Looking Back, capturing what we did

In our last week, we collected quite a bit of material.  We've posted the speeches from the final performance, other writings that didn't get performed, and our artists' reflections on what surprised them, and what they took away from their participation in My City, My Voice.

Check out this great content on the "Pages" menu to the right.  If you have any feedback for our project, leave us a comment!

TONIGHT: Our final performance!

Hi everyone out there,

We'd like to invite anyone in the Cambridge/Boston area to join us tonight from 6-8 PM for our final performance.  We'll be performing movement/dance pieces accompanied by orations, poetry, and music that we all made ourselves.  Our larger-than-life burned wood full-body pieces and face portraits will also be on display. 

Join us at: 6 PM, Cambridge City Hall Annex at 344 Broadway, corner of Broadway and Inman street.  We'll be in the outdoor east patio area (pictured).       

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Performance Arc

Today, my group had to work on creating a Performance Arc for our final performance. My group was made up of Phoebe, Jennifer, Wahed, and Kaychette. Our group was the “Directors” group. Today, we spent a long time trying to create different Performance Arcs for our performance. A Performance Arc is necessary for a performance because it helps the performers and the directors know what story they are following and what emotion goes with that story. It also helps them figure out what pieces are going into the performance and which are not; also where are those pieces going to be and at what time are they going to take place. What we did was take everything that we are going to incorporate into our performance and we created a story with our material. We took all of the poems and written pieces, and we took all of the dance and movement pieces and put them into a map or a story line of some sorts. It was stressful trying to come up with various different ways that we can portray the same story. It was difficult because everyone had their own idea and wanted to create their own map. But then, there were some people that did not agree with that idea. We all said what we wanted to say and we all took into consideration all the comments and feedback that they got. At the end, we managed to work with each other and we came up with way more than five Performance Arcs that could work. I feel like we accomplished all that we needed to in order to get our work done.

-Yari

Images to Be Burned

Check the evolution: from photo to stamp...Next step is larger-than-life burned images to be displayed on August 9th at the Cambridge Arts Council on 344 Broadway.

Directors Group

Being in the directors group made me feel like I really had a huge role in the event because as a member of the directors group, I am one of the people responsible for forming a story and making a performance arc. The performance arc is very important because it is a range of moods and tones that we want our audience to feel as we perform our pieces. I feel involved because I’m a person who helps decide on important details and decision-making. It was exciting to form the plan and to make it happen. It was a lot of work and just doing it took a lot of deep thinking and reflection, for example at the very beginning, we weren’t sure on how we wanted to make the audience feel, but eventually we figured it out we wanted them to start in a neutral place. At times it was difficult and frustrating because we wanted the best, we wanted everything to be perfect and at times we would get stuck especially when there was something that did not quite fit. The experience overall was a challenging. Everything that we were doing was so complex and it was great having the responsibility to plot everything. The performance is definitely pulling together.

–Jennifer

Full Sized Portrait Burn

There were a lot of frustrations burning my life-sized self-portrait into a large scale board rather than a small board. Carving a picture of me into a small board was easier because I had less space to cover with the burning tool and also because my arms didn’t get as tired as they would using the burning tool. The burning tool is small, like a pen; using it on a large board I felt a lack of motivation in the sense that I was spending a large amount of time on one small part of my portrait and when I stepped back I saw that I still had a large amount to go. My thought process started to shift - thinking I’m never going to get it done. Next time I burn I will be using a blow torch which should cover larger amounts of space. I’m looking forward to this because I will be seeing more progress on my piece and my arms won’t get as tired. I hope that the big torch makes strong marks that show and that I complete my piece sooner instead of later.

-Rudjy

Dancing with Moise

When I found out I was going to work with Moise for the performance, I first thought it was going to be hard because Moise is a dancer and he’s on a different level than me on dancing. The kind of dance Moise does is called krump. It’s about praise, I’ve never seen a krumper do offensive things. Krump is a freestyle dance, with chest pops, stomping, and arm swings. We brought in arm swings and stomps into our performance, but only parts of our dance are krumping. We hop, spin on our arms,and move on the ground a little bit too. When we first started dancing together it was actually easy because he realized that I didn’t dance and we did steps I could do. Then we started adding things that were kind of challenging but I still did them. I learned new ways my body can stretch in ways I thought would be impossible. When I was in the 6th grade I went to this camp and we had to perform at a show. We had to make up a dance, but that one was simpler to remember because that dance was just simple movements. I like this one better because the movements aren’t as simple and I learned more, from a real dancer. This dance piece is for a final performance for the MY CITY MY VOICE project I’m doing over the summer. It’s all about showing my art. If I had some free time I’d love to keep learning dance. But at least I have a few new moves! 

