Volunteers Needed this Saturday!

Hey guys,

Want to hang out at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday and talk up High 5? I need four good people to come and help me work the High 5 table at the 2nd Annual Urban Word/ NY Knicks College Fair and Open Audition.

The event is from 10 - 4, so I need at least two people to help from 10am - 1pm and two people for 1pm - 4pm.

This is great volunteer experience to put on your resume. AND, really, how many times does a volunteer opportunity involve scholarship money, a talent show, an awesome organization like High 5, the New York Knicks and access to college info??? Exactly.

Here's the press release:

2nd Annual Urban Word/NY Knicks College Fair and Open Audition

This year’s college fair will present over 50 colleges, universities and community organizations, ranging from CUNY and SUNY schools to historically black colleges. Join Urban Word NYC and the NY Knicks for a day of FREE college resources, live entertainment and a chance to win over $100,000 in scholarship money. Come to watch, or come to spit-- the open audition is the first step in the Knicks Poetry Slam series that offers scholarships, workshops, prizes and performance opportunities. All teen poets, emcees, singers and spoken word artists are encouraged to come perform a one-minute poem/rap/song for a chance to compete in the slam! Please come early, and visit www.knickspoetryslam.com or www.urbanwordnyc.org for all contest guidelines.

FREE COLLEGE FAIR & $100,000 in scholarships!!

SAT. NOV. 3rd 10AM – 5PM
Hammerstein Ballroom
311 W. 34th St. btw 8 & 9 Ave

Email me if you want to help out. Those who volunter may also get an opportunity to see another surprise show - even better than Mamma Mia.....click here.

~eric

MAMMA MIA—Update!

The emails swarmed in over the weekend and all the names were dropped in High 5's very own Sorting Hat (actually a battered Mets cap that is decidedly un-magical) and Farasha "YaYa" Baylock and Nino Rekhviashvili are our happy winners!

YaYa with the golden tickets...
(We missed Nino - how could we not get a shot of Nino?!)

Congrats to YaYa and Nino and better luck next time to everyone else!

~colin

Who Wants to See MAMMA MIA?

Do you like Sweden? Or, more directly, 70's-era pop bands from Sweden? Or even more specific, a jukebox musical based on a 70's-era pop band from Sweden?

If so, then 1.) you're VERY particular and 2.) I've got a deal for you!

Thanks to the generosity of a High 5 patron, we've managed to secure 4 orchestra seats to the Wednesday, Oct. 24th, 8:00 p.m. performance of MAMMA MIA and we're offering them to you, our wonderful TRaCites (TRaCaphones? TRaCiens? TRaCenstanis? What do you people call yourselves?).

Of course, there are only four tickets and so many of you, thus we're raffling off 2 sets of 2 tickets on Monday, Oct. 22nd. To be entered into the raffle, all you have to do is email me (cpd@high5tix.org) your name and contact info (meaning, email and phone) and that's it! We'll contact the winners on Monday with the happy news and rest of you...well, will have to be content with the below Youtube clips.

One important note: These are actual physical tickets and you have to be able to pick them up from High 5 World HQ by Wednesday, Oct. 24th by 5:00 p.m.. If you can't pick them up, then please don't enter.

That being said, email me (again:cpd@high5tix.org) your info and happy hunting!

This is what music videos used to look like. What dark days those were.



Mamma Mia at the Tonys:



~Colin

TRaC meets Jan Švankmajer's shorts

If you missed the TRaC Meet last Thursday (or if you made it!), here's a chance to take a look at a few of the Czech filmaker Jan Švankmajer short films we watched.

The first two YouTube videos I've posted are Dimensions of a Dialogue, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (1982):

this one is poor quality, but it's all I could find...


this is two-shorts-in-one - the 2nd and 3rd part of Dimensions of a Dialogue:


and everyone's favorite, Meat Love (1988):


Now those are different, eh?

We talked about what these experimental shorts are saying about communication. What happens when it breaks down? What happens when two sides say the same thing? (toothpaste is grinded by a pencil sharpener on a tongue, of course!) Even, what are the different meanings of the word 'communication'? The first two pieces are called "dimensions of a dialouge" so we are invited to interpret the work through that lens.

TRaC is all about communication: discussion, writing reviews and criticism, preparing questions for an artist.... what do these films say about us???

OR we could just think about the fact that those first videos were made start to finish by Švankmajer, by himself - all the filming, sculpting, editing, everything - and they took years to do. This 20 minutes of stop-motion was, yes, years in the making. Even the music of the films (he didn't write the scores) and sound effects (which he did) have their own strange dimension. (Fun fact: Švankmajer is known as the father of claymation. He's a god to all the Pixar guys). And though it's complex what he does, he deliberately uses household objects, showing them to us in new ways. We are disgusted sometimes and then find ourselves happy, for instance, when we see that Meat can turn on a radio and dance. Oh, happy Meat!

Many people consider Švankmajer do be a surrealist, his ideas stemming from the work of people like Salvador Dali, who painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931.

In case you want to dig deeper, here's Švankmajer's website: www.jansvankmajer.com ; his stats on the Internet Movie Database ; and his page on the New York Times, with a bio and several links to articles and REVIEWS!

Any other thoughts on these films or ideas?
Should we have more TRaC Meets and explore some other artists all together???
Feel free to leave a comment.

~eric

1st TRaC Meet this Thursday!

Hi everyone,

Your director here. I'm happy to welcome you to the High 5's Teen Reviewers and Critics program! We're very excited to have such a dynamic group from all corners of New York and New Jersey. (We've even got Staten Island!) So, be proud.

Before we even get into your particular class schedules (for theatre trac, dance trac, etc.), first we must all come together and....well...eat pizza. How better to all meet for the first time??

The kick-off of the Fall TRaC programs is the TRaC Meet. Makes sense, eh? The TRaC Meet is this Thursday, October 11th, from 5:15 until about 7:15 at High 5 Headquarters. For those of you who made it to a TRaC Open House, it is in the same theater at the back of the lobby. For those of you who have never been to High 5 HQ, I've included a google map for your viewing pleasure:


View Larger Map
High 5 HQ is located at 1 East 53rd Street, between 5th Ave and Madison Ave. I've provided a few resources in the "Getting Around NYC" column on the right to help those of you not used to traveling in the city. Hopstop.com is a great tool to figure out what subways you should take! Just click the link here or in the right column, enter the address you are starting from (in the city) and put in the High 5 HQ address, and it will give you detailed directions for walking and for the subway transfers you will take. This is THE TOOL to use when you are figuring out how to get to the outings!

by train:
High 5 HQ is closest to the 5th Avenue stop on the F and E trains; and closest to the 51st Street stop on the 6 train, if you're coming from the eastside.

If you need any other help, feel free to email me (eost@high5tix.org) or give me a call (212-750-0555 ext.208). Put that number in your cell phones! Just in case. Someone always need it. :)

So!
The TRaC Meet will be your chance to meet EVERYONE involved in TRaC this fall. We'll also talk about bit more about the programs and watch three short films (5 min shorts) by Jan Švankmajer and talk about them. You'll also meet your instructors, the new High 5 Executive Director and a very special guest!

For those of you starting Theatre TRaC (link to Theatre TRaC blog, still under construction!) and Dance TRaC this Friday, I will follow up tomorrow with directions to your first class. Note: Theatre TRaC, there is a show immediately following your first class, just so you know!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday.
And once again, welcome to TRaC!
I hope you have a great fall.

best, eric