N.C. ESSAY - PAGE 3
Features ...
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Travel Report by Robert Ward
magically, one night By Jon Thompson
Several weeks ago, (it seems
like an age) I returned from a
trip which took me to New York,
London, Paris, Rome, and Siena,
all of this except the weekend in
Paris involving School business
and planning for the future.
In New York conferences were
held with architectural con
sultants, relating to future
campus planning. All renovations
of present buildings or new
construction will be considered in
the plan. Present needs of all
departments and schools, as well
as any new programs which are
envisioned, will be provided for.
Dr. Semans, Mr. Hall, and I
also met with nine members of
our Advisory Board and several
members of our Foundation
Board, at which time we were
able to bring them up to date on
recent developments in the
School and to tell them of future
plans. As a direct outcome of the
meeting. Misses Helen Hayes and
Jean Dalrymple are planning to
visit the School in the near future.
Other contacts were made with
Foundations.
In London it was a ^eat
pleasure to sit with the Misses
Rose Bruf ord and Mary Henniker
Heaton and plan next year’s
Drama Summer Session. They
seemed well aware of certain
shortcomings of the program and
are hoping to rectify these next
summer. One basic question
which was considered in depth
was whether a program could be
offered which would be suf-
ficienUy different from that of
last summer to make it advisable
for students who participated last
year to return. She felt that such
a program could be devised and
is working in that direction.
Another conference was held
with Richard Mangan, who
lectured during last summer’s
session. We spent most of our
time exploring any possibilities
which might exist for design and
production students in London
during the summer. Mr. Mangan
kindly offered to look into such
possibilities and then to write me
concerning his findings.
One very exciting evening was
spent at a birthday concert, given
by the Royal Philharmonic
Society and played by the London
Symphony Orchestra, for Aaron
Copland’s seventieth birthday.
Copland conducted fine per
formances of his “Appalachian
Spring” and “Third SymiAony”
and played the piano in his
“Piano Conert” while Andre
Previn conducted. At the end of
the concert the audience gave the
composer a standing ovation. I
could not help but think how
fortunate we are that both
Copland and Previn will be here
in March as guests of the School.
In Italy I went first to Siena to
meet with officials from the
Accademic Chigiana and the
Monte dei Paschi Bank. Plans for
a different kind of summer
session are under discussion and
will be announced, as soon as
administration and faculty have
been able to give them f^
consideration. It will be of in
terest to those who attended last
summer to know that no further
participation in the conducting
classes of Maestro Ferrara is
being considered. I was very
fortunate in that, while we were
in Siena, Maestro Segovia played
a concert commemorating the
death of Count Chigi. The concert
was most enthusiastically
received. Indeed, the Maestro
finally came back after three
encores and said, “I am not tired,
but my guitar is tired,” and
retired from the stage. We had a
chance to talk afterward, and he
remembers his visits to our
School and the visit of Mr. Silva
and his guitar students to his
home in Spain vividly and with
great pleasure. I invited him to
return to the School during his
next tour in this country, and we
are trying to work this out at the
present time. Suomi Lavalle,
Eugene Rizzo, and Paolo
Fred Avery Wrote This
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“It’s the blob!”
“It’s a cubic mushroom ”!
“No, it’s the Administration’s
emergency remedy to the School
of Drama’s cry for more
facilities!”
All of the above are quite
plausible reactions to a project
that has just been born.
Describing “it” is indeed a
challenge, even to its creator:
Robin Costelloe, native of
Ireland, presently three-
dimensional art classes in the
Visual Arts Dept.
Costelloe offered the following
background. In addition to being
employed as an art insbuctor he
had been commissioned to create
a sculpture somewhere on
campus. Furthermore, the nest
for this sculpture somewhere on
campus. Furthermore, the nest
for this creation seems to be Ae
court behind the Student Com
mons Building. Then with an air
of humor, possibly akin to that of
a pregnant woman asked to
describe her baby, not yet bom,
he continued;
“It’s going to be complex,
cubic, of either stone or steel, or
perhaps a combination...
Olsoufieff were all in Rome and
participated in discussion of next
year’s plans. All of them wished
to be remembered to our students
and faculty members.
One of the highlights of the
entire trip was the weekend visit
which Mrs. Ward and I paid to
Paris. Bejart’s Company was
giving a Gala Stravinski evening,
wliich included “Les Noces.”
“Firebird,” and “The Rites of
Spring,” none of which we had
ever seen danced. “The
“Firebird” .and the first half of
the “Rites” were incredibly
powerful, particularly because erf
the extraordinary artistry of the
company’s male dancers. The
next evening was the final per
formance of the Alvin Ailey
Company. The troupe has had a
fantastic success in Paris. On the
night we attended the audience
was still shouting their approval
after some forty curtain calls.