-Jacorey

Music Composition

Today we spent a day figuring out how to incorporate our own instrumental tracks into the show. Ethan and Jacory both have drum experience, and my strongest self identified art form is both classical and jazz flute. There isn’t all that much to do with two drums and a flute that feature both, and don’t divide into melody and back up track. We realized then that we didn’t need to make a song, we needed a beat, a rhythm. We started by picking a topic we wanted to portray. Individuality is something that comes up all the time in our discussions, and it plays a big part in out final performance, so we decided to start by trying to represent this. To demonstrate this musically we thought it would be best to play strong beats, separated from one another; we had the flute play off beat while the drums stuck to the beat. This gave a strong sense of solitude. This wasn’t enough though, to even create a simple beat, something else had to happen. Individuals often collide, occasionally creating conflict. To show this, on the fourth beat of every measure, the drums would leave their steady beat and roll. The flute trilled, ending the trill on the higher note. The flute played the whole phrase high, creating tension, but leaving a pattern rising added to the musical tension, and conflict. The phrase as a whole felt tense, it felt like it was escalating. To where? Even we didn’t know, we would leave that to whatever dance or story was put over it.


The second beat we did we built off the first one. We first brought it down two octaves in the flute part, to relieve some of the tension. Instead of the offbeat pulse we added syncopation, and then we just went with our gut sense. We changed the note patterns, and the drum beat, but if you know what you’re looking for it’s still apparent the beats are related.

Both of the loops were just one measure repeated; one would think that they could be easily overlooked, but the sound that we created definitely plays subtle role in the emotion of the piece done over it.

-Phoebe

Interview with Officer Chu

Today I was given the chance to interview Officer Chu of the Cambridge Police department. In My City, My Voice we all are going to interview an older member from our community and ask them about their experiences. During my interview we talked about where he grew up, how he stays involved in the community, and what he likes about working in Cambridge.


Officer Chu grew up in Boston, and still lives there, but he chooses to work here in Cambridge. During his time with the Boston police, his role was different; it wasn’t to be an active member of the community, just to stop crimes from happening. Here in Cambridge, his job is more than enforcement. It’s his job to be a member of the community and build relationships with kids. For example, here he was at our youth center talking with me and paying attention. He likes to be able to go to all the youth centers here in town and interact more closely with kids.

The interview was a great experience for me. I gained a new perspective from my interview with Officer Chu. I knew that police officers in Cambridge were involved, but I didn’t know that some of them had different roles, or that Boston and Cambridge were so different from a police officer’s perspective. I will take some skills away from that interview, such as how to ask effective questions and follow up questions. I also found it really cool just talking to a police officer casually because I got to know how he feels. He shared that as a kid, he wasn’t that athletic, but played baseball, volleyball, and some basketball. I learned that he’s trying to make kids believe in the cops again and that he’s not their enemy but their friend. I think that kids and cops can be friends and should be friends, because I think a lot of kids think the cops are out to get them when they’re not. 

-Ethan

Dramatic Photo Shoot

Yesterday we started our “Big Photo”. This is when a body size picture, of us being our word, is taken. Then it is edited so that we can transfer it to a 4x8 sheet of plywood. Then the danger starts; we burn the images with torches into the wood. We took these pictures in a dark room where we had medium sized handheld lights. The lighting showed different moods based on where the light was placed. Maybe we were in deep thought, serious, wondering or curious. But we were supposed to use the light, shadow and our poses to show our word.


When I took my photos, at first I didn’t know what to do to show me being my word. I felt like I needed to sit on the floor because I knew that most of the time I’m sitting or laying on the floor and I felt like that’s how people know me.

What I got out of this exercise was how people saw me as danger. Because when I was getting my pictures taken I got side comments like “That shows danger.” I think my photos are going to stick out because I was the only person who sat on the floor which means my pose is going to come out smaller than most people and I’m known to be the smallest. The final pose that I chose the one light was shining from the front and side and cast my face and body in a shadow.

What the group got out of this was how to show their word in their body shape and lighting. When we were testing the lights we noticed that based on where you set the light would show a different emotion on that person. I’m looking forward to burning our figure into wood.

-Mercedes

Dramatic Lighting Photo Shoot

Today we took our full body portraits. In order to do this we talked about dramatic lighting and ways the lights could change the mood and strength of the picture. We found that placing the light beneath someone pointing up made them look powerful, and tall. Putting the light far to the side created a feeling of mystery and danger, since the face was partially concealed in darkness. We first experimented with the lights moving them around a model just to experiment, and then we began the picture taking process.


Everyone had ideas about where they wanted their picture taken, how they wanted the lighting to be, where they wanted their hands, and what they wanted to portray. I watched my entire group go ahead of me, even the people who claimed they had no idea what to do loosened up in the lights and took tons of thought provoking pictures, all of which turned out really well. I’m not always camera shy. I don’t mind cameras when I’m goofing off, or when I’m with friends. I don’t mind posed group shots, and I will even smile for a camera if people are taking pictures. Something about the lights though. The fact that the pose we did was supposed to reflect us and the word in us, something about how we were supposed to strike a pose that would make people think, made me freeze up in front of the lens. I can honestly say it was the most awkward moment I’ve had at my city my voice. I couldn’t come up with any pose I thought reflected me. The word in me I always viewed as an internal thing, “beat”. It starts in me and expands outward; if I can’t feel it in myself I can’t project it. All of my pictures were closed, they were awkward. I couldn’t think of anything to do with arms or legs in front of the camera, and the poses others suggested seemed wrong. They weren’t me. It was suggested to me that I try to take the pictures again later, with fewer people there, just enough to control the lighting, and camera. I will try this soon, and hope the lights will seem less daunting without the same number of eyes watching.  

-Phoebe