Na'lagaat Theater, Shoe Making, and Funny Faces

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Na’lagat Theater

Hey guys! What a fantastic week we have ahead of us! Last night all of the art tracks joined together to go to Na’lagat theater in Jaffa, Israel!

Every student ordered their food before they went into the restaurant. They had to choose between tuna, salmon, and potato ravioli made by one of Israel’s top chefs Nir Tzuk. Every entrée came with an amazing pear and walnut salad appetizer as well as a side dish along side of the entrée itself. As each individual enters the restaurant they must put their hands on the shoulders of each waiter. Every waiter in Na’lagaat is blind! The restaurant itself was completely pitch black, absolutely no light! As we sat for an hour and so, eating and chatting, the table talked about the different ideas that were running through their minds. Having no sense of sight may have increased our other senses, hearing, taste, smell, and the way each ate was different to the modern way of eating. I had to feel everywhere to find objects, I couldn’t use my fork well without using my fingers, or shoveling the food into my mouth. I admit, if I was blind I would be a very sloppy eater. What an amazing experience we all had together. Outside of the restaurant is a Deaf Café which includes only deaf servers and baristas, you may think this would be very difficult, but in fact it was not much more frustrating that ordering in Hebrew.

With the restaurant and café building they have a theater. We received tickets to watch the show that night, and what an experience it was. Every actor is either deaf or blind and for an hour and a half they run act out a play. The deaf actors still spoke in Hebrew, and the blind actors had interpreters that would place a hand on their shoulder for the exact que of their actions. There were drums that were banged for everyone to find their ques as well. Translations included English, Arabic, and Russian and the whole play was in Hebrew. There were interactions with the audience singing songs, and at the end of the play where two characters got married, they invited everyone on stage to enjoy the bread that was cooked for the wedding. It was a very touching experience for a lot of the students and some even took interest in volunteering at Na’lagaat in the future.

Siyur(Educational hike)- Nachal Havarim

The students went on a night hike on Monday night in Nachal Havarim. Every night hike is planned with a full moon, this way the hike is completely organic to the environment and the atmosphere is more enjoyable. The trip took two hours to get there, leaving at nine o’clock in the evening, and two hours to get home, arriving at five o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately I missed this hike but the students told me it was very quiet and enjoyable, relaxing and beautiful. Nachal Havarim is one of Israel’s most enjoyable night hikes and it was great to see the students enjoy the night.

Classes-

The fashion students have been working on sketching models so they can sketch clothing on specific body types. They are collecting photos of fashion and making a collage of clothing and style, movement with the body, and look. Later they will begin working on sketching clothing on a human body sketch. They met with leather footwear designer, Kobi, who taught a seminar on shoes. Helping the students break down every part of the shoe, and asking questions about peoples ideas about what they want. What kind of footwear do you want to make? Soap shoes, running, hiking. How is the shoe being built? What is the design for the position of the foot? What is the functionality of the shoe? Do you want to make a digital design or a flat design(pencil sketch)? All these questions are questions one must ask to find balance to comfort, look, and style. The class went through a Power Point presentation of different shoes. One that struck my eye was Nat-2 shoe company from Japan that was a shoe/flip flop with a zipper parting the material. Giving one the option of either. Check out Irregular Choice Shoe Company for more crazy shoes or visit www.virtualshoemuseum.com for even more information.

The Visual arts class took still life to the paper and began working on drawing flowers. It was interesting to see the students have trouble over drawing something so simple and not complicated. Drawing is difficult, and to watch them break through their challenges on the paper was very enjoyable to view. Most used colored pencils and one student used pastels.

The performing arts class went on a journey through the town and watched people, imitating their faces and bodies, while remaining in character. As a group they had walking exercises, which included walking in slow motion or in a weird way, even fast, and a mixture of the two. The class went through acting games while indoors and I haven’t heard one uninteresting story yet.

Catch ya’ later!

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