Our last day in Prague--like the others we've spent here--was so awesome. We started out at the National Gallery (because the National Historical Musical Instrument Museum was closed). Though this trip has already shown me that I like art museums way more than I expected, I was still surprised at just how much I enjoyed the Gallery. My favorite part was the Asian exhibit, which featured artifacts from as early as a couple hundred years B.C.E. (before common era)--so, some crazy old stuff. Of course, I loved the really old stuff because history fascinates me, but what I really wanted to see was stuff like this:
A DRAGON on a vase!
Person reading this, you have no idea how much I love dragons. They are 100% my favorite creature ever, so finding this was a big deal for me. (I also found a plate with a dragon on it). I hoped I'd find some ancient dragons in this exhibit, and I was not disappointed in the least. I also appreciated these a little too much for my own good:
Awesome Asian art from the National Gallery... #heavymetal4life
(photos by Leah Mellmer)
I grinned from ear to ear seeing the statue making the heavy metal "devil horns." I feel you statue, rock music is awesome. The flaming mandolin player on the right also evokes a heavy metal motif--it looks like he's playing an epic guitar solo... Okay, joking aside, I really loved the detail in these pieces (and others), and I think it's good to take something amusing out of an art piece even if it's totally not meant to be interpreted that way--as long as one isn't obnoxious about it y'know. Art is meant to be enjoyed after all. These pieces made me happy after a rough night (our hostel neighbors are... rather horrendously loud), so I figured they deserved a place here.
After a bit of shopping and resting, we went on a river sightseeing trip. This was particularly nice after trekking mostly on foot all over Prague. Now we could see all the pretty buildings without abusing our feet! And after being busy for the past few days, it was good to do something more laid back. (We also saw a ton of birds including swans and bonded over some good ol' Dungeons and Dragons).
Charles Bridge from the river
To finish off the night, we got to experience some traditional Czech food and some traditional Czech (and surrounding areas) dance and music. The music was lively, and the dancing was engaging, but I have to admit I panicked a little when the dancers started pulling people from the audience to come dance along with them. As a shy individual, that is not something I enjoy... but thankfully I didn't get picked to participate so (aside from some minor hyperventilation) I had fun watching some of my classmates dance. I much preferred the violin solo--how the heck could the violinist move his fingers so fast?! And he even managed to make actual bird sounds with his violin! That was definitely my favorite part of the dinner. A close second was seeing the waiter serve wine with this lovely contraption:
Incredible wine dispensing invention at the Czech Folklore Dance & Dinner show
Overall, this particular show was exciting and fun, but it proved a little too stimulating for me--partly because of the audience participation factor and because it went on a while past I expected. (Long past when we were done eating). Katie made a great comment afterward that I definitely agree with: the performers probably should have "read their audience" and wrapped things up when we stopped being engaged. I've never thought about this before, but I guess in more intimate situations like this with only a few audience members, it's not just the audience mindlessly watching the performance. There's kind of a relationship there, with the audience and performers both feeding off each other. I've heard the expression "write for your audience" before (in both English and Science writing, meaning you should tailor your style to the people reading your work... ie don't use a bunch of scientific jargon if you're writing for non-scientists. Conversely, jargon is good when writing for other scientists because precise language is important in this context.). I guess it's applicable to performance too... for best results, you should "perform for your audience"... at least when your show is interactive and the audience is small.
No comments:
Post a Comment