Recap of Fall 2019 Courses
Tolstoy’s War and Peace with Rhoda Flaxman
“To live in truth in Russia—these were the questions of Tolstoy’s life and work, and the main concerns of War and Peace.”
Orlando Figes, Natasha’s Dance
Through a close study of War and Peace we will work together to achieve a deeper understanding of nineteenth-century Russian history and culture. Focusing on both the content and form of his great work, we will explore techniques by which this master of Realism was able to create art from life. Like Dickens and Eliot, whom he loved, Tolstoy believed art should be mimetic, should recreate reality, and reflect moral truth by reflecting relationships between individuals and society in contemporary times.
Though Tolstoy took five years to complete this novel, we will read it in five weeks, covering approximately 250 pages a week in the new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007). available from Amazon and elsewhere. I suggest, for ease of reading, that you ask Staples to bind each of Tolstoy’s four volumes separately.
A Conversation About Proust and Food with Nathalie Ferrier
…D’où avait pu me venir cette puissante joie? Je sentais qu’elle était liée au goût du gâteau, mais qu’elle le dépassait infiniment, ne devait pas être de même nature. D’où venait-elle? Que signifiait-elle? Où l’appréhender?
Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savours, could, no, indeed, be of the same nature. Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it?...
This course is a conversation about Proust, his time and the power of food memories. The course will be taught both in English and French. In order to enjoy the course fully, it is recommended that you have a solid knowledge of French, since we will be reading excerpts from Proust’s books, first in French and then in English.
In addition to reading Proust and learning about the times in which he lived and wrote, we will be learning about the history of the French cake called the madeleine, catalyst for Proust’s evocation of his past. We will also learn to bake this cake. While we bake and taste this treat we can discuss what constitutes your own “madeleine.” What kind of revelations have you experienced from food?
A Brief Big History of Everything with Jeff Tash
How comfortable are you with your own understanding of science and history? Do you feel you can intelligently explain how our world, and mankind, has gotten to where we are today? This course is about natural, biological, and cultural evolution. The goal is to help you re-explore all the science and history that you may have either already forgotten or never bothered to learn in the first place.
In each class we’ll present stories drawn from the works of three outstanding authors: David Christian, Yuval Noah Harari, and Leonard Shlain. Their books include the following: Origin Story, Sapiens, Homo Deus, Sex, Time and Power, and The Alphabet versus The Goddess. These historical narratives provide incredibly deep, yet easy-to-understand, scientific and historical explanations that describe virtually everything – from the moment our universe began – right on up to the present day political battles between the disillusioned and the deplorables.
Ancient peoples based their lives around mythology and religion. Even though those religions and myths are now thousands of years old, many of the ideas and concepts they put forth continue to persist today. Yet, beginning about 500 years ago, the world embarked on a scientific revolution. Science tells a pretty compelling story explaining who we are and how we got here – and that story is quite a bit different than the explanations provided by religions and myths. Are you ready for a new renaissance – a modern age enlightenment?
Think of this class as infotainment – kind of like sitting in front of your television watching PBS’s Nova but, instead, you’ll be sitting in a classroom listening to an impassioned lecturer tell stories. There is no requirement that students must read any of the aforementioned books. The presentation materials are drawn directly from the authors’ books.
The instructor for this course is Jeff Tash – an experienced storyteller. Back when Open University of Wellfleet was founded, Jeff taught a course where he told stories about the history of Wellfleet. In his professional career, before he retired to Wellfleet, Jeff was a technology architect who specialized in telling stories about computers and information technology.
How Musicians Make Music with Fred Magee
For many people, creativity can seem like a mysterious gift. For those not familiar with the craft of actors, painters or musicians it may appear that an artist or performer has some special innate talent that can’t really be described or explained. The endless hours of practice, trial-and-error, and repetition that goes into becoming an expert may be assumed, but doesn’t explain the decisions an artist makes in front of a blank canvas, an actor with a new script or a musician sitting down and preparing to play.
Musicians must make all kinds of choices in performance, whether as a soloist or in a group, that may only apply to that one occasion. In fact, depending on the style of music, a musician might use one performance to experiment with ideas that will be used or discarded in the future – all while seeming to be playing a song or composition as if it were fixed in his/her mind. This is especially true for styles that require improvisation, like jazz or rock or blues. In nearly all cases, the musicians are remembering past performances, calling on current skills (or chops) and thinking in real-time as they play.
