Bonjour
tout le Monde!
For the class that I am currently enrolled in, I also need
to do three cultural activities in Paris excluding all of the different walks
that I can do. Personally, I feel that living in Paris is a cultural activity,
but this forced me to go out and find different opportunities to experience
more of the culture.
Activité
Culturelle 1:May 24: Le Spectacle de la college de Rueil-Malmaison
In
Rueil-Malmaison there is another girl living with our family, and she is
thirteen years old. She lives there because the arts program in Rueil-Malmaison
is incredible, and I was able to see this for myself as I watched the
performance. It was fun because my host mom got us in for free in the reserved
section, and she was able to introduce the performance. Perks of being in
charge of culture on the city councel. The performance started with a choir of
children. They had all of these intricate rhythms they were making up with
their hands by doing claps and stuff. I was amazing that everyone was able to
participate. I was amazed by how well everyone knew everything, and that even
the unruly boys were doing it and paying attention. There was another choir,
and then we got to see the girl dance. It is amazing to me that they actually
teach ballet at the middle schools here, and that some of the girls were on
pointe. I wish people had that kind of opportunity where I lived. We were able
to watch the girls do a character dance and some ballet exercises. After,
another group did a whole Mozart performance, and performing many different
songs by them. Lastly, people did a portion of a baroque opera, and some of it
was in English so I could actually understand. Obviously, it was just a middle
school performance so it was not amazing, but I was amazed that it was all put
on by the school and not a private organization.
My Host mom (second from the right) introducing the performance |
The Mozart performance |
Activité
Culturelle 2: April 25: The Catacombs
Although I
did this cultural activity just because I was interested in it, I found out
recently that it counts as a cultural activity too which is great! I found the
catacombs very interesting. The catacombs were created in 1787, mainly because
one of the largest cemeteries in Paris was causing infections to the people.
The remains of bodies were moved from that cemetery to the catacombs and until
1814 the catacombs received remains from all of the cemeteries from Paris. It
was very interesting to go down into the catacombs. Not just because all of the
bones that were there but also because there were many interesting quotes and
proverb that lined the walls. Overall, it felt like a place full of history,
and of course it was quite creepy going down many flights of stairs to a place
full of the remains of people.
Just hanging with some bones |
"The eyes of God are fixed on the just and his ears are open to their prayers" (Also I was really excited to be able to translate that myself) |
Activité
Culturelle 3: June 2: Giselle
This was by
far my favorite cultural activity. I had been looking for tickets to Giselle
for the longest time, and I was so excited when I was randomly searching for
about the 5th time and found that there was ONE ticket left. To be
able to see Giselle in the Palais Garnier was a dream come true. Giselle is a shorter ballet, telling the story of a peasant girl who fell in love with someone who was betrothed to another. She dies from a broken heart and then the Wilis, a group of supernatural women who dance men to death, summon Giselle from her grave and she saves her love from dying. The story sounds a little strange, but the dancing
was amazing, especially with the male dancers. There was one male dancer who
was not a lead, but had the most amazing solo, and they all danced so well. The
principle dancer was so graceful and beautiful, and it was amazing to see the
whole corps dance together. Overall, it was such a great experience, and I
loved being able to see it in the Palais Garnier, one of my favorite places
ever. I do wish I could have had the opportunity to see it with someone else
too, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to watch it. It was such a
beautiful ballet.
The stage for the Palais Garnier |
Some of the seats for the Palais Garnier |
The Wilis |
À Bientôt,
Claire
Hunsaker
No comments:
Post a Comment