There are not many times in life when such a clearly defined ending point is in front of you. Graduating college is one of those times. Yet for many seniors, graduation marks a time for choosing which door to go through. It is a time to take all the knowledge acquired during undergraduate years and apply them to their new lives. This is especially true for students who are graduating with an arts degree.
Nothing spells summer quite like a setting sun, a warm breeze, cool jazz and neo-primitivist art.
When Professor of Theatre and Drama George Pinney went to bed Saturday night, he was almost sure he had won an Emmy. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences had nominated Pinney and fellow choreographers Jon Vanderkolff and Jim Moore for an Emmy in Outstanding Choreography for "Blast!," the brass, percussion and dancing extravaganza that has its roots in Bloomington and has gone to London, Broadway and now the small screen, courtesy of PBS.
The style of humor offered by legendary comedian Richard Pryor can be traced back to the ancient Greek traditions of comedy and tragedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Alan McPherson said during a lecture at IU last Thursday. McPherson, a University of Iowa English professor who wrote Hue and Cry, Crabcakes and other collections of fiction, said Pryor did something few comics have done before him or since.
Alissa Koenig had chi problems. The senior didn't go to the health center, didn't consult her friends and didn't seek professional help. Instead, she cleaned her room, painted her walls and hung silky pink imitation roses around her bedroom. Disaster averted, her chi was in good shape again and life was better than ever.
The Pro Arte Singers, the premiere chamber ensemble of the IU School of Music, will perform Wednesday evening with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of the choir's conductor Paul Hillier. The concert is part of the Basically Baroque Series, sponsored by Barnes and Thornburg, and will be performed in Indianapolis at the Hilbert Circle Theatre. This is the first collaboration of the Pro Arte Singers and the ISO. They will combine their talents along with four IU soloists -- graduate students in voice Jolaine Kerley, Andrew Hendricks, Kevin Skelton and Seth Keeton, and the ISO's Concert Master Hidetaro Suzuki and principal oboist Roger Roe. "This is really a new opportunity," Tim Northcutt, media relations director for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, said. "It not only gives us an opportunity to present a wider range of music, it gives our musicians an opportunity to grow artistically." The ISO is currently searching for a new music director after Raymond Leppard, the music director for the last decade, has stepped down.
Charleston Sanders, a masters student, recently said, "The best job in the world is doing something you love and being able to pay the bills doing it. I want to make a difference in people's lives, and music will be one of the avenues through which I can make that difference."
Comedian George Carlin strode onstage in his trademark black jeans and shirt, with nothing more than a few papers, a glass of water and his notoriously filthy mouth to keep him company. Despite his loathing for politics and complete disregard for tact and compassion, he started by addressing the issue of the World Trade Center attacks. He even practiced some of the act he intends to use in his upcoming performance in New York to see if it was well--received.
The stone building at 122 S. Walnut St. was once Bloomington City Hall. Until 1985, it housed the police department. And 10 years ago it was redeveloped to fulfill a new purpose: bringing the arts to Bloomington. Through all the residents, the building's face has changed little. It is unlike any other place in Bloomington. The two theaters and three galleries in the John Waldron Arts Center give local artists and performers a place to show their work.
The Bouncing Souls never desired nine-to-five office jobs. Good times and music went hand in hand, and that meant too much for them to trade in their instruments for suits and ties or their BMXs for laptops.
Wednesday night, a group of female students rehearsed -- fine-tuning every note, reviewing choreography, straightening out any last wrinkles in their performance. In a few days, they would be entertaining a live crowd, promoting the release of their second album. Ladies First, IU's female a cappella group, will celebrate the release of their new album Ticket to Anywhere today at 8 p.m. at the Willkie Quad Auditorium. The concert will feature songs from the new album.
During its 98-year history, the Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity has sought to enrich local communities with free concerts and recitals, community service projects and music education and appreciation classes.
Composed and collected, Maria Luisa Rayan climbed the stairs at the Musical Arts Center Sunday evening before a crowd of hundreds. Swathed in burgundy velvet, the striking Argentinian smiled graciously at the audience, shook the judges' hands and accepted her second-place award in the fifth triannual USA International Harp Competition. It was her third time entering the contest -- and her second emergence as runner-up. Two tries, and two second-place finishes. For some, such outcomes may signal defeat. Others may retreat from the instrument. But for Rayan, the harp is practically an appendage. It's evident in her caress of the strings, in her soft, transported expression as her hands graze the instrument.
Tonight the Bloomington Playwrights Project invites the audience to take part in one-of-a-kind experience that will explore the detours of life through song. Washington D.C. performer Colin James' original one man cabaret "Detour Ahead" will be held tonight and tomorrow at the BPP at 8 p.m.
My dream finally came true. My whole life, I've dreamt of standing at the stage door after a show and seeing the actors fresh off the stage from a performance. Tuesday night at "Ragtime," that dream was made possible.
"Please God, I need this show!" sings the company of "A Chorus Line," the show opening this week at the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St., by the B-town Players. The hit 1970s musical by Musical Theater guru Marvin Hamlisch has at its core the drive of all artists trying to make a name for themselves in a difficult business.
The upcoming play "Children of a Lesser God" combines the love of theater and practice of American Sign Language held by much of its cast. Directed by senior Ingrid Torres, the show is being produced as an independent project. "It blends the two things I studied in college -- sign language and theater," Torres said. "Children of a Lesser God" follows the story of a speech therapist, played by senior Stuart Ritter, who falls in love with Sarah, a deaf student. They marry and seem happy, but through the course of the play, their relationship begins to crumble over a litigation suit against the School for the Deaf. Sarah decides she wants to make her own statement in court and not let others continue to speak for her, and the marriage between the two begins to fall apart.
Auditions. The cause of bitten nails, stomach aches and superstitions, the making or breaking of a career. Is it possible to ace an audition? If the outcome of an audition never ends in happiness, maybe your audition skills need some tweaking at the roots. "All auditions are different," said Iris Rosa, director of the African American Dance Company.
LOS ANGELES -- The Grammys came down with a case of the blues, giving five awards each to the melancholy piano songstress Alicia Keys and the old-school bluegrass and soul of the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. Irish rockers U2 won four Grammys Wednesday, including record of the year for "Walk On," a soaring rock anthem the group said found new meaning after Sept. 11. "When this country takes you to its heart it's an extraordinary feeling. And these are very testy times for America, so we know you're not just taking anybody to heart," U2's lead singer Bono said backstage.
Solutions by The State News