Diana Szeinblum’s Alaska, at On the Boards, was perhaps one of the most startling dance performances that I have ever seen. Visceral is the word that best describes it, and the word that I keep revisiting as I write this review. Having attended a master class with Diana Szeinblum the day before, I fortunately had some idea of what to expect. Her style is based upon the experience, rather than the appearance of the dancers. According to the program notes, in her choreography, she is “appealing to the memory of what was lived to find in the body the experience of what has not been revealed”. Essentially, Ms. Szeiblum uses the physical memory of the body to access new experiences, and the result is as nontraditional as her methods.

The movement quality was furious and repetitious. Although repetition can sometimes be monotonous, the unique approach of the dancers ensured that the movement stayed interesting. The dancers applied their current emotions and feelings, in order to create a different dynamic each time they performed the same phrase. One dancer rocked her torso over her hips as if she were one of those novelty drinking birds. The rocking was so intense and long lasting that I feared she might might the program with a severe case of whiplash. Much of the movement was like this, seemingly harsh and abusive, like the dancers were trying to exorcise their experiences from their bodies.

The interaction between dancers was sometimes dehumanizing, and at other times surprisingly sensitive. During a lengthy section three dancers carted around the fourth dancer, undressing and dressing her as if she were a catatonic doll. They positioned her body like she was an abstract sculpture, and result was fascinating. The dancer became an object, yet because of the intimacy of the theater, the audience somehow also became more intensely aware of her as a flawed human.

My favorite part of the performance was a sort of action sequence, where the dancers took turns leaping into the air superhero style to be caught by the other dancers. This section served as a relief from the heavy assault of emotion laden content. It was likely my favorite part because it was the most “dancey” section. Actually, most of the performance was not so much dance, but a genre known as tanztheater, which is a combination of dance and dramatic elements concerned with the expression of experiences. Diana Szeinblum studied under one of the most well-known pioneers in this art form, German choreographer Pina Bausch.

Alaska was an experience. It was like the dancers, or interpreters as Diana Szeiblum calls them, immersed the audience in their exploration of unrevealed places. It was unlike anything that I have experienced, and I was glad that I went. This performance left a significant impression on me, because the movement was so resoundingly visceral and enthralling.

If you’re very opinionated about technology and the discussions surrounding it, you might want to look into taking the Speak Up 2009 survey.

Speak Up is a program that polls students, teachers, and parents about their views on technology, and specifically, what roles technology should play in education and in the classroom today. These issues are closely related to the “cell phones in class debate” going on at Nova right now. Speak Up is one of the few survey programs that bothers to ask the students’ opinions, so take advantage of that.

The survey for high school students (9th to 12th graders) is 34 questions long and asks questions about things such as your access to computers and the Internet, what sort of technology you typically use for schoolwork, and what you wish you had access to at school. Different surveys are available for teachers, parents, and administrators, and surveys are also available in Spanish.

To enter the survey, you need the school password, “nova” (all lowercase, case sensitive). If you’re interested in taking the Speak Up 2009 survey, follow the links at the bottom of this article!

The survey is open until December 18, 2009, after which a follow-up article will be coming to the Nova Knows technology section with a summary of our school’s results. Even if you don’t have reason to help the Speak Up organization, you can take the survey for fun, and to help paint a better portrait of where views on technology lay in the Nova community.

Take the survey here: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/
View a .pdf file of the questions here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_surveys.html

Nov. 5-8 and Nov. 12-15

Pacific Northwest Ballet presented a varied program of contemporary ballet, modern, and even musical theater with Director’s Choice at McCaw Hall. The choice of pieces presented was lacking, and failed to highlight the strengths of the PNB Company.

My favorite piece of the evening was Petite Mort, largely because of its amusing use of props and its seamless partnering sequences. In the beginning, the male dancers balanced and flipped fencing foils, while at times the female dancers peered out from behind stand alone dresses. The alternating use of lines and right angles made the choreography very strong. Perhaps my only criticism is that the billowing black fabric used for transitions seemed to stop the flow of the piece. The ending was an amusing and surprising treat, when the dresses whisked out to stand alone onstage.

The following piece, Mopey, from the repertory of the Artistic Director’s previous company, Peter Boal and Company, was a low point of the evening for me. I personally believe that only the world’s greatest dancers are entitled to solos lasting more than five minutes. This piece lasted far longer than five minutes, and I found my attention wandering accordingly. The soloist, Jonothan Porretta, entered wearing a black hoodie, in a manner resembling a knuckle-dragging ape to the contrasting sounds of a cello. His movements were eccentric, performed mostly facing away from the audience, and included a fair amount of twitching fingers and flopping hands. However, the frenzied movements and body percussion made far more sense when the music transitioned from a classical cello solo to the rock sounds of The Cramps. Despite Mr. Porretta’s strong physicality, I found the piece too disjointed and bizarre to appreciate it much.

