I promise that the next time we post it will be Jeff's writings not mine!
On to the content. (Please note... boring photo right now, will be replaced at the end of the week with a MUCH better one... But Richard is wearing the Nanta hat....)
This past Saturday we went to see Nanta. Nanta is Korea's longest running performance show - it is a non-verbal performance, this means that we didn't need to worry about not understanding what was happening. It was started in 1997 and has been quite successful both in Korea and in 135 cities worldwide. The Tour2Korea website describes the show:
NANTA storms into a huge kitchen where four capricious cooks are preparing a wedding banquet. While cooking, they turn all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles, brooms and even each other- into percussion instruments.
I was quite excited to see this show as I love percussion shows, the drum beats pulse in my body - I wish I could drum - but I digress.... Richard, Kelly, Sara, Vanessa, Dan, Becky, Jeff, and I headed to the Nanta theatre for a Saturday matinee show. The theatre was small (but cosy) and the audience was quite mixed - both Koreans and foreigners. At two points during the show the chefs required audience members to join them on stage. Lucky for us both Dan and Richard made their way to the stage to be made fools of - but it was all good fun!
Although I enjoyed Nanta I was a bit disappointed. I saw the Blue Man Group when I was in Boston a couple of years ago. I LOVED the Blue Man Group and was expecting Nanta to be of similar quality. I wanted more percussion, more drumming... it was just too tame for me.
Today I went to see B-Boy Korea with my school. I wasn't supposed to go, but I asked, and it turned out we could go (for free) as chaperones for my grade 6s. The grade 6s thought it was quite funny to see me outside of school with them on a trip. When I walked down to my seat some of them reached out an touched me like I was a rock star or something... quite odd!
B-Boy Korea is another non-verbal performance, but this time there was break dancing instead of cooking. The show (had a lame) plot - essentially two rival groups battle it out in a dance-off. I was really looking forward to this show too. Up until the last half hour the show was kind of slow. The drumming was awesome (I want to find a place to take lessons...) but the dancing was kind of.. well, not great - amature. During the last half hour (or less?) the boys (there were about 8 of them) pulled out all the stops and really danced, but up until then they were not wonderful. I must say that perhaps they were saving their energy until last bit of the show but I was a bit disappointed....
Jeff just asked if I was writing a novel... so I'll sign off here. All in all, the performances were interesting, but I guess I'm a bit of a snob. I like lots of energy all the way through the shows I see. We're thinking of seeing The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde) next, we'll see how that goes.
K, I'm off.
~Jen
P.S. The other 3 teachers all had their "v"s up then bailed at the last moment so I'm the one looking like a dork... geeze!
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