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(05/18/06 12:34am)
With a little music and a pair of dance shoes, students can become collegiate versions of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The first summer session of ballroom dance classes began Tuesday. The ballroom dance club hosts dance parties and group lessons, allowing students to socialize, get some exercise and learn standard dance steps. \nThe ballroom dance club is one of IU's largest student-run organizations, boasting over 200 members. The social events and weekly dance classes attract students, faculty and members of the community. \nFor many, ballroom dancing is a way to get exercise and find mental reprieve during the school week. \n"I like the exercise. It's a good way to ... stay in shape, and avoid the freshman 15," said sophomore Dannielle Reeley. "Mentally, it's kind of relaxing. You can go from studying chemistry to doing something that's more active -- using another part of your brain." \nSenior Jasmin Quasniczka is president of the ballroom dancing club and will be captain of the IU Dancesport competitive team next year. She is very proud of the past year's growth in membership, both in the club and in the competitive team. At the fall call out, over 300 participants were tallied, according to club news.\n"Our team has always been a large club," Quasniczka said. "We have over 200 social members and 50 of those are actually competing members. That was one of our biggest steps this year, building up the team." \nSenior Joe Ehlers has been a member of the IU Dancesport team since his freshman year. \n"For me, it's a release from the type of stuff I do everyday," he said. "It's a really nice break during the week." \nQuazniczka and Ehlers have been competition partners for three years. Last year they placed first in the Silver Division at the Midwest Regional Championships. Then last November, the dancing duo became National Gold Finalists. In addition to practicing upwards of 16 hours a week, they and other members of the team assist in teaching other students the rudimentary techniques of ballroom dance. \nBy enrolling in dance classes, students have an opportunity to learn some of the syllabus dances used in national competitions. \nTuesday the class covered salsa and American smooth styles - American waltz, Tango and Foxtrot. However, the prerequisite for most of these classes is Introduction to Social Dance, which is held at 6:00 p.m. Fridays. Instruction covers basic steps in the Cha cha, rumba and foxtrot, as well as dance etiquette and form. All classes are held in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation room 171. For information, go to the club Web site at http://www.indiana.edu/~dance. \n"People here love to do it," said Ehlers. "It's a good time to just put everything aside and just focus on nothing but the dancing"
(04/18/06 4:27am)
Junior Stephanie Lampe stood amid her dancers, with all eyes on her. They tilted their heads as she demonstrated how they all should turn and sweep an arm to reach for a corner. "Release the head," she said, almost letting the top of her head face the floor.\nLampe is one of a group of IU ballet majors who will present their work at Ballet at the BCT: An Evening of New Choreographic Works at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.\n"It's a great opportunity to play around in the studio with ideas about movement and music," Lampe said of the workshop/performance. \nIn her piece, titled "Resonance," she explores how the music can be expressed in different ways. \n"I've been thinking a lot about how the same experience or event will affect different people in different ways," she explained.\nFor much of Lampe's piece, five dancers interweave and dart between each other, spinning, leaping or simply standing. Third-year senior Justin Zuschlag is a dancer in Lampe's piece. He smiled as he described her choreography. \n"It's very mathematical and logical, and sometimes difficult to execute," he said. \nLampe laughed at the sly reference to her double-major in math.\nSophomore Lauren Collier is also presenting her work in the workshop performance. The name of her piece, "Octus Feminis" aims to reflect the fact that her project includes all her fellow members of the class of 2008.\nIn rehearsal, Collier watched four women launch into leaps across the stage. \n"All this music is building into a big explosion," she said after another run-through. \nShe marked a leaping combination, thinking aloud to herself, "It needs an explosion, a run-run-boom."\nThe choreography for "Octus Feminis" is rooted in ballet technique, but Collier said she also draws heavily from modern dance. She had a vision of a journey in friendship for her four ballerinas. \n"The piece isn't too deep," she said. "Just about a band of friends that moves through life together, helping each other out at times, complementing one another to make life (the piece) better."\nFor most of the piece, the women dance in unison, but Collier also acknowledges the fragility of friendship.\n"Something unexpected happens," she said. "One has to be left alone. She is somewhat distraught, and then her friends come back again and help her out." \nSophomore Lucia Jimenez plays the lost friend. After a brief solo in which she frantically searches the edges of the stage, she finds her friends and they engage in a dramatic tug-of-war before joining hands in a circle. \nCollier said she appreciates learning from the challenges of being a choreographer. \n"Choreographing is a great learning tool for a young dancer," she said. "At first, it seems to be quite a daunting task. However, in the end, I always am pleasantly surprised by an expressive artwork that comes to life."