Buda Baby: Theatre and the Arts

The Szív Studios Student Exhibit - A Photo Essay

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:25:27 GMT

Thursday November 8: opening night of the Szív Studios student exhibit at Pótkulcs. As usual, Zoli and I were late and the celebratory pezsgő (Hungarian sparkling wine) was all gone. Nonetheless, the bar was packed and the joint was jumpin'. There was not a single open seat in the whole place. Paula and Leah, instructors and co-founders at Szív, put a lot of effort into promoting the event and it was terrific to see this pay off. I must say they also really cracked the whip, encouraging all the students and getting us to submit our work. Hats off, ladies!

Armed with kékfrankos (me) dark Staropramen beer (Zoli), we mingled with some of our new pals and made our way around the place, checking out everyone's pieces. Though we were there for the hanging, it was a little different to see everything now that the place was so busy.

Some shots of the art:

Nudes

Paintings

More paintings, and a feel for what Pótkulcs is like

Painting of an orchid

More nudes

My mother wants to see what I submitted, so please indulge a bit of shameless self-promotion below. It was hard to decide what to submit, and everyone I asked had a different opinion.

Some liked this nude; this was the first time that I was pleased with how I drew a stomach:

Some liked this one; this was the first time that I was pleased with how I drew a pair of breasts:

And some liked this one, which I drew while listening to some of Paula's trance-inducing drum music and got a little carried away with zig-zagging:

In the end though I chose the one below, because I felt the most emotional connection to it. I can't define what the connection is, but there is just a feeling I have about this one that I don't have for the others:

Sleeping Nanci

And here we have me with my drawing:

Last but not least, here I am with Leah and Paula, the wonderful women who made the whole event happen:

Thanks, Zoli, for all the photos!

Technorati tags: Szív Studios, student exhibit, Pótkulcs, art

When worlds collide

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:20:01 GMT

In a lot of ways, I live in a bubble here. I work from home, I watch Northern Exposure reruns at night, I keep in touch with all the goings on back in the States via Facebook, sfgate, craigslist, and email, IM, & Skype. Apart from family get-togethers, I'm not exactly immersed in Hungarian culture.

Still, it's not like being in the US either. Whenever I leave the apartment, it's a whole different world out there, and while I've gotten used to and understand a lot of things, there are definitely many things that still throw me for a loop. It's clear I'm not in Kansas anymore, so to speak.

A few things converged on me today though that brought North America to Budapest. I brought the first thing upon myself: chocolate chip cookies. I've been craving them for about a month, but chocolate chips aren't easy to come by here. I know of a "gourmet" store that sells them, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to get there, plus they are expensive. I finally caved into my craving by choosing expensive-but-convenient bars of 85% bittersweet chocolate, which I chopped up into chunks and baked into fabulous, crispy cookies this afternoon. I even packed a few up as Halloween treats for some friends. (Speaking of which, Halloween is sooo not a big deal here. I think I've seen a total of four jack o' lanterns. No trick or treating. Handful of parties. Ho hum.)

Ok, second thing: Cirque du Soleil (CdS) was in town yesterday and today with its new show, Delirium. I had thought about going when I first heard about it, but then my brain filled up with other things and I forgot all about getting tickets. Luckily my friend Cindy emailed me early this afternoon to see if I wanted to try to get tickets for tonight's show. Supposedly the show was sold out, so we decided to try our luck with scalpers. As it turned out, we didn't have to; the box office had held some tickets back and we could buy some at the door. This was my first CdS experience, so I don't know how it compares to other shows by the troupe. This particular show was something of a cross between a rock concert, a music video, and an acrobatic spectacle, in some crazy 3D, multimedia glory.

Before I talk a bit more about the show, I want to tell you about the third collision of worlds: the hot dog stand. I haven't seen a hot dog stand in I don't know how long, probably since last December when I was in New York. They've essentially dropped out of my consciousness; I'd forgotten that they even exist. Anyway, Cindy and I took the metro out to the arena where CdS was playing, and coming up from the stairs I was shocked to see a huge umbrella made of both American (Union) and Confederate flags. This made me laugh; what the heck was such an umbrella doing in a such a part of town (e.g., not an expat 'hood)? Why, it was part of the "American Hot Dog" stand, of course! The stand sold three versions: plain, with-the-works, and large. Smelled pretty good, I must say! By the way, the Hungarian menu literally used the word for dog, kutya, which kind of freaked me out. You could get a nagy kutya, a big dog, to eat. Yikes!

