6
Thursday, April 11,1996
Les Ballets Aiiicains to Present Guinean Culture Through Dance
■ The Company will tell the
legend of an instrument
known as the Balaphone.
BY LILY THAYER
STAFF WRITER
The University and the local commu
nity can expect to be dazzled when Les
Ballets Africains, the National Dance Com
pany of the Republic of Guinea, takes
Memorial Hall by storm with their blend of
traditional
dance, music
and storytelling
April 17 for one
performance at 8
p.m.
For more
Les Ballets
Africains
April 17
Memorial Hall
$8 - sl2 students
than forty years, the 35-member company
of dancers/singers and musicians has
toured the world giving performances re
flecting the culture and spirit of Guinea
and the entire continent of Africa.
The complex, varied repertoire reflects
a cultural legacy which has been preserved
in the daily life of modem Africa.
Theircurrentprogram, “Heritage,” will
Group Conveys Social Themes in Dance
BY SOPHIE MILAM
STAFF WRITER
Modem dance is “an artistic expression
of feelings, emotions, or social themes,”
saidßonnie Seigler, ajuniormemberofthe
UNC dance group Modem Extension. “If
you have never seen it, it is something you
need to see to understand; you can’t put it
into words.”
Those unfamiliar with the art form will
get their chance tobecome acquainted with
dance this week
end with
Modem Extension’s
spring perfor
mance. Seigler
said she defi
nitely encour
ages people to
ModernExtensioa
Friday and
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Memorial Hall
$5 students
$7 general public
come: “It is a wonderful opportunity to see
fellow students perform. Everyone can
appreciate it on different levels.”
The eight dances the group will perform
range from serious to fun; some have deep
social themes, but others —a satire on
insomnia, for example—are merely “food
for thought,” Seigler said.
Seven of the pieces are student-choreo
graphed and range from solo to group
dances.
Modem Extension currently includes
both undergraduate and graduate students,
with 23 females and 1 male. MarianTumer-
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swirl toget her acrobatics, theatrical spec
tacle, comedy and pantomime to spin the
traditional tales of a rich past and present.
“Heritage” will tell the story of a 12th
century griot, or storyteller, named Bala
Fassake Kouyate.
According to legend, Bala Fassake
Kouyate wins preoccupied with an instru
ment known as the Balaphone. As the
performers take the audience through a
world of demons, spirits, fantastical crea
tures and br.ave humans, they will explore
the signifies inee of the Balaphone, a pre
cursor to the modem xylophone, and of
the drum.
These insi Tuments historically signified
communicat ion and healing. In the course
of the narrati on, “Heritage” will highlight
the generation-to-generation transition of
accomplishment and values the codes
of “right-living,” compassion and respect
for elders and the young that characterize
the magnificent Guinean society.
Joan Blanchard, marketing manager of
the Student Union, said of Les Ballets
Africains, “It s a great opportunity for stu
dents to explore another culture.”
In additior i to representing the common
culture of Africa, the Ballets’ performers
reflect their o wn individual tribal and re
UNC's dance group, Modem Extension, moves with strong, beautiful forms.
Hopkins, a fact: ilty member in the physical
education department, has been the group’s
advisor since she formed it in 1988.
Because the University does not offer
either a major or a minor in dance,
Modem Extension serves as an outlet for
the variety of si udent talent this campus
possesses.
Through the; jroup, students can bring
together a variet y of styles based on their
unique talents and backgrounds.
Although Modem Extension is based
DIVERSIONS
gional cultures.
Guinea is divided into four geographic
regions, each with its own languages and
customs. Each region offering a unique
flavor, similiar yet different from the sur
rounding regions.
Les Ballets Africains features company
members from each of these four regions.
In order to fulfil their roles as cultural
ambassadors, therefore, each performer
must have a command of every other
performer’s heritage in addition to his or
her own. The performance is extremely
difficult and strenuous on the performers,
however what results is a powerful show
which not only amazes but captivates the
audience. That commitment to a common
cultural legacy perpetuates what has been
the mission ofLes Ballets Africains since a
renowned Guinean choreographer created
the company in 1952: The dancers/singers
and musicians strive to provide a unifying
message to their global audience.
The result should be a dynamic show
April 17, elaborately staged, rhythmically
complex, yet accessible in its universal
power and meaning.
Tickets are Sl4-522 for the general pub
lic and SB-sl2 for UNC students at the
Carolina Union Ticket Office.
on interest and enjoyment, the current
members take their commitment very seri
ously, Seigler said. The entire group at
tends company class each Sunday, and
guest teachers come in once or twice a
month.
