Previous Seasons

Soul Project: Performance and postshow discussion
Followed by a post-show conversation with performers, led by Charmian Wells
As part of the 3 week series CENTER, GRAVITY, RHYTHM, taking place from September 12 – October 4, 2015, Swarthmore is excited to bring SOUL PROJECT to campus. The show begins…spontaneously…an extraordinary, unpredictable presentation and experience of being continuously alive. On, like a candle. The music starts and dancers emerge from the audience, moving to a sublime live recording of a “vintage” soul singer – Aretha Franklin, Ike & Tina Turner, Bettye Lavette, Gladys Knight & The Pips – following their own movement quest to embody the dance as deeply and powerfully as the singer reveals the song.
SOUL PROJECT conceived and directed by the legendary David Zambrano, in collaboration with a cast of six remarkable performers from Mozambique, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Korea and Venezuela, simultaneously creates a sense of heightened perception and grounded physicality. Designed to be performed in an open space-a gallery, black box, gymnasium, ballroom, church, large stage, or even outdoors - SOUL PROJECT is a series of virtuosic solos, each lasting the length of a song; but the order of the solos and their location in the space is a function of chance, making each night’s performance unique.
Along with this performance, the college will host a unique series of technique and repertory classes in various dance vocabularies and improvisation methodologies, an informal presentation of performance ideas from the three featured artists, and informal discussions with the campus community around new notions of contemporary performance. All events happening at Swarthmore College are free and open to the public. More details are available online: http://www.jumatatu.org/center-gravity-rhythm
Sponsored by the William J. Cooper Foundation, Philadelphia’s FringeArts and Mascher Space Co-Op. Additional classes hosted by Mascher Space Co-Op. Additional performances of SOUL PROJECT will be in the Philadelphia FringeArts program.
Studio Conversation With David Zambrano, Nora Chipaumire, and Ziya Azazi
Preceded by an artist conversation in Troy Studio with David Zambrano, nora chipaumire, and Ziya Azazi at 6pm, led by Charmian Wells
As part of the 3 week series CENTER, GRAVITY, RHYTHM, taking place from September 12 – October 4, 2015, Swarthmore is excited to bring SOUL PROJECT to campus. The show begins…spontaneously…an extraordinary, unpredictable presentation and experience of being continuously alive. On, like a candle. The music starts and dancers emerge from the audience, moving to a sublime live recording of a “vintage” soul singer – Aretha Franklin, Ike & Tina Turner, Bettye Lavette, Gladys Knight & The Pips – following their own movement quest to embody the dance as deeply and powerfully as the singer reveals the song.
SOUL PROJECT conceived and directed by the legendary David Zambrano, in collaboration with a cast of six remarkable performers from Mozambique, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Korea and Venezuela, simultaneously creates a sense of heightened perception and grounded physicality. Designed to be performed in an open space-a gallery, black box, gymnasium, ballroom, church, large stage, or even outdoors - SOUL PROJECT is a series of virtuosic solos, each lasting the length of a song; but the order of the solos and their location in the space is a function of chance, making each night’s performance unique.
Along with this performance, the college will host a unique series of technique and repertory classes in various dance vocabularies and improvisation methodologies, an informal presentation of performance ideas from the three featured artists, and informal discussions with the campus community around new notions of contemporary performance. All events happening at Swarthmore College are free and open to the public. More details are available online: http://www.jumatatu.org/center-gravity-rhythm
Sponsored by the William J. Cooper Foundation, Philadelphia’s FringeArts and Mascher Space Co-Op. Additional classes hosted by Mascher Space Co-Op. Additional performances of SOUL PROJECT will be in the Philadelphia FringeArts program.
CHOPIN WITHOUT PIANO
Created by CENTRALA (Warsaw)
Directed by Michał Zadara ‘99
Text by Barbara Wysocka and Michał Zadara
Performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
Conducted by Bassem Akiki
Performances in Polish with English supertitles
Saturday, October 24, 2015, 8:00 pm
Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College
Michał Zadara and Barbara Wysocka are among the pre-eminent Polish theater artists of their generation, and are active internationally in both theater and opera. Zadara, who first studied theater and directing at Swarthmore, has emerged as Poland’s most significant and innovative director of the Polish classical and contemporary repertory. Wysocka’s accomplished acting and directing career was preceded by eight years of classical violin training in Germany. Together they founded CENTRALA to create works that cross traditional lines of performance and artistic practice.
Chopin Without Piano is a large-scale performance piece in which the piano parts for Fryderyk Chopin’s two piano concertos (Opus 11 in E minor and Opus 21 in F minor) are replaced by Wysocka performing a virtuosic monologue in Polish with English supertitles. Wysocka captures Chopin as a dynamic living presence, using fragments of the composer’s letters, biographies, and commentaries on his work. The orchestral scores will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, led by Bassem Akiki, a leading Polish conductor affiliated with Warsaw’s National Opera, who is making his American debut. Chopin Without Piano presents new possibilities for theater and music to intersect in performance, and reveals how classical composers and music remain alive and relevant for us today.
Considered a contemporary classic in Poland, Chopin Without Piano has been successfully performed in both concert venues and theaters. The performances of Chopin Without Piano in Swarthmore and Philadelphia mark the first international tour of the work, and will be followed by an engagement at Arts Emerson in Boston.
[Following the Swarthmore performance, there are four additional performances at FringeArts in Philadelphia:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Oct. 28-30, 8 pm nightly
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 pm (with roundtable discussion afterwards)
FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia
$25 general admission/$15 Student and 25-and-under
For tickets: FringeArts.com/215-413-1318]
The students will learn choreography from the company's active repertoire of works. For intermediate students.
