How do you say "break a leg" in Armenian?
There are some definite perks to spending your life backstage. One of them is being in the midst of absolutely everything. Tonight, Follies rehearsal was in full swing on the theater stage, and Shoghaken was warming up and getting dressed in the green room. Let me tell you, If you've never heard someone tap dance to a duduk (rather... tap dance and duduk at the same time...independently of one another)... you haven't lived. I don't think you could have picked two more opposing styles of music. So, while Tom Wopat belted out broadway tunes, us theater committee members ushered the Shoghaken Ensemble to and from the Great Hall.
In the midst of intermission, I got to talking with the lead female singer of the Shoghaken ensemble. She told me that the gold triangle pattern repeated on the costumes worn for the first half of the performance represented Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat, as it turns out, has all kinds of symbolic importance to Armenians. She described that when one looks out their kitchen window, and sees Mount Ararat, they truly feel at home. The kicker now is that Mount Ararat sits on Turkish soil, so the mountain takes on a whole new level of cultural importance. The lead singer (regrettably, I didn't catch her name) then mentioned that Mount Ararat is the alleged locale of Noah finally reaching landfall with his ark. Pretty cool, eh? She also (perhaps in an effort to connect with her college student audience) mentioned that Ararat is a popular brand of brandy from Armenia.
On a totally unrelated note, I must also mention here that in the process of doing this whole theater committee thing, you spend quite a bit of time plastering the greater campus area with posters of upcoming groups. That said, Shoghaken wins the prize of most true-to-life press pictures.
- courtney
In the midst of intermission, I got to talking with the lead female singer of the Shoghaken ensemble. She told me that the gold triangle pattern repeated on the costumes worn for the first half of the performance represented Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat, as it turns out, has all kinds of symbolic importance to Armenians. She described that when one looks out their kitchen window, and sees Mount Ararat, they truly feel at home. The kicker now is that Mount Ararat sits on Turkish soil, so the mountain takes on a whole new level of cultural importance. The lead singer (regrettably, I didn't catch her name) then mentioned that Mount Ararat is the alleged locale of Noah finally reaching landfall with his ark. Pretty cool, eh? She also (perhaps in an effort to connect with her college student audience) mentioned that Ararat is a popular brand of brandy from Armenia.
On a totally unrelated note, I must also mention here that in the process of doing this whole theater committee thing, you spend quite a bit of time plastering the greater campus area with posters of upcoming groups. That said, Shoghaken wins the prize of most true-to-life press pictures.
- courtney