In this course, we’ll follow the thought process of making music from considering how to use the basic building blocks of rhythm, melody and harmony and applying them to the requirements of styles as diverse as jazz, blues, standards and classical music. We’ll think along with a musician in the process of writing music, performing and collaborating with other musicians – and with the audience. The goal is demystify the process of musicianship and give participants a new tool to better appreciate performance across the spectrum of musical styles.
The course will be taught in five sessions that are designed to remove some of the mystery about how musicians think and perform – from applying the basic building blocks like rhythm and harmony to various styles of music to the challenges musicians face in songwriting, improvisation and performance.
The History and Ecology of Wellfleet’s Herring River with Barbara Brennessel, Alice Iacuessa, and John Portnoy
Share the history, share the journey, share the momentous advent of the restoration of Wellfleet’s Herring River. This important waterway flows from Wellfleet’s famous kettle ponds into Wellfleet Harbor. The course will provide an overview of the history of the Herring River from the post-glacial formation of the Herring River valley to modern initiatives to restore tidal flow to the River and its estuary. With a mixture of classroom presentations and field trips, this team-taught course will feature some of the important ecological issues and historical events that shaped the present state of Herring River and current initiatives that will restore it to a healthy ecosystem.
O’Casey and Synge with Ed Golden
Not only premier Irish playwrights, Sean O’Casey and J.M. Synge rank unquestionably in the highest echelons of world drama. O’Casey the realist and Synge the romantic, seeming opposites, are nevertheless firmly linked by an underlying assumption that O’Casey expressed in a comment about life itself: “ Laughter is wine for the soul - laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness – the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living.” You will be captivated by the splendid prose poetry of the dialogue, the indelible characters, and the unforgettable stories they have to tell, laced with wrenching pathos and the most glorious comedy.
We will have time to read two full-length plays, both the most popular of their works: O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock,”and Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World.” In addition, please read two short pieces for the first class: O’Casey’s “Bedtime Story” and Synge’s “Riders to the Sea.” All these scripts are widely available, and I am requesting the Wellfleet Library to put copies on reserve for us.
Contemporary Artists of Cape Cod: Guest Lecture Series Part Three with Robert Rindler
This series is designed to introduce participants to extraordinary fine artists working among us on the Cape today, and to engage with them in a spirited, intelligent and illuminating dialogue. For each of five weeks, we will meet, experience, and explore the work of artists who have achieved significant success and acclaim in recent years.
These transformational leaders in the arts, deeply involved in creative inquiry, continue to expand our perspectives on how art is being redefined within our current cultural, social and political environment. We will hear from 8-10 local and noteworthy Fine Art makers, (TBA) from different media disciplines, who are now or have recently been exhibiting their work in local galleries and museums where we can see their art first hand.
FALL 2019 GUEST ARTIST ROSTER
MONA DUKESS, NATHALIE FERRIER, JO HAY, PETER HOCKING, GRACE HOPKINS, TIMOTHY HORN, IRENE LIPTON, SUSAN LYMAN
and BERT YARBOROUGH
Dance History II: Five More Choreographers with Marc Strauss
The Fall 2019 course for Open University of Wellfleet entitled Dance History II: Five More Choreographers will focus on the choreography and major dance companies of Jerome Robbins (1918 - 1998; United States), Twyla Tharp (b. 1941; United States), Mats Ek (b. 1945; Sweden), Jiri Kylian (b. 1947; Holland), and Mark Morris (b. 1956; United States). Taught by Marc Strauss, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre and Dance, Holland College of Arts & Media, Southeast Missouri State University, Dance History II focuses on five more major 20th and 21st century choreographers who have created hundreds of dance works over nearly 80 years in genres as diverse as classical & contemporary ballet, jazz, modern dance, and on Broadway, around the country and throughout the world. We will study, view and discuss numerous dances from each choreographer: Robbins' work for New York City Ballet & on Broadway/film, Tharp's multiple styles (modern, jazz, ballet) on her own company & on Broadway/film, Ek's contemporary work in Sweden and around the globe, Kylian's work for Netherlands Dance Theatre and beyond, and Morris' contemporary work for his own company and beyond. With historical context provided on all dances presented via DVD and video, Marc will lead discussion in ways that will allow students to better understand and appreciate the styles, training, concerns, and philosophies of five more of the most important choreographers on the planet.