On Thursday, April 17, the University of Maine School of Performing Arts held a symphonic band concert at the Collins Center for the Arts from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.

UMaine’s concert and symphonic bands performed in the concert. Dana Ross directed the concert band and Christopher G. White directed the symphonic band.

The concert band performed first. The first song they played had a constantly changing tempo, going from fast to slow and from soft to loud.

The second song sounded pretty with bells, clarinets, flutes and drums. The next song, “Amazing Grace for Concert Band,” was familiar to the audience and sounded sweet and delicate.

The fourth song had a dark mood with the drums, trumpets and trombones. Their last song sounded like a happy, peppy marching band song. The audience graciously applauded the concert band for their great work on stage.

After a brief intermission, the symphonic band came on stage with a smaller amount of people than the concert band. Their first song had a strong booming beginning and had a spooky, oriental sound. The second song was more gentle, sweet, and charming.

On the third song, the light and happy “Concerto for Bb Cornet or Trumpet,” fourth-year music performance major Blake Peachy played a wonderful trumpet solo. The crowd could not get enough of his performance.

The next song had strong, booming trumpets and cymbals that filled the auditorium with upbeat and loud music. The fifth song, a Korean folk song, started off calmly with the help of the clarinets, then the flutes added more gentleness to the song. It then became faster with lots of percussion. The Korean influence was easy to hear in the song.

Some folk songs, “Country Gardens” and “Shepherd’s Hey,” were played afterwards. The songs featured a lot of woodwind instruments, like flutes and clarinets, and were very upbeat.

The second-to-last song was smooth and pretty. The last song for the night had a strong and loud opening with piercing drums, clapping and whistling from the band members. It began to sound almost jazzy and picked up its tempo.

The audience gave the symphonic band a standing ovation. The band played “The Maine Stein Song” so everyone could clap and sing along.

On Friday, March 21, pianist Alessio Bax performed at Minsky Recital Hall to roars of applause from the audience.

Bax played music from Beethoven and Modest Mussorgsky. The music constantly changed moods and tempos throughout the concert. One minute, the music would be calm and happy, and the next, loud, intense and ferocious. The variations in the pieces helped keep the audience engrossed in the performance.

It was clear Bax was physically engaged in his performance from his arm and head movements that accompanied his music. The complexity of the songs truly showcased Bax’s piano playing skills. His talent shined when the music would go to a very fast tempo. It looked like his arms were racing along the keys, but played all the notes with such precision.

The audience was mesmerized by his playing the entire time. Some of the audience even closed their eyes and smiled along while listening to the music, relaxing and getting lost in the tempo.

At the end of the show, the crowd’s reaction said it all, with loud bravos and a standing ovation. Bax played an encore song to the audience’s delight.

According to his website, “Alessio Bax graduated with top honors at the record age of 14 from the conservatory of his hometown in Bari, Italy, where he studied with Angela Montemurro. He studied in France with François-Joël Thiollier and attended the Chigiana Academy in Siena under Joaquín Achúcarro. In 1994 he moved to Dallas to continue his studies with Achúcarro at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, and he is now on the teaching faculty there.”

After the show there was a reception in the Collins Center for the Art, and Bax was there to greet people.

The 7 p.m. performance was open to the public, with tickets priced at $30, but was free to those who used a MaineCard to purchase ahead of time. On the day of the concert, tickets cost $13 for those with a MaineCard.

On Saturday, March 22, students from the School of Performing Arts put on an entertaining and humorous version of “Baba Yaga and the Black Sunflower” at 2 p.m. in the Al Cyrus Pavilion Theatre.

The play was written and directed by Carol Korty, who has worked in theater faculties at UMass Amherst, Boston University and Emerson College. She has written multiple plays for children in her years as a playwright.

Korty said she hopes the play captured the essence of a traditional Baba Yaga folktale and also the feeling that she and other children had of living in two different worlds between family at home and friends at school.