Tara Keating
Associate Artistic Director, BalletX
TaraKeating began her training at the age of seven at the Pioneer ValleyBallet in Northampton, Massachusetts. She then attended the JuilliardSchool, under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, where she received aBFA in dance. While there, she was awarded the Jerome L. GreeneFellowship and the Most Outstanding Dance Major award from the NationalDance Association. She has danced professionally with American RepertoryBallet, "Tharp!" and as a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet.Throughout her career she has originated roles in world premieres bysuch renowned choreographers as Jorma Elo, Jodie Gates, Annabelle LopezOchoa, Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Helen Pickett, Septime Webre, andChristopher Wheeldon, among others.
In 2005, she became a foundingmember of BalletX, and danced in nearly every performance until herretirement in 2012. She has staged numerous ballets on BalletX, and hasset Neenan's work on Pennsylvania Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, OregonBallet Theatre, Nevada Ballet Theatre, SUNY at Purchase College andBucknell University. Tara was the Producing Director in 2006 and 2007for Shut Up and Dance, an annual benefit for MANNA, created bythe Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. She was also the recipient of a 2002City Paper Choice Award. She is on faculty at The University of theArts, Philadelphia Dance Academy and is a guest teacher at variousschools in the region. Tara served as BalletX's Artistic Coordinator andBallet Mistress from 2011 to 2013, and was named Associate ArtisticDirector in February 2014.
BalletX, Philadelphia’s internationallyacclaimed contemporary ballet company and resident dance company of TheWilma Theater, will present an evening of four works on January 29 in the LPAC Pearson-Hall Theatre at 8PM. An additional lecture with BalletX's collaborator, Rosie Langabeer, will take place on January 28. For more information, go towww.swarthmore.edu/dance-program or check out our Facebookpage:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swarthmore-College-Dance-Program/20084006....
On Thursday, January 28, internationally-recognized composer Rosie Langabeer will lead a discussion of music and dance collaborations from 4:30-6 PM in Room 407 of the Lang Music Building. Langabeer is an award-winning composer and experimental musician who creates music for dance, theater, and musical ensembles and splits time between the States and New Zealand. Langabeer collaborated for over a year with BalletX Founder Matthew Neenan in the creation of “Sunset, o639”, an evening-length work created for BalletX and premiered in 2014. Her score and musical performance garnered rave reviews from The New York Times Dance Critic, Alastair Macaulay.
Additional workshops with BalletX will take place on January 27 and the company will perform on January 29 in the LPAC Pearson-Hall Theater. For more information, go to www.swarthmore.edu/dance-program or check out our Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swarthmore-College-Dance-Program/20084006....
The Department of Music and Dance and the William J. Cooper Foundation at Swarthmore College present BalletX: The Future of Contemporary Ballet on Friday, January 29th, 2016 at 8 PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Pearson-Hall Theatre. The performance of four works will be free and open to the public without reservations.
BalletX, Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet company, unites distinguished choreographers with an outstanding company of world-class dancers to forge new works of athleticism, emotion, and grace. Founded in 2005 by Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan, and now under the direction of Cox as Artistic and Executive Director, BalletX challenges the boundaries of classical ballet by encouraging formal experimentation while preserving rigorous technique. Currently celebrating its tenth year, BalletX has expanded its repertoire with over 50 world premieres by internationally renowned artists.
BalletX is the Resident Dance Company of The Wilma Theater and offers three annual performance series in Philadelphia. Now recognized worldwide for its unique repertoire, the company participates in growing numbers of national and international tours, including performances at prestigious venues and festivals such as The Joyce Theater in New York City, Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado, Laguna Dance Festival in California, Festival de Ballet in Colombia, Ballet EXPO in South Korea, Sweet Pea Festival in Montana, Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis, and DANCECleveland, among others.
In addition to the Friday evening performance, BalletX Artistic and Executive Director Christine Cox will teach the Ballet III class from 11:30-1 PM on Wednesday, January 27th, 2016 in the Boyer Dance Studio in LPAC. Associate Artistic Director Tara Keating will offer a BalletX Repertory Workshop and discussion from 4:30-6:30 PM in the Boyer studio for interested intermediate and advanced dance students. The students will learn choreography from the company’s active repertoire of works.
On Thursday, January 28, internationally-recognized composer Rosie Langabeer will lead a discussion of music and dance collaborations from 4:30-6 PM in Room 407 of the Lang Music Building. Langabeer is an award-winning composer and experimental musician who creates music for dance, theater, and musical ensembles and splits time between the States and New Zealand. Langabeer collaborated for over a year with BalletX Founder Matthew Neenan in the creation of “Sunset, o639”, an evening-length work created for BalletX and premiered in 2014. Her score and musical performance garnered rave reviews from The New York Times Dance Critic, Alastair Macaulay.
Concurrent Exhibitions
List Gallery and McCabe Library March 2–April 3
Open to the Public
Workshop will focus on Afro-Brazilian drum and dance traditions of northeast Brazil, such as samba, samba-reggae, and orixá-based movement.
Participants should wear movement-appropriate clothing.
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
Synopsis: The Summer of Gods (Drama, 2014, 21’)
The Summer of Gods is a short film about a young girl named Lili who unites with her Afro-Brazilian religious ancestry on a summer visit with family to their ancestral village in rural Brazil. During her stay, she encounters Orishas (African gods) who help her find peace with a gift that has previously vexed her. The film is set in the Northeast of Brazil where Afro-Brazilian religious traditions remain strong. Lili's Grandma upholds Orisha traditions as an admired local priestess, but to ensure these traditions carry on after she passes, the gifted Lili is led on a mystical adventure of initiation through a nearby forest. http://www.thesummerofgods.com/
Synopsis: Rhythmic Uprising (Documentary, 2009, 58’)
Rhythmic Uprising is a documentary film that shows how cultural leaders in Bahia, Brazil use vibrant Afro-Brazilian traditions to fight racism, social exclusion, and poverty. The film outlines the transformative powers of a large movement of grassroots cultural youth projects that make up the latest chapter in a creative struggle for racial equality that began four centuries ago with Brazil's first communities of freed slaves called "Quilombos". Traditions featured in the film include capoeira, candomblé, blocos afros, theater, and circus. http://www.rhythmicuprising.org/
Screening will be followed by a talk back with Eliciana Nascimento, writer/director of The Summer of Gods, and co-producer of Rhythmic Uprising
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
Capoeira Angola is an Afro-Brazilian martial art rooted in Bantu culture, developed by enslaved Africans struggling for liberation in colonial Brazil. Integrating the elements of movement, percussion, and song/oral history, Capoeira Angola serves as a social tool for cultural resistance, empowerment, and community building.