An average member reh ears es two nights
each week for four to five hours, although
some rehearse as many as 12 hours a week.
The students also try to take dance classes
through the University’s physical educa
tion department, and each finds individual
outlets during the summer, Seigler said.
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GIN BLOSSOMS
PHOTO BY DANNY CLINCH 1 /96 ______
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS...
TOMMY KEENE
& DISHWALLA
Live...
Memorial Hall
Monday, April 22 at 7:3opm
sl6 UNC Students
S2O General Public
Carolina Union Ticket Office 919/962-1449
PRESENTED BY THE CAROLINA UNION ACTIVITIES BOARD CONCERT COMMITTEE
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Les Ballets Africains will appear at Memorial Hall on April 17.
‘Art in Heaven’ Focuses on McCarthyism
BY LILY THAYER
STAFF WRITER
The upcoming Lab! Theatre produc
tion, “Art in Heaven” focuses on a single,
fundamental question: How far will a per
son go for his art? The play opens Saturday
night and runs through April 16, was writ
ten by its director, senior Catherine
Trieschmann of Athens, Ga. A first-time
director, Trieschmann said she wrote the
play over a year
ago, but didn’t
considerproduc
ing it until this
year’s fourth
"Art in Heaven”
Graham Memorial
April 13-16
Admission is Free
Lab! production set. Directing her own
script has been a learning process, she said.
“The challenge was to try and let go of my
vision of the play. It’s a very different play
from the one I conceived in my head; I’ve
tried to let it grow through the actors,
through their discoveries.”
Set during the 1950s when Senator Jo
seph McCarthy of Wisconsin led the so
called Red Scare with his Senate Commit
tee on Un-American Activities, “Art in
Heaven” is, according to its writer and
director, “a dialogue between two oppos
ingviewpoints” onMcCarthyism. Thetwo
ideologies are represented by Elia Kazan,
a well-known Hollywood director who
directed Marlon Brando in “On The Wa
terfront,” and his friend and collaborator
Arthur Miller, the playwright whose
Set during the 1950s when
Senator Joseph McCarthy of
Wisconsin led the so-called
Red Scare with his Senate
Committee on Un-American
Activities, “Art in Heaven”is,
according to is writer and
director, “a dialgoue between
two opposing viewpoints”on
McCarthyism.
“Death of a Salesman” and “The Cru
cible” have become American classics.
Kazan and Miller, along with several
prominent and lesser-known entertainers
and entertainment-industry workers, were
called before McCarthy’s committee to
testify about their alleged involvement with
the Communist party in the United States.
Some of those called to testify cooperated,
naming their closest friends and co workers
as Communist sympathizers in an effort to
save their own careers. Those who refused
to testify, along with those implicated by
others, were “blacklisted” in Hollywood
officially banned from working in the
industry until McCarthy’s panicked reign
of terror came to a close.
Kazan, fearing for his livelihood, coop
erated fully with the committee, in the
process contributing to the potential ruin
ation of several other people’s livelihoods.
Miller, whose “Crucible" Kazan directed
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on Broadway, refused to submit to
McCarthy’s coercive tactics, choosing to
suffer any fallout rather than betray both
the innocent and the guilty.
“Art in Heaven," is a “not completely
historically accurate” account of the con
flict between these two talented, thought
ful men who responded very differently to
the same terrifying situation. This opposi
tion is played out when Miller, played in
the Lab! production by freshman David
Azzarello of Cary, comes to Kazan (junior
Ted Shaffner of Highlands) to write a play
about his experiences with the Un-Ameri
can Activities Committee, and Kazan must
justify his actions to himself and his friends.
According to Trieschmann, the core of
the play and what attracted her to the story
in the first place, was that each of the five
principal characters “has a calling.” Each
person: Miller, Kazan, Kazan’s wife, Kate
(freshman Autumn Domfeld of St. Louis,
Mo.), his lover Constance (sophomore
Jordana Davis of Dix Hills, N.Y.) and
fellow playwright Clifford Odets (fresh
man Laura Blake of Lexington, Ky.),
Trieschmann said, had a passion for their
ait. “For Elia it’s his directing, for Arthur
Miller it’s his writing, for Elia’s wife it’s het
love.” She said, “Everyone has certain
sacrifices they’re willing to make for their
art, and yet everyone has a limit on those
sacrifices, except for Elia.” In the end the
play asks, “Was it worth it” to make all the
sacrifices necessary to feed that passion?
“Art in Heaven” goes up Saturday at 8
p. m., Sunday and Monday at 4 and 8 p .m.,
and Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Graham Memo
rial Hall.