue.
If it all sounds like a little
much, don’t worry — Allende is
famous for her melodramatic
plots, but she brings such
humanity to her characters
that you’ll be swept along for
the ride. All that melodrama,
particularly
the
murder
mystery that quickly takes
center stage in the three New
Yorkers’ lives, serves as a
device to throw these unlikely
companions
together
and
drive the plot forward. All the
excitement makes for a page-
turner,
but
Allende
deftly
juggles the novel’s larger-
than-life
events,
capturing
their gravity without slipping
into schmaltz. This should
come as no surprise to her
many fans, who are familiar
with the measured melodrama
of Allende’s novels. In her
own
life,
the
author
has
experienced
far-ranging
global
travel,
untimely
deaths, political uprisings and
exile — who better to write
melodrama?
More than anything, it’s the
human insight and empathy
Allende imbues her characters
with that grounds the story.
The book’s title comes from
a famous Albert
Camus
quote,
cited
as
an
epigraph
at
the start of the
novel:
“In
the
midst of winter,
I finally found
there was within
me an invincible
summer.” Allende uses the
quote as a simple double
entendre, evoking both the
story’s
snowy
setting
and
the inner strength of her
characters, who bloom over
the course of the narrative.
While she only chose to
feature the beginning of the
Camus quote in her epigraph,
the
French
philosopher
actually continued his winter
metaphor, “For it says that no
matter how hard the world
pushes against me, within me,
there’s
something
stronger
–– something better, pushing
right back.” This invocation
of
personal
resilience
certainly applies to Allende’s
characters, who are pummeled
by tempests far more serious
than the winter storm that sets
the story into motion. Evelyn,
Richard and Lucia tell their life
stories to one another during
the novel’s long winter nights,
and the narrative ricochets
between the three characters’
pasts and present. All have
faced tragedies that go beyond
life’s ordinary challenges, and
many of these experiences give
a face to global and historical
issues, from domestic violence
to Chile’s brutal dictatorship,
Central American gangs to
U.S. migration.
At first glance, some of
the narrative seems ripped
straight from the headlines,
but
Allende
brings
real
compassion
and
humanity
to
her
characters.
Rather
than
reducing
Evelyn,
in
particular,
to
a
powerless
victim or “illegal” migrant,
as many Central Americans
are
portrayed
in
popular
depictions,
the
novelist
chooses
to
highlight
her
remarkable grit in the face of
overwhelming adversity.
While the novel contains
considerable
violence
and
suffering, it remains full of joy
for life. This celebratory spirit
is enhanced, not diminished,
by the character’s suffering: a
bout with breast cancer results
in a newfound appreciation
for life’s daily pleasures, and
long-term
loneliness
gives
way to a rewarding late-in-life
romance.
This joy is often enhanced
by
faith
in
something
beyond
each
character’s
pain and crises. Allende is
unconcerned with the type
of faith, preferring to show
the diversity and richness of
global belief systems, from
Afro-Brazilian
Candomblé
to
Chilean
Catholicism
to
indigenous
Guatemalan
syncretism.
“In the Midst of Winter”
shows Allende at the top of her
form, applying her brilliant,
sensory prose to a whirlwind of
destinations in the Americas,
from
the
gray
streets
of
Santiago to a small indigenous
village in Guatemala, a New
York City snowstorm to bright,
boisterous Rio de Janeiro.
In
the
novel’s
colorful,
interwoven
tales,
Allende’s
most
salient
message
can
be
found
largely
between
the lines: a condemnation of
modern-day isolationism and
xenophobia in her adopted
home,
the
United
States.
Allende expertly weaves these
seemingly disparate narratives
together, showing our riotous,
divided hemisphere for what
it really is, a place connected
by so much love, blood and
history that no one country
can ever really isolate itself.
MERIN MCDIVITT
Daily Arts Writer
“In the Midst of
Winter”
Isabelle Allende
October 31
Atria Books
SHOW PREVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Filled with heart-
pounding beats
and intricate
musical scores,
Groovers continue
to be risk-taking,
passionate and
fluorescent
performers
Allende’s latest
story spans
decades and
global borders, but
it begins closer to
home, in present-
day Brooklyn
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