Participants should wear athletic pants and sneakers.
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
This panel discussion will consider multiple perspectives on how traditional and contemporary diasporic arts and cultural practices have been utilized as a means of cultural resistance, with a specific focus on the African-Brazilian contribution to Black Consciousness.
Moderator: Lela Aisha Jones
Panelists: Dr. Paula Barreto, Dr. Kenneth Dossar, Eliciana Nascimento, Dandha da Hora
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
Synopsis: Of Slaves and Saints (Documentary, 2014, 27’)
In the confines of the outback of Bahia, every 12th of October, men and women gather to celebrate the Langa of Our Lady Aparecida. To the fervent sounds of prayers and traditional music, they dance and sing throughout the night, expressing their devotion to the Black saint. But this mystical scenario conceals sad stories. These are stories of pain and suffering. Stories of enslaved men and women, told by the Black people of the region, the way they heard from their grandparents and great-grandparents. http://escravosesantos.com.br/
Synopsis: Who We Really Are (Documentary, 2015, 76’)
African Brazilian Master Roxinho comes to Australia in 2006 and starts teaching the art form of Capoeira Angola to a group of troubled young African refugees who go to Cabramatta High School. The school is uncertain of what to make of this program. Some fiercely resist it, arguing it is not helping students improve their behavior and literacy. Others defend it, arguing the program will help African refugees with no prior education to better integrate into Australia. The filmmaker becomes deeply involved with participants as he follows, in a participatory filmmaking style, the unfolding stories of migration and African diaspora that emerge from in between the walls of a multicultural school in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. http://www.pauloalberton.com/
*Screening will be followed by a talkback session with Marcio de Abreu, director/producer of "Of Slaves and Saints," and Paulo Alberton, director of "Who We Really Are."
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
The talk will focus on the formation of Brazilian national identity through the use of African cultural models such as Candomblé and Capoeira. It will also look at the important different African traditions, e.g. Yoruba and Congo traditions, and their struggle for cultural authenticity and contemporary viability.
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
This panel discussion will consider the legacy of Black Consciousness in the context of systematic racism, racial politics, and Black identity in both Brazil and the U.S.
Moderator: Dr. Brenda Gottschild-Dixon
Panelists: Dr. Paula Barreto, Prof. C Daniel Dawson, Márcio de Abreu
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
Accompanied by live vintage visuals and featuring guest musicians, dancers, and capoeiristas from Brazil and the U.S., The Mandinga Experiment is an amalgamation of Shaw’s original compositions and contemporary interpretations of traditional Afro-Brazilian rhythms and songs, paying special tribute to the rich legacy of Capoeira Angola.
Consciência Negra: A Legacy of Black Consciousness in Brazil
3-day Symposium and Workshop Series at Swarthmore College
March 16-18, 2016
This 3-day symposium will commemorate Dia da Consciência Negra (Brazilian Day of Black Consciousness) and will focus on themes of race, identity, and black consciousness in Brazil and the African Diaspora. Through interdisciplinary panel discussions, film screenings, lecture, Afro-Brazilian drum/dance & capoeira workshops, and an evening-length musical performance, the Swarthmore community will have various opportunities to engage with invited scholars, artists, and cultural workers from both Brazil and the U.S. who have a vested interest in promoting racial equity, social justice, and cultural resistance. The symposium will culminate with a captivating live musical and interdisciplinary performance, The Mandinga Experiment, conceived and led by Alex Shaw ’00.
A talk by Afro-Cuban visual artist Elio Rodríguez
March 24, 2016
7:00 pm
Kohlberg 116
Sponsored by:
The Spanish Section of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department
The William J. Cooper Foundation
The Latin American and Latino Studies Program
Elio Rodríguez is one of the most recognized names in the new generation of Afro-Cuban artists. His work deals with the question of identity and self-representation in the face of preconceptions, stereotypes, and judgments about a particular culture, race, gender or social circumstance. In his art, this issue is generally framed in the context of Caribbean popular culture. Through the use of humor, parody and intertextuality, Elio’s work displays and critiques common clichés, labels and preconceptions associated with Caribbean culture, particularly in terms of racial and sexual representations. The ambivalence of genres also poses the question if these images, produced from inside the culture, reinforce or resist archetypical representations. In his talk, he will reflect on these issues, particularly on the commodification and labeling of race, sex, and masculinity.
Elio Rodríguez’s work is currently featured in the exhibit “Drapetomanía: Grupo Antillano and the Art of Afro-Cuba,” in the African American Museum of Philadelphia. (www.aampmuseum.org/
For more information on Elio Rodríguez’s projects and art visit: www.machoenterprise.com
The Legacy and Impact of Brown v. Board of Education
Keynote address by Lani Guinier and Kenneth Mack, professors at Harvard Law School
The year 2014 marks both the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the Court’s decision rejecting the “separate but equal” principle that had governed the Court’s treatment of race matters since the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. Although the Brown decision applied specifically to education, its promise was to undermine the legal foundation upon which systems of segregation and racial inequality rested. Brown struck down the legitimacy of laws that segregated and differentially treated citizens based on race, and this measure opened doors to many previously excluded groups, including women and the differently abled. Our commemoration of this landmark decision is twofold. Through a symposium and following panel discussions, we hope to highlight both the positive social changes resulting from the passage of civil rights legislation and the limitations of judicial solutions to redress inequalities in our social system.
Lenape language workshop with Shelley DePaul - 3:30 p.m.
Lecture by Ann Dapice - 4:30 p.m.
