At week three with Quarters Presentations fast approaching, high stress and late nights became thematic for the students at ETC Silicon Valley. Acting quickly, SV leadership Jiyoung and Carl created a much needed diversion with a trip to the celebrated performance of San Francisco Ballet’s Swan Lake.
From the point of view of an entertainment technology student who’s never seen the ballet, at once I began analyzing the first act for elements of story and spectacle. At first the story seemed a confusing expression of emotions through dancing, but I basically understood that a young prince had come of age, was having a party, and needed a girlfriend. As the first act ended I was wondering whether I really enjoyed this art form. Only during the intermission did I learn that at the ballet, one has to read the act’s story before he sees the enactment, to provide context for the emotional performance.
After gaining a general understanding of the second act from the program, this second performance at the lake of swans blew me away. The scene of so many swans-turned-beautiful-women cascading about the stage to the music of the prince and swan queen falling in love was breathtaking. While I will refrain from ruining the rest of the story for those who haven’t seen it, I will say this: the Silicon Valley class experienced an evening of enlightenment the night of their trip to Swan Lake.
Everyone dressed up for the Ballet.
My first visit to Zynga was back in January 2009 during our ETC west coast trip, and my first impression was very deep. Although Zynga was still small in scale and I didn’t play any casual games, especially Facebook games at that time, I could tell that Zynga was going to be a big company some day. They showed keen ambition for recruiting talented people since they held a great greeting party for all ETCers and gave out a free Xbox360 for the winner’s prize in one of their activities. One year later, they still impress me!