Ok, so back to the show. This is not meant to be a review, as my theatre-writing career began and ended my first semester of university (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat rocked the house at BGSU in 1991; I sewed part of the dreamcoat AND wrote a review of the show. My mom is probably falling off her rocker, knowing as she does my [lack of] sewing skills.). EN-EE-WAY, watching this show felt so North American (gotta say it that way, as CdS is Canadian). I've been to a handful of shows here; all have been very good, but the experience is completely different from home. The costumes, the sets, the etiquette, everything -- it's all different. Cirque du Soleil was in English, first of all, with no subtitles. When they thanked the audience, they thanked us in English. The set was ginormous, and everything from the lights to the sound to each hair on each head of each performer was perfectly placed and choreographed. It was really spectacular, and BIG. Very grand, very over the top. It reminded me of seeing a Broadway blockbuster, except I was in a sports arena instead of a theatre. Combined with the number of Anglophones in the audience, I nearly forgot I was in Budapest for a couple of hours.

Wonder what my next cultural mashup will be...

Technorati tags: Cirque du Soleil, Budapest, culture

Figure Drawing

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:36:07 GMT

I started a figure drawing class with Melinda last night at Szív Studios (Szív is a street in Budapest). In a word, my work was atrocious, but it was good fun to really exercise that part of my brain for two and a half hours. This is my first time trying figure drawing and the first time I've taken any kind of art class since high school, so I am not expecting much! But, it is a way to meet some people, spend time with a friend, and work on something creative.

The class itself was very good. The instructor took us through a variety of exercises to help us learn how to measure and draw proportionately, how to look for and draw angles, how to use negative space, etc. The idea is that you will never draw a figure in the same way; you need different tools in your artist's mental toolbox to capture a figure depending on his/her pose, angle toward you, and so on. My favorite parts of the class were the warm-up exercises at the beginning and working on angles. For the warm-up, the model would pose in a different way for three minutes, two minutes, one and a half minutes, one minute, and thirty seconds. We were supposed to draw the three main curves, and then fill in smaller and smaller curves as time permitted, trying to capture the energy and essence of the pose.

Here is one of my more successful attempts at this exercise, drawn in two minutes:

I actually liked my first attempt the best (three minutes), but I wasn't doing the exercise correctly. Rather than drawing the main curves, I was outlining the figure:

I understood the proportion and measuring exercises, but I got so confused by the ratios that those weren't very successful. The angle exercises were better. First we drew the main angles in the figure, and then filled in the others around the figure. This was my best one:

Other exercises included looking at five points in the figure and connecting them with angles, and drawing angles around the figure as though connected by an elastic band. The more complicated the exercise, the worse I did.

We did have some drama in the evening. The model fainted early in the evening (she was shaken, but OK), and I certainly felt more concerned by that than about my drawings. Apparently this can happen if you stand still for long periods, but I have yet to see one of those dudes who pretend to be statues for money pass out. If only!

Press about Szív Studios (all in Funzine):

Palace of Arts

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:47:37 GMT

I didn't post a follow up regarding Steel, the dance performance we saw on Valentine's Day. We both enjoyed it, though not as much as One Thousand and One Years. If I hadn't read reviews prior to the show, I don't know that I would have understood the theme/plot of the history of humankind and metal. This seemed loosely developed, though the set, costumes, and dance were all entrancing, and I even recognized some of the performers from Roman Sandor's other piece.

What I really want to comment on is the Palace of the Arts, where we saw the performance. The building was opened in 2005 and is essentially an Arts multiplex containing a theatre, a concert hall, and a museum. Performances focus on music and dance. The complex itself is immense, and while nothing particularly special on the outside, features some beautiful contemporary design on the inside. I told Zoli that I think it puts the Kennedy Center in DC to shame.

The concert hall features Europe's largest pipe organ, which took 13 months to build.

I look forward to future events there!

PS - I've recovered from the gym trauma the other day, and tried a new fitness center today. Also have successfully "de-czecho'ed" (e.g. had my eyebrows cleaned up). Levendula was lovely but waaayyyy to expensive.

Steel - The Legend of Metal

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 09:31:39 GMT

Boldog Valentin napot!

In celebration of Valentine's Day (an amazingly easy day to get theatre tickets, it seems), we are going to see my favorite dance ensemble's new show, Steel - The Legend of Metal. This show is a joint production of ExperiDance and the Teatro Comunale di Bolzano.

ExperiDance fuses Hungarian folk dance with contemporary choreography -- a weird concept, I know, but it works amazingly well. The dance is fast-paced and exciting to watch, and sound, music, and lighting are as much performers in the show as are the dancers themselves. We saw one of their other productions a little more than a year ago, A Thousand and One Years, which illustrated the history of Hungary told as a story of good and evil. Steel uses this theme as well, telling the history of humankind and the use of metal along the way. From what I've read, this is the tale of Evil, with metal being one of its games on people. The production spans ancient times to the present.

Here is a link to some of the show's reviews.