Ann Dapice, Ph.D., is a member of both Lenape and Cherokee tribes and is director of education and research for T.K. Wolf Inc., a 501(c)(3) American Indian organization. Her research focuses on the challenges of Type II diabetes, alcoholism, and violence in Native American communities.
In 2008, Dapice attended a conference at the University of Pennsylvania titled Endangered Languages: Exploring the Interface between Academia and Native American Communities. This conference brought the only college-level Lenape language course in the world to Swarthmore’s campus. In this lecture, Dapice will discuss the sociocultural implications of Native American language extinction and the importance of revitalizing these languages. Preceding the talk, Shelley DePaul, instructor of Swarthmore’s Lenape language course, will conduct a language workshop.
Lecture by Edward Glaeser, professor of Economics at Harvard University
With more than half the world’s population living in urbanized areas, it’s becoming ever more crucial to understand the role of cities as centers of information, capital, and cultural exchange. Glaeser, an urban economist and author of the best-seller Triumph of the City, discusses issues such as urban agglomeration, housing policy, quality of life, and innovation. He has devised new ways to answer the question: How does geographical space shape activities, opportunities, and social interactions? A primary thread in his work is the claim that population density spurs creativity and innovation, benefits the environment, and helps raise workers out of poverty in rapidly growing, so-called “developing” urban centers like Mumbai, Lagos, and Dhaka.
Lunchtime discussion with Prof. Glaeser at Sharples
Presenter: Kate Speer ’08, University of Colorado ’14 (MFA in dance)
Speer’s overarching research question is how to create active citizens, a term that combines a sense of presence that is engaged (active) with a sense of responsibility to reciprocity within the community (citizen). This question, and the resulting theories, ideas, and solutions that spring from it, feed into her pedagogic, choreographic, and scholarly practices.
An hourlong movement class in the style of David Dorfman followed by a 30-minute discussion of his pedagogy practices will reveal Dorfman’s beliefs and values with their inherent practices of radical democracy and humanism and the political implications behind his pedagogical choices.
Roundtable discussion: Developing a Context for ActionPresenter: Teya Sepinuck, Founder and Director of Theatre of Witness
In this three-hour experiential workshop, participants will become familiar with the 12 foundational guiding principles of Theatre of Witness while exploring both autobiographical and partnered storytelling. Using creative imagery, writing, movement, and script, participants will have a variety of opportunities to delve into issues central to their lives. A safe environment, from which these stories will be mined and performed, will offer a firsthand taste of the power of Theatre of Witness.
Following up to David Dorfman's PROPHETS OF FUNK concert on 2/20 in the LPAC Pearson-Hall Theater, Kate Speer '08 will lecture about the work of David Dorfman and the music of Sly and the Family Stone.
A PERsentation that presents an inside reading of David Dorfman'sPROPHETS OF FUNK, revealing how the work positions Funk composer andmusician Sly Stewart as a charismatic prophet and transfers thatcharisma to the audience. By using the rhythms of Funk, Dorfman and thecast draw upon Pentecostal practices of testifying and transcendence,which are modes of receiving God on a personal level. Additionally, thework suggests that if charisma can be caught, like catching the spiritin Pentecostal worship, then there is the possibility for the audienceto leave the theatre with their own charisma. Thus, this dance serves asan example for activists and artists alike that charisma is a potentand palatable method to shift their audience’s perspective so that it isin line with their message and to potentially ignite social change.
Kate Speer '08 says of herself:
"I am a dance artist who relishes a good beat that sends my sweaty,exhausted body into motion, who choreographs huge landscapes thatcrescendo into mountains and dissolve into streams, and who writes inorder to open my mind to the body's subtle, hidden meanings.
Withinthe discipline of dance, I identify as a scholartist, a term that evokesa synthesis of choreography, performance, and scholarship. As achoreographer, I live at the intersection of social activism andartistic production by merging theatrical storytelling with athletic,momentum-based movement in order to engage the audience’s visceral andemotional capacities."
Part of the RADICAL DEMOCRACY AND HUMANISM series.
LANG MUSIC 204
10:30AM
"I am a dance artist who relishes a good beat that sends my sweaty,exhausted body into motion, who choreographs huge landscapes thatcrescendo into mountains and dissolve into streams, and who writes inorder to open my mind to the body's subtle, hidden meanings.
Within the discipline of dance, I identify as a scholartist,a term that evokes a synthesis of choreography, performance, andscholarship. As a choreographer, I live at the intersection of socialactivism and artistic production by merging theatrical storytelling withathletic, momentum-based movement in order to engage the audience’svisceral and emotional capacities." http://www.katespeerdance.org/about.html
- action logic
- edgy actions
- using actions leadership development
- maximizing the empowerment potential of the actions you design
- one-offs vs. campaigns.
The workshop includes question time on the use of nonviolent direct action compared with other techniques for social change.
George Lakey's first arrest was in the ‘sixties for a civil rights sit-in; in 2013 he was arrested in a protest against mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. He co-founded a number of social change groups including Movement for a New Society, the Pennsylvania Jobs with Peace Campaign, Men Against Patriarchy, Training for Change, and Earth Quaker Action Team. He has led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents, for a wide variety of groups including homeless people, prisoners, Russian lesbians and gays, Sri Lankan monks, Burmese guerrilla soldiers, striking steel workers, South African activists, Canadian academics, and leaders of indigenous peoples brought together by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Geneva.
Panel discussion on improvisation and the liberal arts moderated by Mark Lomanno. Panelists include Vijay Iyer, Swarthmore faculty, and invited visiting scholars.
The Sound Breaks symposium highlights the intersections of art, culture, and social advocacy with a focus on improvisation as a practical and pedagogical imperative to liberal arts education. Through a daylong series of workshops, classroom visits, and an interdisciplinary panel discussion, students will be encouraged to explore the possibilities that improvisation and improvised music can be beneficial to their academic studies, advocacy work, career opportunities, and postbaccalaureate life. Sound Breaks culminates in a concert by pianist Vijay Iyer, a 2013 MacArthur fellow, professor of the arts at Harvard, and leading scholar in the field of critical improvisation studies. Iyer will perform with Tirtha—a collaborative trio that fuses jazz and Indian music; and with his piano trio in a Philadelphia-area premiere of their new recording.