Baba Yaga is a Russian folktale character. She is a knowledgeable yet feared witch who some people say eats children and others say is helpful, not harmful. Maryushka, one of the main characters, is a young girl who likes to explore and sometimes gets into trouble. She tries using Baba Yaga’s magical black sunflower to help her out of her latest mishap.

Maryushka runs into Baba Yaga in the process, and must deal with her in order to fix her problem. Maryushka is not sure what to think of Baba Yaga, due to the various rumors she’s heard.

The townspeople think Maryushka is trouble because of her playfulness and the fact that that she is an orphan, and they want her out of town. Because of this, she also struggles with finding her place in society.

The play shows how Maryushka uses her cleverness and wit to solve her latest problem, and in the process, she learns more about the true Baba Yaga.

Over spring break, the cast of “Baba Yaga and the Black Sunflower” performed 10 shows at schools around the area, including in Bangor, Ellsworth, Hermon, Lincoln and Presque Isle.

Second-year communications sciences and disorders student Megan Rounds played Maryushka with a youthful energy and spirit.

First-year music education student Victoria Guiliani played the title character Baba Yaga and Starukha, or one of the townspeople. Guiliani made Baba Yaga a layered character, who appeared frightening at first, but seemed to have more layers to her than initially thought.

Fourth-year psychology and theater student Sydney Walker played Granny and Izbushka, the walking and talking house of Baba Yaga. Walker did a great job giving the house a sassy attitude and humor, which the audience enjoyed.

There were six cast members who played all the roles in the play. The actors did a good job changing quickly and being convincing in each role they were playing.

The costumes and music helped enhance the actor’s performances and make the play come alive.

Lots of children were in the audience to see the kid-friendly folktale. The theatre was filled with a sense of wonder and excitement from the children’s energy. The kids, and the adults in the audience alike, were all engrossed in the performance.

The play ran for about an hour. The original play is longer, but they cut it down for the school performances over spring break. After the show, Korty held a question and answer session with the cast members, and the audience and children got a chance to ask what they wanted and see inside Baba Yaga’s house.

Korty, the cast, and crew all did a wonderful job giving this Russian folktale so much excitement and life.

At Hauck Auditorium, students and community members gave great applause to a revisit to the swinging times of the ’50s and hummed along to memorable songs performed by students in the University of Maine School of Performing Arts spring production debut of “Grease” last Friday night.

“Grease,” written and premiered by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey in 1971, shows the growing pains of students at Rydell High School in 1958, the era of cool cars and greased back hair. The play shows the highs and lows of students in the “Greaser” group and the “Pink Ladies” group. The musical also follows the love story between main characters Sandy and Danny.

The musical is widely known for its catchy tunes, raw emotion and demonstration of a more provocative side of adolescent life. The musical touches on issues from violence to teen pregnancy. It shows the truer, less talked about side of teenage struggles.

“Grease” also became popular because of the 1978 film adaptation, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The production followed the original musical version, so some of the songs and the order of songs differed slightly from the film version. The story line was still familiar to anyone who had only seen the film version prior.

“Grease” director Sandra Hardy, associate professor of theatre at UMaine, said it was an honor directing the musical and working with so many talented students.

According to Hardy, in “Grease,” “there remains an undertone of young people struggling to find themselves and where they belong. Some search for acceptance, some for true love, others for a miracle to save their existence. … I am hoping that our rendition says something more about the nature of adolescence, the pain of growing in particular.”

Second-year music education student Hope Milne played the role of Sandy. Milne illustrated Sandy’s emotional and physical transformation from sweet to bad girl, along with her troubles fitting in.

“I’ve always been interested in playing the role [of Sandy],” Milne said. “UMaine’s performing arts department has a really high standard of directing. I love learning and working with new directors.

“I love the music [of Grease],” Milne continued. “The biggest draw for me is the music.”