You can’t imagine how proud we
were of Leland Schwantes, who
has become a stalwart of the
Company. He danced splendidly,
and at supper afterward with him
and Joanne Weinstein, now Mrs.
Schwantes, it was wonderful to
hear of their triumphant Russian
tour and plans for London and
New York appearances which
follow those in Paris. I couldn’t
help but reflect that this is what
the North Carolina School of the
Arts is really all about. Six years
ago Leland came to the School,
having had virtually no training
in dance whatsoever, and now in
this short time has become a
strong member of a remarkable
group which is causing an in
ternational sensation in ttie dance
world. Of the accomplishments of
the School of Dance, Alvin Ailey
had nothing but good things to
say.
Very soon after the first of the
year definite plans for all the
summer programs will be an
nounced, and we hope that they
can all be more successful and
exciting than they have ever been
b^^fore.
NOTICE: The final exam for
Science 101 was accidentally
ommitted from the schedule. It
will be held in Room 209 on
Tuesday from 1:00 to 4:00.
It becomes very brisk on winter
evenings around the school.
Sometimes there’s just enough
chill in the air to make you tuim
up the collar and bury yoiu* hands
in the pockets of the coat. And
maybe, if you’re lucky, the light
&om the lamposts is hazed by a
light fog. It becomes very quiet
on these nights, and often, very
lonely. Take a walk. The Com
mons is still open. All of your
friends are working on the up
coming Children’s Theater Tour.
Go on, drop by rehearsal. It’s up
in the seminar room.
Peeking through the window:
there’s Jon Coggeshall at the
piano (one they pushed in from
the dance stu^o) rattling out a
sHly tune. Cog is doing the music
for the show. Who else is there?
Let’s see...there’s Duke, MaxweU
and Woodson. Sam ^rcelona
and Susan Thompson. And Cathy
Masterson. Mike Williams is
busy elsewhere and couldn’t
come. The group is doing a
strange little pantomime to go
with Cog’s tune, so what the
hell...sneak in, sit down.
Bill Dreyer comes over. Bill is
the “director.” The show is really
being run by the entire company.
Bill toows it and he doesn’t seem
to mind.
“Watch this,” he says, “I want
to know what you think.”
The Scene: the dawn of man.
A quartet of apemen...real
dummies. One ape, off by him
self...thinking. Aha! Idea! The
wheel! He rolls it to the others.
“What’s this?” Hmmm...It
makes no sound!...It doesn’t fit
on the head!...It tastes awful!...It
doesn’t even rattle...It’s no good!
Thinker is very put out. OK,
what about an alarm clock...No.
A candle?...No dice. Well,
dammit, what about a club? Hey,
wow. Let’s see it. Whomp! One
monkey-man goes down...-
Whomp! strike two,„Whomp!
That’s three...Whomp! There
goes the thinker...one left. “Hey,
great fun right?...right?
...hey!...get up....please?”
Think the kids will get it?” Bill
asks, “Its pretty heavy.”
It’s heavy, and lively, and
funny and don’t worry, they’ll get
it. And that is the magic part. It’s
chaotic and noisy at these
rehearsals. But when the actors
begin to work, bingo! Magic.
The entire program is a
collection of these “blackouts:”
Meanwhile,
Back in the Dance Dept.
stories adapted from mythology,
fairy tales or wherever. Some of
the Thurber fables are being
used, too.
Bill calls for a break, but some
of the guys start joking around
near the piano. A tap dance
routine...a barbershop quar
tet...a singing waiter. Crazy. This
bunch of people are going on a
twelve-day tour of 20 elementary
schools in the western part of the
state, starting on February first.
So they’re going to work over the
break. Just three weeks left.
Oh,Oh...Need more room. The
group moves over to the dance
studio. Careful, gang, we don’t
want to fall through into the gym.
What now? Thurber’s timeless
fable, “The Unicom.” Oh, Duke
isn’t narrating anything else, so
he gets this one. Sam, you’re the
husband. Susan, you be the wife,
and Cathy, be the unicom.
Cog, starts up on the piano.
(They brought it with them)
“A long time ago, when the
earth was green.
There was more kinds of
animals, than you’ve ever seen
There was cats and rats and
elephants, but sure as you’re
born.
The loveliest of all was the
unicorn.”
Duke tries an Irish dialect.
Oh,Oh...that sounds Scottish. Oh
well. “The husband went out into
the garden,” he reads.
