Pentathlon

Semester 1

As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my first semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.

Pentathlon 1: K-Pop Dance Workshop

Event Logistics 09/09/2022, K-Pop Dance Workshop hosted by Ganji, Studio 2

Pentathlon category #dance

During the UMD NextNow fest I attended a k-pop dance workshop out of curiosity. I am a fan of k-pop music and often watch choreography related to the songs that I listen to, so I was interested in what actually participating in a dance was like. The choreography was fast paced and I had a difficult time staying with the music while also keeping my movements precise. Being able to experience how hard it was to dance to a complete song like that helped me appreciate how much work must go into every performance dancers put on. It's not only the physical ability to move your body in a precise and timely manner that matters in dancing, but also the ability to remember countless dance moves to multiple songs.

The members of Ganji who walked us through the choreography went very slow and were understanding to us, who were learning for the first time. I was grateful to how accepting they were. I reminded me how welcoming learning a new artform can be, and how fun it is to connect with the people you are learning with, which I feel is a large part of the Arts Scholars program. Before I had attended this workshop I had had no experience at all in dance, so I feel that my time spend there helped open my eyes to an entirely new art of expression. Dance is such a pure form of expressing yourself with your body, unlike with other forms of art that may move through many different mediums before making itself known. The ability to express yourself through movement of your body in such a way is something I definitely appreciate much more than I did before.

Pentathlon 2: National Portrait Gallery

Event Logistics 09/17/2022, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institute

Pentathlon category #Visual Art

On September 17th I took the metro and visited the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. I spent roughly two and a half hours there, in which I attempted to view the entire gallery. I also had the pleasure of inadvertently walking into a cloth portrait workshop, where I was able to create my own abstract portrait out of scrap clothes, which was very fun (picture below). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the entire museum due to it's sheer size, but I found myself attracted to the more historical portrait displays. Throughout my education I have noticed that textbooks tend to reuse the same portraits of significant people in history. I always wondered why the same pictures were continuously used and what was so special about the original portraits. The National Portrait Gallery is home to many of these portraits, including the well know "Men of Progress," painting.

I found this fascinating. It was surreal to be able to see the original source of pictures that I had previously only seen in textbooks. It made me realize the power and significance that something as simple as a painting or portrait holds. These artists have created pieces that have shaped the public perception of people like George Washington, Ben Franklin, Ulysses Grant, and so many more for decades. For many, the only image they know of these significant figures is their portrait. Realizing this has made me understand that art is a form of communication that is timeless and universal. You don't need to know a language or be a certain age in order to understand it, yet the message in the art piece remains. Due to this I also find myself wondering, what art that exists today will have the same impact that these historical pieces do, many years from now?

Pentathlon 3: Kay Theater

Event Logistics 10/9/2022, "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark," Kay Theatre at the Clarice Performing Arts Center

Pentathlon category #theater

On Sunday October 9th, my room mate, Michelle, and I went to see a play put on by the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the Kay Theater at the Clarice. We viewed a showing of the play "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark," which follows the story of a struggling black woman (Vera Stark) working as a maid while dreaming of becoming a famous actor in Hollywood. She eventually makes a part in a lifechanging production through a few white lies told to the right people. After becoming a renowned actor, however, Vera disappears from show business leaving the public with nothing but speculations.

I really enjoyed viewing this play, I feel that there were many different lessons that could be learned from this story. Though a large portion of the play is centered around fighting racial injustice, it also speaks of the corruption of the Hollywood industry, and the real lives behind the people we tend to idolize on screen. The character Vera Stark was a very normal woman who, in the end, made it big because she took a chance while being in the right place at the right time. Vera's eventual success shows that if you have the drive to be successful you will be, but it also shows that the people who do become largely successful (particularly in the show industry) are very normal people, despite what the media would like to accentuate. It definitely made me more aware of the same idolization that happens in today's culture. Vera's story also made me question how many of the celebrities we have today made it big due to situations similar to Vera's. I think it's a good reminder that even the people we look up to are normal people at the end of the day, and what we take away from the artforms that they produce is up to us. I think a good message that this performance and Arts Scholars also sends, is that art is meaningful no matter who it comes from and in what form it is presented in. You don't have to be special (or feel special) in order to create meaningful art and for that art to be able to impact a large amount of people.

This message also connects me to my engineering major a little, since engineers are constantly creating new technology. We're responsible for forging ahead in the world of technology. This play reminded me that if I don't take charge to make something happen, nobody else will. If I want to create something or become something, it's my job to actively make that happen.

Pentathlon 4: Band-Maid Concert

Event Logistics 10/25/2022, Band-Maid US Tour - The Fillmore Silver Spring

Pentathlon category #Music

On Tuesday, October 25th, I went into DC in order to see a concert by a Japanese Metal group called Band-Maid. They are a completely normal metal band except for the fact that they dress up as maids during their appearances, which may seem silly at first, but I believe adds to their unique appeal. What surprised me most about the event was the diversity of people that I saw there. In my experience, the people who show up to metal concerts are quite alike, however, this specific concert had a very large portion of elderly audience members as well as entire families and individuals of many different aspects. It was actually very nice to see so many different people getting together to share their common enjoyment of the same music. It helped me to understand that art is something that can truly unite people who may not have ever come together otherwise, which I think is a common theme that has surfaced during Arts Scholars this semester.

This also reminded me of my engineering major, since working in engineering involves a variety of different people coming together for a common goal, it was akin to the variety of different people coming together at the concert over a shared interest. Along with that, I had an amazing night boding with my friends that I found I had been neglecting a bit since college began, and it made me appreciate how art also brings people who were already close, even closer. I was able to share great memories with the people I care about as well as discover some new music that, I admit, has lead me down a rabbit hole on Spotify. In the end, I definitely appreciate how universal art is and I hope to be able to experience something like this again in the future.

Pentathlon 5: Embroidery Craft and Chat

Event Logistics 11/10/2022, Embroidery, Arts Scholars Craft and Chat

Pentathlon category #ArtsScholars #VisualArt

On November 10th I attended an Arts Scholars Craft and Chat to learn embroidery. I enjoyed being able to sit down and learn something new with the people that I live with. Everyone had very different ideas and techniques when learning to embroider and it was interesting to be able to draw from all of that in my own work. I decided to embroider a flower, which I assumed would be an obvious choice, however, to my surprise everyone chose pretty different things to depict. My roommate chose to embroider a hand with stars coming out of it, and others around out table chose everything from animals to other interests, like sports that they play. This reminded me that even though the medium of art is the same, the artist determines what that art becomes. Everyone views things in a different light, and that is easily reflected in the art we make. I think that really relates back to what we've been learning in Arts Scholars, which is the idea that our personal experiences effect the way that we create and consume art.

During this time I was also reminded how art, in something as simple as amateur embroidery, can bring people together. I met, and made friends, with people during this craft and chat who I didn't know until then, despite living in the same building this entire semester. The craft and chat brought the building together more than we were before, which I think relates to all types of art. When people come together to share a common interest in something, it creates connections that did not exist previously. Which is definitely something to be appreciated.