\nThe Choreography Workshop is an annual student production that is free to the public at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Student choreographers choose their own music, recruit dancers, obtain costumes from the costume workshop and work on stage lighting with the stage crew. Meanwhile, dancers might voluntarily participate in upwards of five pieces for the workshop. \nDoricha Sales is a faculty member in the ballet department who has observed students grow through their participation in the annual Choreography Workshop. \n"I see definitely that some people have talent, and that these dancers are the next generation of great choreographers," she said.\nSales also noted that the workshop gives students a unique opportunity. \n"They get a chance to see the other side of dancing. They experience what our guest teachers and choreographers have to deal with ... the pressures of creating on a deadline," she said.\nLampe admitted the work is difficult sometimes, but very rewarding. \n"Sometimes the steps come easily, sometimes I agonize over four counts for days," she said. "It's definitely rewarding, though, to see all of your hard work on display"
(03/29/06 4:28am)
When Sophia Travis settled in a booth at Roots vegetarian restaurant for an interview, she got straight to her usual business. She ordered her favorite dish: sweet potato fries. Then despite the waitress's doubtful teeters at the odd combination, she ordered the house tea.\nPeculiar mixtures are nothing new to Travis, who is of Korean and Finnish descent. "I am often juxtaposing things," she said. "I get a lot of pleasure out of balancing contrast." \nTravis has made a life out of embracing variety. She said her careers include musician, piano teacher, activist and politician, to name a few. \nAnd as of January, she now also presides over the Monroe County Council. \nTravis is rather new to the scene. Her 2004 bid for County Council At-Large was her first step into political limelight. \nHer husband Gregory nicknamed her "The Velvet Steamroller" during her 2004 campaign. \n"What you see is not what you get," Greg said. By all appearances, she is "soft-spoken, and comes across as very easy-going. But there are claws beneath the fur," he said.\nPolitics, Travis said, was a new chapter in her life.\nUntil then, she had been an active musician in the community for almost a decade. She had performed for various community functions and found herself increasingly interested in the organizations that hosted the gigs. \nTravis might not have ever considered running for public office, had it not been for the persistence of Bloomington City Clerk Regina Moore. \n"She has all the right qualities that I would like to see in someone who has to make decisions at a county level," Moore said. \nMoore has known Travis for three years. In summer 2003, Moore founded the Democratic Women's Caucus, a group aimed at encouraging female participation in politics. In 2004, the group sponsored Travis's campaign for councilwoman. \n"She's a well-spoken individual," Moore said. "She thinks a lot ... and listens to a lot of different voices, then makes her decision."\nOthers agree that Travis consults with people of varying opinions with a lot of consideration. \n"Sophia does her homework, she talks to people, but -- more importantly -- she listens to people," said Susan Sandberg, a member of the Democratic Women's Caucus. \nCounty Council Vice President Mark Stoops said that Travis is a good politician because she listens but still voices her opinions. \nShe is, after all, a perpetual listener, an observer and contributor to the world of sound. She has been a musician long before she was involved in politics.\nThe fact that Travis is a musician and has only a limited amount of political experience has caused some controversy, but she said she believes her background only helps her better represent the character of her community. \n"I believe I represent a population of people with artistic sensibilities," she said, "which is part of what makes us a \ncommunity."\nTravis started taking piano lessons in the first grade while living in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., but because of her father's job in the Air Force, Travis's family was frequently relocating. Music, she said, was a pillar of stability in her life. \n"On some level, I think it was the special thing that was just for me," she said.\nAt IU, Travis majored in East Asian studies with an emphasis on Korean language and literature. She also started taking harpsichord lessons and later studied at The Early Music Institute at the School of Music. \nPerhaps Travis's earliest glimpse of political life came during her college days -- not from college, but from family. While she was in college, her father retired as an Air Force colonel and started working as a diplomat in Finland. It was during her summer visits to Finland that Travis believes she learned some invaluable social skills from watching her parents work together. \nTravis's traditional Finnish name, Taisto, means "battle" or "conflict between opposites." She takes her name to heart, she said, and finds the ability to balance conflict to be crucial to her role as council president. \n"It's an honor and a privilege to be a voice for a citizen who sees you as a person who is able to help," Travis said. \nAs president, she presides over the monthly meetings and sometimes has to moderate some heated debates. As a musician, Travis tempers the same balance. She said she places a lot of importance on ensemble work. \n"I think I'm a good follower, and a good leader," Travis said. "But when I lead, my approach is pretty gentle. I want people to feel inspired ... I'm always tapping into what I see already there." \nIn 2004, the combination of musician and politician seemed strange, even laughable, to some people. Yet, it is hardly a new concept. \nMoore remembers something Travis said not long ago. \n"You know, Thomas Jefferson was a musician"