West Side Story Suite, a small collection of dance numbers from the well-known musical theater adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”, was another poor choice on the part of the Artistic Director. The redeeming point of the suite was the all female number, “America”, in which the dancers sparkled and appeared to be having a blast. Unfortunately, the relatively easy choreography wasted the amazing technique and facility of the Company. The dancers executed the steps flawlessly, but the live chorus singing was muffled and unclear, likely because the PNB dancers are not highly trained singers. The dancers also looked distinctly uncomfortable and awkward during the ensemble singing, leading me to conclude that West Side Story Suite was a piece better left to those on Broadway.

The Director’s Choice performance failed to meet the high expectations that I set for PNB. Petite Mort was most definitely the highlight of the evening for me, followed by the beautiful recreation of The Seasons (not described in this article). Unfortunately, the absurd solo Mopey and the West Side Story Suite seemed a poor fit for the primarily neoclassical company. However, the good outweighed the bad in Director’s Choice, and I found it fairly worthwhile.

Links to Local Arts Websites

Dance

UW Dance Department Performances

UW Arts World Series

Cornish Dance Performances

Pacific Northwest Ballet Season

Theatre

Intiman Theatre

The Paramount and Moore Theatres

Seattle Repertory Theatre

Visual Arts

Frye Art Museum

Henry Art Gallery at UW

Seattle Art Museum

Music

Seattle Symphony

Seattle Opera

Other Performing Arts

Meany Hall

On the Boards

Seattle Center

Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival

At approximately 7:30p.m. on November 3rd, 2009, near the corner of 85th and Greenwood, Mr. Gyros is preparing to close, and one can observe any amount of people from young adults to thirty somethings pile into Neptune coffee house. Every Tuesday at this time they have one of the most glorious open mic nights I have ever been to and will definitely go to again. Anyone from and/or currently in the northern Seattle area has the chance to play music, sing poetry, or even possibly (though I haven’t seen it yet) do some stand up. This is one of the best ways to introduce the many unexposed and extraordinarily talented people in Seattle to the public. Having been there plenty of times before, I know that Neptune is a great place with an even greater atmosphere. The Neptune coffee house is home to many different types of artists. The moment you walk through the door of the Greenwood coffee shop you can instantaneously feel an artsy, comforting vibe. Ever changing paintings and photographs by local artists hang on the walls. Posters for concerts, festivals, and coffee, create an atmosphere that would be welcoming to many Nova artists and students alike. You get a range of sounds, from a young trio doing rock songs, to poetry and one woman a cappella, to an older woman showing off her freestyle tap dancing skills.Even a good friend of mine, and his band played three amazing songs. This past week there were more people and performers than there have been in any of the previous weeks. Regulars showed up, as well as newcomers, who are sure to soon become steady goers. In fact, some of the bands that played there made a deal with Neptune to perform a concert. This way their family, friends, and fans can go see them for a more unique experience. The barista who started it all opens and closes the performances. She jams out on her baritone ukulele with her morbidly depressing, yet some how amazingly hilarious songs, most involving a bad relationship. Plus, of the many talented who perform, many of them get free drinks, one of anything that they like. It is definitely something that I know everyone should experience. I know that I’ll be there next week and all the weeks thereafter, and damnit Nova I hope you will too.

Review on Battlestar: Galactica, the Board Game

Battlestar: Galactica the board game is a great adaption from the Galactica universe, having said that you do not need to be familiar with the show to enjoy this game.  I have a very limited knowledge of the series and after my first play-through I was hooked.  This game could have been easily made without the BSG theme and it still would have been fun.

The game has most of the players cooperating against the board and the cylon or cylons. The cylon players try to stop the humans from wining by making them run out of resources, invading the Battlestar or destroying it all together. The human players try to make Faster Than Light, “jumps” in order to reach their destination before any of the cylon objectives are completed.  At the beginning of the game a face down loyalty card is dealt to each player. The loyalty cards determine who will be a cylon and who will be a human. Half way through the game another round of loyalty cards are dealt out. This way you might not even have cylon player for the first half of the game. If you do become a cylon you still play like a human but secretly try and sabotage them. This makes a setting of paranoia that gives the game a great atmosphere.

BSG takes about half an hour to learn and about three hours to play. it supports three to six players although I would recommend having five or six for the best experience. Each player takes on the role of one the characters from the series. Each character has the roll of either pilot, political leader, military leader, or support.  Each player will also have a unique ability that he can use multiple times, an ability that he can use once per game and a weakness. This provides lots of variety and a new experience every time you play.  Pilots fly around the outside the Galactica and shoot at enemy ships, military leaders try and destroy ships from inside the Battlestar, political leaders try and regain resources that have been lost and expose the hidden cylons.

The board is laid out well with a top view of Galactica, in the center surrounded by the different parts of space. On the top of the board are the resource trackers the FTL jump track, and Colonial One. Each location has a certain action that you can perform while there to help the humans in their struggles.

There are elements of luck in the form of die roles and certain cards but they help provide a balance and a sense of suspense and impending doom. The co-op mechanic works very well and most of the characters work well together if you use the right strategies. This is certainly complex and it might take awhile to fully get the hang of it but the rules are easy to learn and turns flow well and don’t take very long.

