Going into the weekend, I had no idea what to expect from the musical Chicago. I had never seen the movie, or anything related to the musical. I had however been to the city of Chicago, although it turns out, that wasn’t very useful information preluding the musical. I went into the theatre not having any clue, and I returned actually learning quite a bit. The things I learned from this experience are not solely related to the musical. I learned that musicals, and not understanding the arts very well, is a great way to bond with people.
You can basically bond with someone over anything, granted after that experience you might not talk to them again, but it creates the opportunity for friendship. The arts in general create strong relationships between all sorts of people. This became apparent to me during the middle of Chicago, when Amos finished his performance of Mr. Cellophane. A large section of the audience stood up and cheered louder than rest of the theatre. I deduced from their loud cheering that those were his friends, or people that really cared about him.
His friends, however not in the actual performance obviously bonded with him in some way that led to their attendance of his performance. Another thing! took away from this experience is that going outside your comfort zone isn’t the worst thing. It was a Sunday afternoon, a time I would normally be watching a football game or just lounging around, but the musical made me do something new. Although, maybe not my first choice of events, it was still something new. From that experience I now know more about the arts, and where they are located.
Everything has value in life, certain things however are valued more than others, based upon a personal opinion. Some people view money as the most valuable thing, and others would say love. Everything is valuable to society as a whole, and arts is a major part of that as well. I grew up in a community where the arts were very popular and heavily funded. Although, I was more of an athletic sporting event type of girl, the prominence of arts in my community helped me appreciate its worth. The arts are simply another way for people to express themselves, in a way that fits them.
The value of the arts is tremendous in society, because it provides an area of great beauty and entertainment to the world. Think about it, if we didn’t have the arts, there would be no murals, no sculptures, no plays, and no movies. The last one is what would make me the saddest, but arts creates a beauty that math and science can’t. On a smaller scale, the arts a UWL provides beauty and entertainment within its own little community. It’s unbelievably valuable to UWL because it provides a successful environment for students interested to learn and flourish in this areas.
It also for students and the La Crosse community a place to learn about the many forms of art, as well as a place for people to dabble in each area before becoming committed to it. As I mentioned before, I was never the type of person to tryout for the lead in the school play or be a soloist in the school choir. You could find me on a sport court on the completely other end of my high school. However, that didn’t mean I didn’t appreciate them or secretly wish to take part in it. I tried out for a school play in middle school, was in our schools choir and participated in many other art forms until I figured out sports were more my thing.
Before I figured that out, however, I had been exposed to musical instruments for quite awhile. Starting at age 5 I began to play the violin, I was in love with it until around the age of 15. That’s when I started playing the flute. Playing a musical instrument would probably one of the only ways in which I would actively participate within the arts program of UWL. However, I do plan on going to musicals, plays, concerts, and other performances put on by the arts department.
I thoroughly enjoying watching all of these ifferent forms of art, I, however, don’t have the personality in which allows me to comfortably partake in them Two things that I will do this week that will take me “out of my norm” are volunteering at the child care center and playing intermural volleyball with people I hardly know. I know these are really little things, but volunteering at the child care center on campus is going to be completely new for me. I love being around kids and playing with them, but in a new setting and with children I don’t know is going to be unusual for me.
Playing volleyball with new people is going to be a similar situation. All of my life I’ve been playing volleyball with the same group of girls, and I know their patterns and habits down to a T. It’s also going to be a new type of volleyball, co-ed intermural. No longer am I just playing with girls, its different type of competition and level that I am going to have to adjust to on the fly. Over all those are the two things that I think are going to bring me the most out of my comfort zone and are going to help me experience new things.