Double concert by Tirtha and the Vijay Iyer Trio
The Sound Breaks symposium highlights the intersections of art, culture, and social advocacy with a focus on improvisation as a practical and pedagogical imperative to liberal arts education. Through a daylong series of workshops, classroom visits, and an interdisciplinary panel discussion, students will be encouraged to explore the possibilities that improvisation and improvised music can be beneficial to their academic studies, advocacy work, career opportunities, and postbaccalaureate life. Sound Breaks culminates in a concert by pianist Vijay Iyer, a 2013 MacArthur fellow, professor of the arts at Harvard, and leading scholar in the field of critical improvisation studies. Iyer will perform with Tirtha—a collaborative trio that fuses jazz and Indian music; and with his piano trio in a Philadelphia-area premiere of their new recording.
SKINS & SONGS & STEPS creates multitextured contemporary compositions that link the past and present, the ceremonial and the secular. This percussion, vocal, and dance event brings together Philadelphia's Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra and Philip Hamilton's Voices with dance forms from all over the globe including South Indian Bharatanatyam, West African dance, hip-hop, and hoofing (tap dancing).
Skins:
Spoken Hand is a 16-piece percussion orchestra that unifies the drumming traditions of Afro-Cuban bata, North Indian tabla, Afro-Brazilian samba, and West African djembe. Drummers are Joe Bryant, Ron Howerton, Tom Lowery, Josh Robinson, Alex Shaw (Brazilian Samba); Kenneth Fauntleroy, Ishmael Jackson, John Wilkie (Cuban Bata); Mike Nevin, Dan Scholnick, Lenny Seidman (North Indian Tabla); Daryl Burgee, Chuckie Joseph, Omar Harrison, Steve Jackson Jr, Steve Jackson Sr. (West African Djembe).
&
Songs:
Led by Philip Hamilton, Voices is an a cappella choir that combines the influences of global vocal tones and techniques such as Tuvan throat singing, Congolese mouth clicking, Balinese monkey chant, and hip-hop's beatbox with the singing styles of doo-wop, Bulgarian choirs, gospel, barbershop quartet, South African miners' songs, and Gregorian chant. Vocalists include Patricia Antunes, Harry Bayron, Alexander Elisa, Philip Hamilton, Gio Moretti, Giovana Robinson, Patricia Silveira, and Elisabete da Veiga.
&
Steps:
Dancers include Viji Rao's Three Aksha Dance Company (Vijay Rao, Director & Choreographer with Kristy Ghose, Rochitha Nathan, Sitara Soundararajan, Vidya Sukumar), a West African/hip-hop duo from Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble (James Ali Wilkie & Eddie Smallwood), and rumba tap dancer, Max Pollak.
SKINS & SONGS & STEPS is hosting a Master Class centered around hip-hop dance and drum rhythms in the LPAC Troy Dance Studio (LPAC 002) on Thursday, October 24th, 2013 from 4:30 - 6:00PM. This is event is free and open to interested students, but please contact Professor Kim Arrow (karrow1@swarthmore.edu) at x8670 or email our administrative office at dance@swarthmore.edu if you would like more information.
Play/Pause is an evening-length work for six dancers set to an original score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang performed live by members of the groundbreaking electric-guitar quartet Dither.
In Play/Pause, Marshall ignores the distinction between high art and pop culture and embraces their collisions. Popular dance forms and indie rock music are the undercurrent for an exploration of the distance and intimacy inherent in our consumption of pop culture. Marshall builds on the vocabulary of popular video dance by introducing complex structures and unfamiliar contexts, exploring questions about our obsession with celebrity and creating a world in which movement, touch, and breath speak as loudly as the hyperreal and the larger than life. Cut across by a vocabulary of rock-guitar riffs and popular dance moves, this work is the ultimate mash-up: Postmodern dance-theater meets rock ’n’ roll on both real and virtual stages.
Free and open to the public.
This event is one of several planned during the 2014 calendar year to celebrate Swarthmore's Sesquicentennial. Explore the full list at: http://swat150.swarthmore.edu/sesqui-events-1-.html
Join Director, Dan Rothenberg '95, Professor Allen Kuharski, andmembers of the TWELFTH NIGHT cast for a post show discussion abouttackling Shakespeare and Pig Iron's techniques.
From Director Dan Rothenberg ‘95: "After 15 years of making originalperformance experiments, the next hurdle was to see if [Pig Iron] couldapply our physical ensemble approach to a classic script and leteverything we care about live within a very set form. Experimentaltheater is about opening up new ways of seeing; could we sneak this intoa Shakespeare play without deconstructing the thing? All ourexperiments with clown theater, with cabaret, and with dance theaterinform the way people speak and move in this production, resulting in arough, wholly American Twelfth Night."
In addition to perfromances of TWELFTH NIGHT on March 1st and 2nd, Pig Iron will be joining us for some other events. Check it out!
JoinAlumni Sarah Sanford '99, Dito van Reigersberg '94, and Asst. ProfessorAlex Torra for Workshops on Pig Iron's performance technique: Tuesday through Thursday, March 4th - 6th, 7:30-10:30PM.
“Constructing Nature: What Art Reveals” March 5, 4:30 p.m.
Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema
Reception to follow: 5:30–7 p.m.
Stacy Levy’s art reveals the beauty of unseen patterns in nature and the presence of natural forces in our built environments. Many of her recent projects redirect storm water runoff to reduce erosion and pollution. Her works invite viewers to become more aware of water quality and flow in diverse environments ranging from acid-mine drainage to urban streams and suburban watersheds. Levy graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in sculpture and a minor in forestry. She earned an M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She is the recipient of many awards including the Excellence in Estuary Award and the Public Art Year in Review Award as well as grants from the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and a New Forms Regional Grant. Her many public-art commissions have transformed diverse sites from Niigata, Japan, to the Delaware River, Philadelphia, and Hudson River Park in Manhattan.
