Saturday, September 19, 2009

Laban Movement Choir

As part of the Mahler Project (a JCFA wide theme this semester, based on German art) the dance department is organizing a 1,000 person Laban Movement Choir. At a school the size of Butler, it was difficult to get a 1,000 people to participate so instead it's more like a 300-500 person choir.

The performance is this Saturday on the Butler Bowl (the football field). Over a few rehearsal sessions the participants learned the choreography and during the performance we will be moving to music and poetry.

The piece reminds me a lot of Whirl of Divine (a performance I was involved in through the Spirit and Place Festival in which we recited a Dada poem entitled Ur Sonata in collaboration with the dance department.)

If you are interested there is a short video on youtube about the movement choir. I don't think you can see me anywhere, but it gives you a taste of what the performance going to look like. Hopefully we'll get a good turn out. It should be pretty cool.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Time

I thought I had finally overcome my extreme messiness, but I just came home from an Alumni Convocation (for which we were supposed to look nice) and I realized my room is a disaster. However, I've concluded that my messiness isn't necessarily a result of laziness. At the end of the summer/beginning of the semester, my schedule was fairly light. I had spare time to clean up the messes I made along the way. Now I've got time to do my laundry. . . but it's been sitting in laundry basket, clean and unfolded, for a week.

Last week my Creative Arts professor was out of town. Instead of canceling classes (although senior-itis doesn't set in as much in college, getting to miss a 10am class is always preferred) she asked a woman to come in and talk to us about time management. Now, I consider myself to be a fairly organized person and I was already disgruntled that I wouldn't get to sleep in on a Monday morning, but I actually ended up taking a lot away from the lecture.

The lecturer asked us to fill out a chart with the amount of time we spent on various activities during the week. Did the time we spent accurately reflect our priorities? I know I spend way too much time on the computer. The other day I came on merely to check facebook and my email but ended up spending an hour looking a pictures from a photo contest about weddings. Not exactly the best use of my time. I had spent the previous two days meticulously documenting where I was spending my time. I was careful not to spend too much time on the computer, to actually spend a decent amount of time on homework and to try and get some sleep. However, by the third day I was tired of the tedious work and gave into laziness.

Although I can't spend my whole life noting how every little minute is spent, I do think I could use some more awareness. I was pleased to discover that the top three areas I spent my time in were sleep, classes and theatre. Despite my fairly balanced schedule, I still feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want. Especially since this is my last year in college, I just want to use the time to experience as much as I can. Do I really want to waste this precious time watching stupid videos on youtube? Sometimes, yes, I do need a break, but there is really so much more I could be experiencing.

My goal is to continue to monitor where I'm spending my time. I love going to bed at the end of the day or looking back on a week feeling like I was productive or that I took advantage of the opportunities presented to me.