I forgot my post too

My performance piece was about a musical number played by five brass-instrument players called the Presidio Brass. They played the piece Night On Bald Mountain, from Fantasia. It's a great performance, and the only difficulty I had in this piece was trying to figure out how I was going to make the sequence of the song flow evenly. I think ended it a little abruptly, but I did not want to overdo the piece.

I forgot too!

I wrote my performance piece on my friend working out at the gym. She is very serious about her health and has her own personal routines and styles that she does to get the best outcome. I don't really know much about ways to exercise to get a certain look so I was interested in hearing from her. I wanted advice as well as know more about what she does and why she does it when she works out.

Whoops, forgot to post last night!

By Cathy Caudill

My performance story is going to be on one particular actor in the NC Shakespeare Festival's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had originally planned to write about a person eating alone (that is, I wanted to write about one of those people who does not merely eat alone, but keeps themselves busy with texting, reading, and/or browsing the internet in an attempt to make themselves look occupied; therefore, trying to not appear to be a loner in a cafeteria filled with people). However, my venture to the cafeteria did not offer up any good candidates, and I never found the time to make a second trip down there. 

But then I decided that I would very much like to write about the fellow who portrayed Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. His performance was enchanting, for he was not simply an actor: he was a professional Cirque du Soleil performer. The mysticism of the curious fairies in the play was heightened by the marvelous acrobatics of Puck, as he climbed and tumbled, swung across the stage and did flips. He would mischievously play pranks on the characters as he dangled by his legs on the many streamers that were hung around the stage for his performance. If the fairy king Oberon called out for him, he would look up to find Puck standing on his shoulders. There is much more to be said on this, but I will save it for my feature. (I would still like to write about the person eating alone. If I find anyone who intrigues me this afternoon, I may still use that story, but if I get no results, I will write about Puck.)

Meanwhile, I have been giving my Death story some thought. I have come up with a few ideas, but the one thing that still has me worried about the whole thing is that I will have to contact a person I don't know for an interview. Removing myself from my comfort zone is going to the most important thing I'm going to learn from this feature.

Live Performance

Last weekend I took a trip to Florida for my best friend's wedding (I was maid of honor!) and it was such a great time. I left from the Greensboro airport Thursday morning and returned to HPU Sunday night. During my flight home I became anxious and couldn't find anything to do while I was on the plane. After all, I had already read two magazines and everything in the seat pocket in front of me. I didn't bring any of my homework with me because I had no extra room to carry books along, considering it costs an extra $20 to check luggage these days.

So, I wondered if there was any homework I could do without a computer or a textbook and then Feature Writing popped in my head. That's it! I could work on our assignment to observe a live performance and it turned out to work perfectly. I began taking notes from the moment I got on the plane to the moment I got off. I had a connecting flight from Charlotte to Greensboro which ended up working in my favor. I didn't have to switch planes, the one I was on was the same one that was heading to Greensboro. What are the odds that the one time I'm closely observing a flight attendant, I end up getting a peek behind the scenes. I was able to get even more description for my article since I got to see what happens once all the passengers emptied the plane. Many of us only share a limited amount of time with flight attendants-- from departure to arrival. But, I got the inside scoop. :)

Performance piece

For my performance piece, I observed my friend Caroline while she was getting dressed for a dinner. I thought that it was cool observing her and I want to make sure that I add a lot of detail to the piece. The way I plan on making sure I have a lot of detail in the piece is write the piece how I would normally write it. Next, I plan on reviewing it and any place where I can add description, I will add it. I think it is going to be easier to discover where details can be added if I re-read the piece and then add it. I hope that makes sense!

I have really enjoyed observing my performer this weekend. I chose a lady that works in the bakery almost every day. She always seems to know exactly what she is doing, unlike some of the other employees. I have a lot of details on what she does and how she does it etc. but I am not sure where to with it. I think I am going to turn it into a review of the bakery employees, so highlight this particular one. Does that work?

blog this week: performance writing troubles

Even though this story should be fun-to observe a person performing for an audience- I have found it difficult. It is difficult because I am finding it hard to describe the scene without being overly decriptive or corny. I am also finding it hard to decide upon the angle that I want to take my story. Do I want to have more description and less background details about the performer's life or do I want to have a balance of both??? All of these issues have me staring at my blank computer and my notes wondering how to even begin.