This game is pretty hard to win for the humans but it’s not impossible. As long as you find the secret cylon quick and work together you stand a very good chance at succeeding. This game provides hours of fun and is great if you have an afternoon or evening to spend. Be sure to work together though, because if you don’t, it’s frakking impossible.

five raptors out of five.
Carter “picarter” Allen
Gaming and entertainment.

I have a quick this-or-that question for you. Would you rather have your Internet usage regulated by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), or the Federal Communications Commission? Okay, allow me to elaborate. Would you rather your ISP have the power to block sites, determining what networks or sites you can or can’t use? Or would you prefer the FCC have the power to legislate over the Internet?

This is the debate (or one of them, anyway) that is currently dividing Congress, as well as many Internet users–and even companies. John Lilly, the CEO of Mozilla, voiced support for the proposed “net neutrality” rules in a recent editorial for the Wall Street Journal (footnote 1). Sites such as SaveTheInternet.com have sprung up in recent weeks, some, including the above, collecting digital signatures for a petition to send to Congress in favor of net neutrality. In the meantime, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (of Tennessee) is presenting a House bill that would prevent the FCC from making any regulations regarding Internet services, arguing that allowing FCC to be imposed over the Internet will lead to the same regulatory level of censorship that is present in TV and radio (footnote 2).

Most of Nova is familiar with what a “non-neutral” Internet looks like. Anyone who uses a school computer (as this reporter is doing while writing this article) has probably experienced the frustration of the site you want to access being blocked. Now, at Nova, this is the filtering imposed by the Seattle Public Schools district. This may be an editorial comment, but I think most people can agree that students at a public school probably shouldn’t have access to all content of the Internet on a computer for school use. (There are some sick weirdos out there, you know.)

But imagine your personal Internet connection, at home, having “filtering,” or access blocked to certain sites. Imagine if AT&T, AOL, Comcast, or whatever ISP you use, had the power to block you from accessing sites of competing companies, or legal but generally frowned upon clients such as BitTorrent. Legally speaking, an ISP could do that right now (footnote 3). But is legislating that they can’t block access a protection of free Internet usage, or is it an imposition on the business rights of the ISPs?

I must jump in here and say that it isn’t really my job as a journalist to tell you which is right. The issue is pretty significant, though, to all frequent users of the Internet, which is most high school students today.

How does the Nova community feel about net neutrality? And, while we’re at it, the increased filtering that has been put upon our school computers this year? (Okay, that’s probably a different article.) I’d really like to start a serious debate in our Nova Knows comments section, so if you have your own thoughts on net neutrality and how much power ISPs or the FCC should have over your personal Internet usage, take a minute to leave a comment on this article!

Footnotes (sources cited):

1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355059,00.asp

2. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354611,00.asp

3. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354611,00.asp

In our world here at Nova, we’ve grown comfortable with the idea of self discipline. We have been allowed the freedom at school to make our own choices in so many facets of our daily lives, one of those choices being how we use our cell phones. This topic has become a point of conflict with the teaching staff. We have never been a school where the practice of confiscation of personal belongings has been instituted, but now that students have brought socializing into the classroom in a way that is proven to detract from their learning, teachers have requested an adjustment. At what point is it okay to be lead by a minority like this? While our teachers have an undeniable case for change, is it their right to enact it?

In the most recent meeting of day to day committee, our principal opened the discussion to bring an end to this cell phone use. Mark Perry  has suggested that the topic initially be broached in coor, with a culminating all-school vote on the subject looming. Chances are good by the tone of Mark’s argument and the general agreement by at least the teaching staff present at the meeting, that privileges as they are now will not be an option. Teachers present claimed they’ve often taken the interruption of cell phones in their classes to be a disrespectful slap in the face, and there was total agreement that they are always a distraction.

Joe Szwaja commented that, “I don’t take it as a sign of disrespect, but when you’re multitasking with your phone and your work, I don’t believe you’re producing at the same quality you could be otherwise.”  There is certainly plenty of evidence to back up Joe’s theory. In fact, such topics have been the cover article of Time magazine (see the online article), and the consensus opinion is that multitasking produces mediocrity.

Students at the meeting, were not willing to simply accept the validity of these concerns at face value. Isobel Bradbury proclaimed that “I use my cell phone in class, and I don’t think its ever been a big deal.” She however went on to say that, “while I can think of a bunch of reasons I need texting for myself, I don’t see a good reason for the school as a whole.” Personal reasons have been cited in the past as an invalid argument when advocating change in Nova’s policies.

Mark’s goal is that we can get behind the idea of turning our cell phones off before every class. This strong stance was not well received, but a chord of compromise was struck with some students. “I leave my phone on vibrate when I’m in class,”  shared Shaniquequa Eakin, “It isn’t a distraction, and I can be discrete about it.”  This option, and adopting a policy of setting phones to the “all sounds off” setting were sacrifices students seemed willing to make.

This issue is deeply controversial and represents a monumental step in changing the lifestyle of the 21st century student. the deteriorating attention spans of a generation are the result of this multimedia multitasking, but with each personal freedom our school takes away, we become more and more like the authoritarian mainstream education institutions we avoided by coming here. In the end, our school is still a democracy, and you the students will have the final say as to how this topic is resolved.