Final Reflections:

Classical Asian Theaters was a wonderful experience for me.  As I said in class, I feel that the truly great part of the class was its ability to open our minds to what else is out there.  We talked on the first day of class about what "Oriental" means and we have spent the whole semester both discovering the truth behind the term and what aspects of it are a misconception.  But that's the big picture.

1) When we began talking about the Ramayana I began to understand what it really meant to say "oral tradition."  I find it very interesting that we spoke about how we will take the information and then pass it on.  At the time I thought that I would have trouble remembering enough to be able to pass it on but now I think I understand.  I still remember at least the important aspects and I think I heard enough at least to pass on the tradition.

2) I really enjoyed learning about the Mahabhrata as well.  I of course had a little bit of a culture shock with it but as we continued to learn about it I understood more.  I found the video that we watched to be unintentionally hilarious but I felt that it was very effective.  I did thoroughly enjoy learning about it also just purely as it is the foundation of Hinduism.

3) I will always remember the day that we discussed death and I shared about the death in my family.  I feel that that experience was unique to any other college class that I have had.  I will remember when Francis told me that Filipinos don't hide their mourning and that made a very big impact on me.

4) When we were discussing how we would be graded for our presentations.  I still wish that we had been able to grade each other as I felt that it was beneficial in Sexy/Racy and I think that the responsibility for the students would have been good but I guess it worked out.  In the end though it was interesting how it worked out that anyway we were graded entirely by two kings.

5) I love the masks in Chinese Opera.  Specifically the changing silk ones.  How do they do it?? I sort of need to know.

6) Preparing and performing our midterm performances was also excellent.  I really enjoyed working with Elizabeth and working with Abhay for the first time in three years was great.  I was very proud of what we came up with and I had a lot of fun just working out the dance part of it.  Getting that bow movement was very difficult for me.

7) I got such a kick out of Dr. Palmer's lectures on the various types of puppetry.  When we were watching the water puppets I really began to think about how amazing it was that I never would have thought about that type of style as even a possibility.  That idea in general did of course become the most important element part of the course for me.  What I have added to my repertoire I think I will find incredibly valuable.

8) I definitely enjoyed the Japanese theater that we did but I felt that I did not know the material as well as I would have liked, or even as well as I knew the Indonesian material.  But learning about it was really extremely beneficial for me especially when it came time to apply it to Disappearance.\

9) MakingDisappearance was by far one of the best experiences I have ever done here.  I'm thrilled to have done the double design that I did and I am extremely proud of the work that I did.  I am also extremely proud of the work that the Disappearance team was able to pull off.  I felt like we were sort of underdogs in a way and regardless of what The Flat Hat had to say, and I feel that the rest of the campus community agreed with us.

10) Something that I have always felt about classes with Francis is the sense of community within the class.  This is a class that I will miss that I will be able to take a lot away from and remember fondly.  Much like what Sexy/Racy did, Classic Asian Theaters pulled out my best work and I feel very proud writing this post.

Thank you Francis and Doctor Palmer!