This event is one of several planned during the 2014 calendar year to celebrate Swarthmore's Sesquicentennial. Explore the full list at: http://swat150.swarthmore.edu/sesqui-events-1-.html
Sinan Antoon’s lecture will give a bird’s-eye view of Iraqi culture today. If some of the destructive effects of the United States invasion on Iraq’s politics, society, and economy have been addressed by now, the same cannot be said of its effects on contemporary cultural production. This lecture asks: What has become of Iraqi cultural production since the invasion and occupation? What are the major dynamics or cultural institutions, if any, regulating or influencing cultural production? What sort of cultural hegemonies are in place? Have the cultural practices of the previous era disappeared or re-emerged under a new guise?
Sinan Antoon, associate professor at the Gallatin School of New York University and fellow of the university’s Hagob Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, has authored The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj and Sukhf and many essays on the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish. Antoon is also a poet and a novelist. His essays and creative writing have appeared in major Arab and international journals and publications, including The New York Times, Aljazeera.net, The Nation, Middle East Report, Journal of Palestine Studies, Journal of Arabic Literature, The Massachusetts Review, World Literature Today, Ploughshares, and the Washington Square Journal. He has published two collections of poetry in Arabic and one collection in English titled The Baghdad Blues. His novels include I`jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, and The Pomegranate Alone.
Tom Uttech's vibrant paintings portray woodlands teeming with the wildlife he observes in northern Wisconsin and Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Blending close observation and memory with visionary invention, he evokes liminal states—moments infused with heightened awareness, drama, and imminent transformation. Building on the transcendental landscape tradition of painters such as Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and Charles Burchfield, Uttech's work is especially poignant in the context of contemporary ecological crises.
Uttech, born in 1942, has mounted more than 35 one-person exhibitions of his work since it was included in the 1975 Whitney Biennial. His work has been collected by major museums, including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., and he has won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.
A selection of his photos will be on display concurrently in McCabe Library.
The performance is as close as anyone can come to actually being in an Anglo-Saxon hall and hearing the poem chanted in its original language. Modern translations are projected onto a screen beside or above the singer so that the audience can follow the meanings of the Old English poetry.
One reviewer says, "When Benjamin Bagby speaks, it is as if a thousand years have disappeared." Another says, "He is a captivating storyteller who molds each word like a carefully carved stone."
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Bill Daley is internationally acclaimed for his massive and visually complex slab-built vessels. His architectonic forms explore varied relationships between interior and exterior geometries.
Synthesizing ancient spiritual symbols and elements of sacred architecture—especially the vesica pisces form of overlapping arcs—Daley’s vessels are both iconic and inventive. As the artist states: “I’m part of a continuing ritual that’s very, very old. Past, present, and future flow through it in a single act of communal union.”
Daley’s numerous honors include the American Craft Council Aileen Osborne Webb Award for Consummate Craftsmanship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and election to the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art.
Daley’s work can be found in distinguished collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea.
A revered art educator, Daley taught for more than 30 years at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and has received the James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Educator Award.
This lecture is offered in conjunction with the List Gallery Exhibit of Vesica Explorations on display from Sept. 4–Oct. 31, 2009.
*David Desser, Professor Emeritus of Cinema Studies, University of Illinois: Legacy of Katsuben: Narration and Narrativity in The Films of Kurosawa Akira
*Discussant: Timothy Corrigan, Professor of Cinema Studies, University of Pennsylvania
In addition to the symposium, a silent film screening with katsudô benshi, a performance by Sakamoto Raikô will take place on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
The Adventurer (1917), featuring Charlie Chaplin, 20 min.
Orochi/The Serpent (1925), featuring Bandô Tsumasaburô, 75 min.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Heyman is a 2009 Pew Fellowship recipient.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Heyman is a 2009 Pew Fellowship recipient.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Information about the U.N. Intellectual History Project can be found here.
Cooper Series events are free and open to the public; there is no reserved seating. Event details may be subject to change without notice.
Trio Kavkasia —three Americans who perform the traditional vocal music of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia— bring to the College the exquisite, ethereal beauty of ancient liturgical music and the striking, earthy exuberance of everyday work songs as well as the fascinating cultural and historical context of Georgian folk traditions. In three CDs, these accomplished musicians and musical scholars have traveled ever further into the heart of Georgian tuning mysteries, with vigorous improvisation. Ted Levin of BBC Music Magazine called Kavkasia’s latest release The Fox and the Lion “lush and resonant,” and The New York Times described its “exotic, beautifully modulated style ... [and] haunting beauty.”
Trio Kavkasia —three Americans who perform the traditional vocal music of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia— bring to the College the exquisite, ethereal beauty of ancient liturgical music and the striking, earthy exuberance of everyday work songs as well as the fascinating cultural and historical context of Georgian folk traditions. In three CDs, these accomplished musicians and musical scholars have traveled ever further into the heart of Georgian tuning mysteries, with vigorous improvisation. Ted Levin of BBC Music Magazine called Kavkasia’s latest release The Fox and the Lion “lush and resonant,” and The New York Times described its “exotic, beautifully modulated style ... [and] haunting beauty.”
Nationally and internationally recognized for both his draftsmanship and inventive imagery, Paone's portraits of poets and musicians explore traditional themes with an experimental sensibility. Drawing lessons from the unexpected juxtapositions and textures of collage aesthetics, hisfigures have a hybrid and visionary quality.
Whether responding to the Katrinadisaster, or portraying the lyricism of a musical trio, the artist investigates the way varied arts—poetry, music, dance, theater, and painting—find theircreative wellsprings in the human condition.
Paone has received numerous grants and awards including two Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grants and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.
His work has been exhibited internationally and is in distinguished collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.
