“Medea”
Atonal music and a tortured dance style characterize “Medea”, the contemporary opera described as “schizophrenic” that just played at the Capitol Theater. This drama presents the story of Medea, an ancient Greek sorceress banned from her hometown on charge of the murder of her own brother. Distanced from her homeland and now repudiated by her husband Jason and isolated from her children, Medea has lost everything. The audience follows her descent into madness that leads up to the murder of Jason’s new bride and her children.
The opera is sung for only one voice, Medea’s, which is accompanied by a chorus and a baroque orchestra. The soprano Caroline Stein embodies the role of Medea with finesse and sensibility, lending her moving voice to the history of this abandoned and desperate woman. The audience truly feels as if it is in Medea’s head, which can be a bit frightening. This production is very well done and captivating. Capitole Theater often offers high quality performances and tickets are only 10 euros for students 15 minutes before curtain. “Profitez-en!” (Take advantage of this opportunity!).
–Gabrielle Kushlan
Reflections on a trip to London
When I first felt the plane take off, I was relieved. The ground beneath the windows was the same and the passengers around me were speaking the same language, but I knew that we were flying over France.
I then imagined the luxury of the city, the smell of the Garonne and the taste of chocolate. Everything I had already tasted and seen. All of my memories then flashed across my eyes while my head pressed against the seat behind me. My host family, my friends and the city of Toulouse were already close. The Sherpa, place du Capitole, my bed…
I had missed all of this and the feeling of being in my city comforted me.
I did not hate London – well the opposite: my best friends work there and they even came to pick me up at Victoria Station.
My friends live in the beautiful Farringdon district. All of Friday, I was able to walk from their apartment to all of the tourist sites that the city offers, to see Saint Paul Cathedral, Tower Bridge and other districts of the city. I sat on the edge of the Thames, I ate fish and chips and I discovered parts of London that are incomparable to anything else in the world. Furthermore, we went to the England-Italy rugby match. It was the best professional sports game I’ve ever seen, including American football, basketball and even soccer.
The atmosphere of everything we did was wonderful. Yes, life in England is much more expensive than in France, but I would suggest for you to go and discover what I had the chance to see.
However, London is not Toulouse ; that is to say that the comfort we have here, or at least that I have in this small city, does not exist in London. It’s a complicated city and I very much missed the simplicity of Toulouse. I can breath and know that I belong in Toulouse.
–Michael Rao
Gérard Garrigues cuisine and a first brush with mediation
M. Garrigues montre au premier groupe comment découper les légumes.
Saturday February 5th, the students shared an experience with the Fondation Espace Ecureuil pour l’art contemporain, where I’m doing my internship this semester. In the context of the exhibition called Reliefs, the foundation organized a special visit to Gérard Garrigues kitchen a the Moaï restaurant at the natural history museum (Muséum). While one group visited the exhibition at the foundation, the other attended part of Gérard Garrigues creation process, a veritable artistic performance. My groupe started at the kitchen, where he showed us the art of cutting vegetables and crushing spices. He gave us a warm welcome, always with a smile on his face. He wanted to create a bit of suspense by not showing us how he was going to finish his work of art. The second group was going to see the final process, but without knowing the names of the vegetables or of the spices that he showed the first group. His goal, in fact, was to create a sort of enigma and to prompt an exchange between the two groups to discover the full process.
After this culinary experience, my group went to the Espace Ecureuil to visit the exhibition. At this point, I had the privilege to give my first official guided tour. I was more at ease because I knew all of the people in the group, which helped calm my nerves. For this visit, I wanted to involve to public as much as possible so that they find the answers to the works of art themselves. It was a bit difficult at the beginning because the public expected that I give them an explanation immediately, but slowly but surely, the students started to respond to my questions without hesitation. I think that once they understood that I accepted all answers, they felt more at ease. I am happy to have had this first “mediation” experience because I feel reassured as an intern. I am proud that I was finally able to build a conversation with the students instead of bombarding them with information and reestablished interpretations.
Le deuxième groupe regarde le celeri rave préparé en forme de semoule.
What I loved the mos was when a small boy that had joined the group with his mother started to ask questions. Children really let go of all of their inhibitions and embarrassment. He asked without hesitation whether there were cows behind Marina Pirot’s wall of milk and Sylvie Corroler, the director of the foundation, answered that yes, they were there. But the child was not satisfied with this short answer, He got closer to the wall and stared at it with critical eyes. He obviouslt found a flaw in Mrs. Corroler’s reply because he asked why the cows weren’t making any noise and why the holes from which the milk flows were higher than the cows themselves. We managed to give him a satisfying answer, but I think we learned that we should never lie to a child if we don’t have an immediate answer to his questions. Children are incredibly thorough critical thinkers…
En fin de soirrée nous avons mangé le repas ensemble.
In the evening, we finally had the chance to see Gérard Garrigues’ final work of art. I noticed that the meal seemed staged. For the customers to appreciate the food, the environment also needs to be suitable: a room with simple, but elegant tables, arranged in a comfortable manner, with soft and calming lights. The complete opposite of the well-lit, industrial kitchen we had seen beforehand. And on this stage, actors (the waiters and the chef) worked to make sure that the meal proceeded without any accidents. But the most surprising was the transformation of the food from the gross product to the final work of art. We enjoyed a meal served on square plates and including a cream of beat soup, a Jerusalem artichoke-foie gras turnover, vegetable tagine (parsnip, black carrots, chestnut squash, celeriac, turnips) and a dessert (Clementine transparence with cocoa espuma).
–Anna Ciriani Dean
The 2011 Dining Passport – The best way to discover Toulouse’s restaurants
A French friend of mine told me about the best restaurant plan in Toulouse. It’s a card called “le passeport dîneur” that has existed for 15 years. This year, 45 good Toulouse restaurants became affiliated with it. You can dine in each restaurant, which offers one free meal (the dining passport) and one purchased meal (of equal or lesser value than the offered meal). The card is valid for one year each day of the week except for Valentine’s day and it costs 45 euros. The point of the card is to introduce people to restaurants in Toulouse. You only need to make a reservation before arriving and present the passport when you pay. The rules are really simple and easy to understand. The affiliated restaurants are pretty diverse and include Indian, French and Asian food. Plus, they are always high quality. Thus, this card is really essential during our stay in Toulouse. With the dining passport, you can take advantage of the best and spend less (sharing the price of a meal with a friend).
You can buy it online or by appointment. The website is http://www.dineur.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=65
–Qichan Qian
The Three Musketeers
Friday night at the Capitole Theater, we saw a classical ballet called « The Three Musketeers ». The experience started when we entered the theater; the theater itself was very elegant and the stage decorations allowed us to travel in a fantasy. A very big map of France and England, which resembled ancient 16th century maps, placed the audience in the time period of the famous Musketeers. The romantic-style orchestra musicalso gave the performance a mystic dimension. All of these elements contributed to the feeling that we were in the world of the Three Musketeers.
This two-act ballet is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ well-known novel of the same title. It’s the story of three of Louis XIII’s brave musketeers and of their friend d’Artagnan. There was a rivalry between Cardinal Richelieu’s guards and the Three Musketeers during the 16th century. Capitole Theater’s talented dancers presented the tragedy of this story in a choreographic interpretation by André Prokovsky. Although all of the scenes were spectacular and well-done, the strongest moment was the pas de deux between Constance Bonacieux et D’Artagnan. All of the movement was very precise and elegant and at the end, the audience applauded at length, showing that they didn’t want the evening to end.
–Joanna Sprout