KATERINA (KAT) GORLENKO
Arts Scholar
PENTATHLON
Semester 4
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of five art events during my fourth semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
PENTATHLON 1: THE SPANISH LOVE DECEPTION
Finished the book on 2/10/23 in my dorm room
#literature
"The Spanish Love Deception" by Elena Armas is a fantastic romance novel about 2 co-workers that pretend to be in a relationship for a wedding, and eventually actually fall in love. I have picked reading back up recently and found it really helps with other aspects of my learning. I am able to pay attention for longer spans of time, read required readings with more ease and speed, as well as generally seeing improvements in my writing quality. In courses throughout my major, General Education requirements, and Arts Scholars, I am assigned readings fairly often, some being denser or more complex than others. Most of the time I will skim through them lightly to get an idea of the contents, rather than close reading for understanding and thoughtfulness. I have found that doing those deep readings really helps in class, as you are able to understand more of what the professor is saying rather than spending precious time being confused and asking the people around you or others after class. Close reading is an important skill in all facets of academia and I don't think I really started to do it until after I started reading this silly romance novel. Though it isn't an academic journal, it reminded me about the joys of reading, how productive it is and how good it can make you feel once you finish it. Next time I recieve a reading, I will ensure rather than just persuing, I do an in depth read, taking notes, making connections and thinking about questions I may have. No matter if it is for pleasure or school, good reading skills will have a positive impact.
PENTATHALON 3: THE BOOK CLUB PLAY
2/25/23, The Clarice Performing Arts Center, Kay Theatre
#theatre
“The Book Club Play” is a show about a bunch of adult misfits who come together to form a book club. There are many scandals involved like cheating and people coming out. It is fun and quirky, with many twists and turns. The set was absolutely beautiful, backdrop, scenery and all. I watched the show and it reminded me of how much theater is important to me and why I decided to lead the Theatre 101 workshop in the first place. Seeing how all the elements came together made me realize why I do what I do. The whole time I was analyzing all the elements, seeing how I could incorporate something into a teaching moment for class. The actors did a really fantastic job of incorporating physicality, which reminded me how much I want to incorporate a lesson on movement and physicality. I took notes on what the actors did depending on the character and scene, how that informed their choices and added to the character. Also, being physically in the theater reminded me of the idea of interacting with the audience, gaining energy from them, and giving it back to them. I want to include some sort of activity that involves the audience. I also loved how everyone played off each other very naturally. I want to try an activity that involves working off your partner, to get my students to connect more and become more comfortable with each other. Overall, I watched the play for the first time as a teacher, rather than just an enthusiast, and now have a lot of fun new lesson ideas to bring to workshop!
PENTATHLON 3: INTO THE WOODS
3/12/23, Eisenhower Theater, The Kennedy Center
#theatre
Into The Woods was the first musical I ever performed in, back in the 4th grade. I played Lucinda, one of the evil stepsisters, and I got my heel chopped off every show night! I hadn't really thought about this show until I saw that it was going to be playing at the Kennedy Center. My mom and dad both fondly remembered my performance in it and told me that we had to go. When the first song began playing and the lights came up, all the memories came flooding back, I very literally started tearing up. The whole show I was mouthing every word (I somehow remembered all of them), and was sobbing at curtain call. I went through a mini crisis about what I am doing with my life, the usual. I was just thinking about little Kat the entire time and how sad she would be that she wasn't living out her theatre dreams. That baby girl wanted to be on Broadway. As soon as she finished her first Into The Woods show she knew she never wanted to stop. She was really talented, and still is. I feel like one thing Arts Scholars has taught me is that art is essential in your life, and you cannot go without it. I have a lot of it in my life, and I am so happy to be doing shows with 32 Bars and leading my awesome theatre workshop, but there is always a part of me that wanted to go the risky route instead of the safe route. I wanted to go to an performing arts school upstate, get my theatre degree and perform for my whole life. But I choose the path I knew would lead me to a stable career and never having to worry about student loans. I don't know if I regret it, but seeing this show really made me question. The courses connected to my major, things like Organic Chemistry and Physics for the Life Sciences, are some of the most difficult and mentally draining classes I have ever taken, and I literally just want to teach high schoolers and make an insanely little amount of money doing it. All I can say in this reflection is that I am really reflecting on my life choices.
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PENTATHLON 4: BARBIECORE PHOTOSHOOT
3/13/23, Cambridge Community Center, CCC1111
#ArtsScholars #visualart
Abigail Warwick (of sophomore Arts Scholars fame) is doing a capstone project focusing on up cycled, thrifted and borrowed fashion! Her plan was to get models in clothes that fit those categories, have photoshoots with them, and create a magazine! When I heard she needed models, my ears immediately perked up, because I have never been a model or participated in a photoshoot before, especially not one of such professional quality! I had someone do my eye makeup, there was a backdrop, lights and a huge camera. I felt like a real model in Vogue! Abigail's project idea really resonated with me as someone who is really into fashion, but lacks the funds to get all the cute items for outfit ideas. Fashion is a form of art and expression, but sometimes money can be an issue. It is important that all people are able to show themselves to the world the way they want to be seen, no matter how much money they have. I hope this magazine will show people that it is possible, even for someone like me who is on the bigger end of the size range. I was initially super nervous about how I would look in the tight body con dress I was given, because of my weight, but it ended up being a very empowering experience, and I hope any person who feels like me will be able to look at that magazine and feel the same way. The photoshoot really inspired me to use fashion as a way of expressing myself more, and not just wearing it because I needed something to cover my body, as well as thrifting and borrowing clothing from others who do not need it anymore (hand me downs).
PENTATHLON 5: TALENT SHOW - THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
4/20/23, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, MD
#performance
A talent show reflects art in many ways. It is a method for individuals to show off what makes them unique and what skills they possess, many may not know about, in a way that is truly them. At this talent show, I saw students, dance, act, do comedy, and mainly, perform music. It has been a bit since I was in high school, almost 2 years now, and one thing I have noticed is talent show always reflects the current state of the art world. It can tell me what music is popular with the youth nowadays, and what is engaging audiences. The music was all fairly mainstream and trendy; accurate to the age that was performing it. It also gave me a glimpse into some of the cultures at my high school. There was a K-Pop dance performance and song in Spanish, something I had never seen our talent show do before, which I really admired. It really diversified the show, and allowed the audience to see the range of heritages that my high school has. It felt so strange to go back to a place I used to perform in. After the show, I said hello to a lot of my friends who are now seniors, but were literal babies when I knew them in high school. The feeling of being back was great, but strange. It was sort of like being a celebrity, because so many people recognized me. I hope I can leave an impact like that on something even bigger than my high school later in my life. Soon all the people who knew me will graduate, and I will be nothing but a distant memory to that school, but maybe I can make a lasting impact at UMD and beyond, with my teaching career or my theatre performance.