Artist’s Lecture:Thursday, Oct. 2, 4:30 p.m., Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema
Gallery reception tofollow, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Bernard Woma is a true cultural treasure from
Oct. 2, 2 – 5 p.m., workshop on African music and dance, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 3, 2 – 5 p.m., workshop on gyil maintenance and repair, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 3, 8 p.m., concert: The Music and Dance of Ghana, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 4, 10 a.m.– 4 p.m., master class on gyil performance, Lang Concert Hall
Nationally and internationally recognized for both hisdraftsmanship and inventive imagery, Paone's portraits of poets and musiciansexplore traditional themes with an experimental sensibility. Drawing lessonsfrom the unexpected juxtapositions and textures of collage aesthetics, hisfigures have a hybrid and visionary quality.
Whether responding to the Katrinadisaster, or portraying the lyricism of a musical trio, the artist investigatesthe way varied arts—poetry, music, dance, theater, and painting—find theircreative wellsprings in the human condition. Paone has received numerous grants and awards including two LouisComfort Tiffany Foundation Grants and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.
Hiswork has been exhibited internationally and is in distinguished collectionsincluding The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museumin London, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.
Gallery reception tofollow, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Bernard Woma is a true cultural treasure from
Oct. 2, 2 – 5 p.m., workshop on African music and dance, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 3, 2 – 5 p.m., workshop on gyil maintenance and repair, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 3, 8 p.m., concert: The Music and Dance of Ghana, Lang Concert Hall
Oct. 4, 10 a.m.– 4 p.m., master class on gyil performance, Lang Concert Hall
Hailed by The New York Times as “startlingly imaginative,” Shen Wei Dance Arts invests in interdisciplinary, cross-cultural performance for forwardlooking audiences. Each work by Artistic Director Shen Wei develops an original dance vocabulary incorporating visual and storytelling elements from the theater, Chinese opera, Eastern philosophy, traditional and contemporary visual art, and sculpture. The result, which is at turns figurative and abstract, combines performance with strong scenic elements to create a “fascinating fantasy in movement” (Herald Sun).
Junot Díaz’s fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Best American Short Stories. His first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), was greeted with rapturous reviews, including Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times who called it “a book that decisively establishes him as one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive and irresistible new voices.” Oscar Wao was subsequently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle’s Best Novel. His debut story collection Drown (1996) was also met with unprecedented acclaim. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey, Díaz lives in New York City and is a professor of creative writing at MIT.
Orchestra 2001 celebrates the life and extraordinary importance of French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger as a teacher of young American composers with works by three of her most outstanding American students: Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, and Elliott Carter. Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday will be celebrated with two of his most recent and thorniest works featuring
Lecture and exhibition Michael Olszewski’s recent fiber constructions and paintings spring from deeply personal responses to issues ofintimacy, fate, and life’s passing.
Integrating influences as diverse as Pre-Columbian textiles and Russian Constructivism, his original works reveal an emotionally expressive range of materials and traditions including Japanese shibori resist dyeing, appliqué, embroidery, and crochet as well as traditional drawing and painting techniques.
Olszewski’s deeply moving works can be found in major collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the
Jan. 22–Feb. 25, exhibition, List Gallery
Jan. 22, 4:30 p.m., artist’s lecture, Lang Performing ArtsCenter Cinema
Jan. 22, 5:30–7 p.m., reception, List Gallery
apackar1@swarthmore.edu
Lecture and exhibition Michael Olszewski’s recent fiberconstructions and paintings spring from deeply personal responses to issues ofintimacy, fate, and life’s passing.
Integrating influences as diverse asPre-Columbian textiles and Russian Constructivism, his original works reveal anemotionally expressive range of materials and traditions including Japaneseshibori resist dyeing, appliqué, embroidery, and crochet as well as traditionaldrawing and painting techniques.
Olszewski’s deeply moving works can be foundin major collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the NationalMuseum of American Art, and the
Jan. 22–Feb. 25, exhibition, List Gallery
Jan. 22, 4:30 p.m., artist’s lecture, Lang Performing ArtsCenter Cinema
Jan. 22, 5:30–7 p.m., reception, List Gallery
apackar1@swarthmore.edu
With inventive choreography, original music compositions, and evocative metaphors, the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company “offers [the] audience the dance equivalent of a cherished book of family photographs” (The New York Times). A child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman feels an intense connection to her history and what it means to the future, both with regard to the Jewish diaspora and to the world community. The Legacy Project brings together Dorfman’s family stories, Jewish history, and a universal struggle for identity through dances that serve as metaphors for the greater truths of the human experience.
With inventive choreography, original music compositions, and evocative metaphors, the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company “offers [the] audience the dance equivalent of a cherished book of family photographs” (The New York Times). A child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman feels an intense connection to her history and what it means to the future, both with regard to the Jewish diaspora and to the world community. The Legacy Project brings together Dorfman’s family stories, Jewish history, and a universal struggle for identity through dances that serve as metaphors for the greater truths of the human experience.
With inventive choreography, original music compositions, and evocative metaphors, the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company “offers [the] audience the dance equivalent of a cherished book of family photographs” (The New York Times). A child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman feels an intense connection to her history and what it means to the future, both with regard to the Jewish diaspora and to the world community. The Legacy Project brings together Dorfman’s family stories, Jewish history, and a universal struggle for identity through dances that serve as metaphors for the greater truths of the human experience.
Johannes Wieland’s choreography employs an architecturally driven understanding of bodies, movement, and space, probing deeply into the human psyche to create an abstract, metaphorically rich approach to performance art.
Cited as one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, Wieland delves into the philosophical realm of lies and happiness with the evening-length work newyou.
Featuring five performers and a collaborating videographer, this performance reveals true happiness and its associated lies. As stated most recently by Deutsche Bühne, “Johannes Wieland’s world is neither simple nor ideal.”
Symposium and comedy performance
Humor research is a high-powered multidisciplinary field inwhich linguistics has played a leading role for more than a quarter century.