Second-year music student Ira Kramer played Danny, Sandy’s love interest, and fourth-year music student Andrew Cotterly played Kenickie, one the main Greasers. The two actors embodied the typical greaser, both personality- and costume-wise with slicked back hair, tough attitudes and motorcycle jackets.

Fourth-year music student Allisen Donovan received roars of applause from the audience for playing Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies. Donovan captured Rizzo’s essence perfectly being the tough girl, but also showed off a more personal, vulnerable side.

Some of the highlights of the musical were Donovan’s performances of “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” and “There Are Worse Things I Could Do.”

The other Pink Ladies, including Marty and Frenchy, put on great performances, especially third-year history and theatre student Nellie Kelly’s role of Jan. Kelly got the audience laughing with her comments and humor.

Other standout moments from the musical came from the dance numbers. From the hand jive, dancing at the high school, to the “We Go Together” scene, there were multiple difficult dance routines to showcase for the audience. The choreographer, UMaine alumna Jasmine Ireland, and cast did a wonderful job dancing in sync and with personality and energy, considering the amount of people on stage.

The growing pains of adolescence were portrayed with great skill and clarity thanks to the cast’s amazing vocals, choreography and emotion.

“Grease” is scheduled for seven performances on Feb 14, 15, 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m. Admission is $15, or free for students with their MaineCards.

The Brain Spa, open everyday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Touchstone Project office, gives the community an opportunity to learn about stress management, to relax and even to provide psychoeducation.

The Brain Spa is open to students and the public. It offers various activities to promote relaxation, including biofeedback. The biofeedback monitors heart rate and respiration, and it makes people aware of their breathing and calms them down.

There are also therapy lights, Play-Doh, coloring and stress balls. People are also free to come in and relax on the couches.

Bethany Leavitt, a fourth-year student, is working in the Brain Spa to get her field experience and to do peer outreach.

The goal of the Touchstone Project office is to de-stigmatize counseling services and change the uncomfortable feelings toward seeing a counselor, according to Leavitt.

Every Thursday there will be a workshop from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Touchstone Project office on various topics, as part of the Brain Spa. On Thursday, Feb. 6, the workshop’s topic was silencing one’s inner critic.

According to Charles McKay, a graduate assistant and staff member at the Touchstone office, it is not possible to completely silence the inner critic, however, a person can learn distance from it.

The more a person tries to silence his or her inner critic, the more it will try to speak out until the person cannot ignore it anymore.

In the workshop, people were asked to draw one of the objects in the room, but you could not look down while you were drawing. Once finished, participants could not look at their drawings and reflected on how it felt drawing and not being able to look.

The participants said overall they felt frustrated they could not look at their paper since they wanted to make their drawing good. There was an underlying fear of not making the drawing good enough, or of it not being up to a certain standard.

The question was then: Why do we want this drawing to be so good? Where does this desire for quality come from? The answer is that we want to be able to show off the drawing and not be ashamed of it. When that quality standard is not met, it is fuel for self-criticism.

On a daily basis, people are living with feeling like they are not good enough, according to McKay. There is always a battle with the inner critic.

The next part of the workshop was drawing another object in the room, and, just like before, participants could not look at their paper while drawing.

After the second time drawing, the participants felt less attached to the drawings overall because they were appreciating the object they were drawing, rather than focusing on making the drawing good.

The workshop’s goal was to try and put the self-critic in place and to show that while it does have its function, it does not need to be on overdrive, constantly picking things apart.

“It is important to recognize that the self-critic has a function,” McKay said. “It helps us do things and achieve things — but when there is excess of the self-critic, problems occur.”

People may think relaxing once and a while is enough, but students need to schedule frequent time and space to take care of themselves, especially during the stressful years of college. If it is not already in their itinerary, people will not follow through and will cut relaxation off of their priority list.

“College isn’t good at teaching us how to manage your life and enjoy life without burning out, and that’s what we teach,” McKay said.