Sam stops, “where’s the
door?”
“Make it there.”
More story. Blah, blah, blah.
Done. “What now?”
“Do the ending again.” Duke,
you still sound Scottish. Duke
does it straight. Better. Finished.
Bill tries to talk to Alan Toy,
assistant director, but no go.
Duke and the boys are kidding
around. “Shhh!” Oh, Sorry.
“Ready to go?” They do the
Unicorn again. And then...-
Finished for tonight. Tomorrow,
same time.
Sooner or later there will be a
dress rehearsal, and the whole
damn school can see it. Paul Dale
is lighting it and Shelly is doing
some nifty costumes.
Well, lights out.
There was nothing better to do
tonight. Glad to be there. Step
back outside. The fog is just a
tiny bit thicker. That dorm over
there looks like a big camera.
Oh, well....“Home again, home
again.”
By KATHLEEN FITZGERALD
definitely big, and above all else,
FUN.”
Once the sculpture is com
pleted— how appropriate: a work
(A art with an Arts School that is
constant, serving as a massage to
the strained eyes and drained
minds of those victims of over
exposure to our somewhat sterile
surrounds of hollow white and
crusty red.
Better yet, Costelloe hopes that
once completed, his structure
will be an invitation to students to
take advantage of its monolithic,
but hospitable contours as a place
to get together around and “on.”
Finally, and in some respects,
best of all, if things “shape up”
true to the sculptor’s aspirations,
this “humble beast of art.” will
serve as an excellent setting for
many performing students.
The conceivability of this
sculpture serving as an open air
theater for actors, musicians and
dancers is hopefully one of the
more exciting challenges
awaiting the creative drives of
many, come the warmer months
of our second semester (Note:
the “Sun” in the sculpture
^etch.)
The approach of the semester’s
end finds most of the dancers
ready for a short breather. It’s
been a full and exciting semester
for the Dance Department. There
have been no radical upheavals
but many small, much-needed
changes.
Although there was no great
fanfare over it, one thing initiated
this semester is worthy of notice
and will no doubt become more
and more important as time goes
on. A small company has been
established with the help of a
Rockefeller Grant. It is com
posed primarily of graduates or
former students of the Dance
Department. The company
members form the nucleus of the
group Of dancers who perform.
The company performs under the
tiUe of the North Carolina Dance
Theater.
There have been im
provements in the curriculum
with the addition of more regular
pointe classes and a variations
class for the girls and separate
morning classes for the boys.
This should not be misconstrued
as a form of discrimination, it is
rather a necessary development
because of tiie different areas of
teclmique which must receive
concentrated attention for the
two groups. The ballet students
also have modem classes now
and the modem students receive
instruction In ballet technique.
Exposure such as this to different
areas of the dance are vital in the
training of a well-rounded dan
cer. Acting classes are available
for college students under the
tutelage of Mr. Dreyer.
A new studio has been added to
the department’s facilities. With
steady use it has acquired the
same perfume (eau de dancers)
as the older studios and footprints
on the walls are evidence of the
continual stretching and
straining that the dancers subject
their bodies to, even In the plush
confines of the Great White
Wonder.
Two new teachers joined the
faculty - Nelle Fisher In the
modern department, and Nolan
Dlngman In the ballet depart
ment. Miss Fisher has added new
works to the modem repertoire
and the modern students have
had more opportunity to perform
this semester than In previous
years, definitely an im
provement. Mr. Dlngman’s credo
has been taken to heart by the
ballet students. If you are
curious, there is a list of his
commandments and homilies to
the right of the door to Studio
“A”. It Is difficult to describe his
approach, one can only say that it
works wonders for technique
when applied faithfully.
There have been many per
formances this semester away
from the school, as well as In The
Black Hole of Calcutta, the
Drama Theater. October was a
particularity busy month. A
group of dancers was flown to
beautiful Miami Beach, Florida
to perform at the Doral Hotel.
The stage was small and the
conditions makeshift but it was
all taken in stride and the small,
select audience was impressed
with the calibre of the per
formance.
On the 23d and 24th of October
two of Agnes de Mllles works
were presented. They were
“Cherry Tree Legend”, in which
Robert Lindgren played the part
of Joseph; and “A Rose For
Emily,”a new work by Miss de
MlUe. It was a memorable ex
perience for both works’ casts of
thousands to work under that
small, dynamic woman who
somehow learned everyone’s
name.
During November various bits
of “Nutcracker” went into
rehearsal and during the Fall
break there was a short tour of
various repertoire pieces.
In December, “Nutcracker”
was pulled together and as has
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