The dominant linguistic theory of humor treats it as a clever juxtaposition oftwo opposing and partially overlapping scripts. Groups that share the samescripts’ availability for humor bond by laughing together at everything andeverybody outside—and sometimes inside as well.
Victor Raskin, distinguishedprofessor of English and linguistics at
Hislecture will be followed by a performance featuring four comediennes: LisaAlvarado, Robin Cee, Dawn Dumont, and Lynn Jacobowitz.
The following afternoon,Raskin will lead a discussion of the previous evening’s comedy, and thecomediennes will conduct comedy workshops for those who sign up in advancethrough the Linguistics Department.
Mar. 2, 4:15 p.m., lecture, Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema
Mar. 2, 8 p.m., performance, Pearson Hall Theater, LangPerforming Arts Center
Mar. 3, 4:15 p.m., discussion/workshop,
dnapoli1@swarthmore.edu
Symposium and comedy performance
Humor research is a high-powered multidisciplinary field inwhich linguistics has played a leading role for more than a quarter century.The dominant linguistic theory of humor treats it as a clever juxtaposition oftwo opposing and partially overlapping scripts. Groups that share the samescripts’ availability for humor bond by laughing together at everything andeverybody outside—and sometimes inside as well.
Victor Raskin, distinguishedprofessor of English and linguistics at
Hislecture will be followed by a performance featuring four comediennes: LisaAlvarado, Robin Cee, Dawn Dumont, and Lynn Jacobowitz.
The following afternoon,Raskin will lead a discussion of the previous evening’s comedy, and thecomediennes will conduct comedy workshops for those who sign up in advancethrough the Linguistics Department.
Mar. 2, 4:15 p.m., lecture, Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema
Mar. 2, 8 p.m., performance, Pearson Hall Theater, LangPerforming Arts Center
Mar. 3, 4:15 p.m., discussion/workshop,
dnapoli1@swarthmore.edu
Paul Muldoon, hailed by the Times Literary Supplement as “the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War,” is an Irish poet, opera librettist, lyricist, and guitarist for the rock band Rackett as well as current poetry editor of The New Yorker. Muldoon has published 10 collections of poetry, including most recently Moy Sand and Gravel, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, and Horse Latitudes, 2006.
This indigenous Californian women’s conference will addressrace, place, culture, and continuity for
Spanning past and present, 10 of
The program includes a screening of the film In the Light ofReverence (http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/ilr.html)
Celebrated by Hilton Kramer and other critics as one of the leading figurative artists revitalizing the contemporary painting scene, John Dubrow distills lessons from tradition while offering a distinct contemporary perspective. He has won national acclaim for his large-scale oil paintings, which evoke the complex structures, spaces, and figures of the city. Ranging from delicate strokes to massive blocks of color, his virtuoso application of paint and expressive use of proportion unify his ambitious compositions. Curated by Andrea Packard, List Gallery director, this exhibition will also include a selection of his portraits of artists and literary luminaries. Born in 1958, Dubrow received a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. Currently represented by Lori Bookstein Fine Arts, N.Y., his work has been acquired by distinguished public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard University, and the National Academy of Design, New York City.
A moderated discussion about sustainability and the academy. Panelists include:
Donald Barber, associate professor of geology, Bryn Mawr College
Stephanie Boyd, manager of special projects, Williams College
Nan Jenks-Jay, dean of Environmental Affairs, Middlebury College
Karl Johnson ’83, associate professor of biology, Haverford College
David Orr, chair of the Environmental Studies program, Oberlin College
Matthew St. Clair ’97, sustainability manager, Univ. of California
E. Carr Everbach, professor of engineering, Swarthmore College, moderator
For details, visit: http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/dnapoli1/Aroundtheworld.html
Feb. 29, 8 p.m., opening keynote: Carol Padden; reception following
Mar. 1, 9 a.m., keynote: Gaurav Mathur; panel: Marie Coppola, Adam Kendon, Deborach Chen Pichler, Anne Senghas, Sandra Wood
Mar. 1, 1 p.m.; keynote: Nickson Kakiri and Amy Wilson; panel: Deborah Karp, Leila Monaghan, Karen Nakamura, Paul Scott, Jun Hui Yang
Mar. 1, 8 p.m.: keynote and poetry performance: Rachel Sutton-Spence and Paul Scott; reception following
For details, visit: http//www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/Linguistics/home.html
Mar. 1, 9 a.m., keynote: Gaurav Mathur; panel: Marie Coppola, Adam Kendon, Deborach Chen Pichler, Anne Senghas, Sandra Wood
Mar. 1, 1 p.m.; keynote: Nickson Kakiri and Amy Wilson; panel: Deborah Karp, Leila Monaghan, Karen Nakamura, Paul Scott, Jun Hui Yang
Mar. 1, 8 p.m.: keynote and poetry performance: Rachel Sutton-Spence and Paul Scott; reception following
Works by Rackstraw Downes, Yvonne Jacquette, Sharon Horvath, Sarah McEneaney, Kevin Wixted, David Kapp, and Stanley Lewis
Curated by Andrea Packard, List Gallery director, Painting Structures brings together seven distinguished American artists for whom architecture is a primary inspiration. Each artist portrays arrangements of built structures in order to express his or her distinct synthesis of visual perception and subjective experience. From Sharon Horvath’s visionary portrayals of Shea Stadium to Kevin Wixted’s abstracted cityscapes based on Florentine architecture, each artist uses specific architectural forms to explore the expressive possibilities and analytical language of painting. Harmonizing specific observation and imagination, Painting Structures reveals the poetry of the spaces we inhabit in body and spirit.
Mar. 1 to 30, exhibit, List Gallery, Lang Performing Arts Center
Mar. 4, 4:30 p.m., panel discussion: “The Poetry of Place,” with panelists Sharon Horvath, Kevin Wixted, and Sarah McEneaney, Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema
List Gallery hours: Tues. through Sun. Noon-5 p.m.
List Gallery: 610-328-7811 ~ Directions: 610-328-8001