How It Came About

When Lyn Turbak and Robbie Berg announced that we would be building "something," Helen, Julie, and Karen looked at each other in dismay.  So specific.  "Something," with "Legos," for the "Exhibition."  They brainstormed like the good little tornadoes they were--and still are--and came up with so many ideas, it was difficult to choose just one.  A mechanized Sorting Hat, from Harry Potter, perhaps?  A re-enactment of the drop scene from Mission: Impossible? A ballroom dance?      Finally, after a whirlwind of could we's and should we's, an idea came to mind that presented enormous challenges involving building, programming, and artistry:

You've seen this movie, and you should be ashamed if you haven't.  It is Disney's Fantasia, which was first released in theaters in 1941.  In this film, Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski created a series of animated interpretations of classical music.  This movie was--and still is--heralded for its innovation and artistic genius.

So anyway, after various mishaps involving a previous notion for our project, Helen Kay (pictured below) suggested a music box.

"Yes, a music box!" she exclaimed, her mouth full of pretzels.  That's her.

Helen, Julie, and Karen were all pretty skeptical at first.  What could they do to improve upon the hopelessly simple idea of a music box?  They pondered, and decided that if Disney can put pictures to music, why couldn't they?  Of course, they would quietly emulate his ideas while doing so.  That's Julie, in the midst of programming what would become The Project.

So they decided to take on this daunting task:  to create five scenes, each depicting one of the movements from Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, and base them on the animated interpretations seen in Fantasia. There is no "Karen at Work" picture, so instead you can see a picture of the indestructible box they created, since that's her sweater in the background.

NEXT.