Frrfav. Mth 73 1973
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Campus bus-driver
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Charles Jackson
Octopus Dance Group initiates
Fine Arts festivities tomorrow
by Harriet Sugar
Feature Writer
Body movement-that aesthetic art with an alluring appeal
to all-will invade this campus Saturday. The Octopus Dance
' Collective, eight individual dancers from New York sharing a
common desire to express themselves through the art of
"modern dance, will begin the 1973 UNC Fine Arts Festival.
Highlighting the group's visit will be a dance concert
Saturday night at $ p.m. in Memorial Hall. The dancers are
also holding an open rehearsal Saturday morning from 8 to
10 a.m. in Memorial Hall.
The six female and two male dancers all choreograph their
own material. Many of their routines begin with
improvisations. "We work in the abstract, not the theatre,"
emphasized Jessica Sayre, leader of the group. Costumes,
props, and excess makeup are avoided. "We work in leotards
most often. We like to be able to see the entire body as it
Imoves." . ? J.'T---:. . ;: .
i Music is often utilized to enhance the effect of the dances,"
' but the creation of the dance always precedes the creation of
the music. The group will demonstrate this technique on stage:
during their performance, they will tune into a local radio
station and then adapt a dance to the music.
The Octopus Dance Collective was established
approximately two years ago and has been performing for the
past few months. According to Ms. Sayre, performances have
mainly consisted of "small hole-in-the-wall operationals."
Individual involvement as students of noted dance master
Alwin Nikolais brought the eight dancers together. All but one
of them are college graduates. Unlike many professional
dancers who have studied the art since childhood, these
dancers all began studying the art in either high school or
college. Ms. Sayre took her first dancing lessons from the
badminton teacher at Oberlin College.
Despite the appeal of the movements of modern dance,
dancing, as a profession, is not totally glamorous. "Dancing
demands total commitment," commented Ms. Sayre, which
means studying and rehearsing each day. Like the other
dancers, Ms. Sayre finds it hard to support herself. 'The pay is
low." Dancing is the only performing art without a union.
Ms. Sayre does foresee a brighter future in the field. -"Dancing
as a performing art is the rawest field of art. And iVs
about to break wide open. Who knows where it will go?"
The movements and mystiques of modern dance will break
open at UNC Saturday, as the Octopus Dance Collective opens
the Fine Arts Festival. Admission to the program is free.
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY PRESENTS
J
GE1LS
AND
Plus New From England-
STEELE YE SPAN
8 P.M. Saturday, April 14
Tickets $4 by mail order:
WFU College Union
7225 Reynolda Station
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109
Please include stamped, self-addressed envelope.
likes
ill
job
by David Perry
Feature Writer
Charles Jackson, for those of you who
don't know him, is the friendly campus
bus driver. He tells funny stories,
philosophizes, predicts the weather, and
smiles alot. He also finds time to
transport from 1,200 to 1,500 students
daily from south campus to north campus
and back again.
The fortyish-looking Jackson, with his
blue-visored hat, twinkling dark eyes and
ample figure has become familiar to
bus-riding students.
He first began working the UNC route
in the fall and his infectious smile was
just the lift sleepy students needed as
they headed for 8 o'clock classes.
A native North Carolinian (he
presently lives in Garner), Jackson has
been working for the Raleigh City Coach
Lines for the past eight years.
His 12-hour workday begins at 6:45
a.m. when he slips behind the wheel of
his bus in a downtown Raleigh garage. He
makes a quick trip down IA0 and by
7:30 he is ready to make the first of 63
daily trips from Chase Cafeteria to Wilson
Library.
"That (the repetition) don't bother
me," Jackson said. "I take it as a part of
the route. I look for different things
every time. Take the bell tower. Have you
ever seen how it's constructed? You see
something different every time you look
at it."Jackson enjoys riding with the
students as much as they enjoy riding
with him, and ho is especially imprevscd
with student niceties.
"Y'ou know what knocks me ofV my
feet about the people here? The
courtey. I get yes sir' and 'no sir all the
time. It really floored me the first time I
heard it," he said.
"The kids here at Carolina act more
like young adults, which they are. There
are a few that aren't up to par, but no
matter where you go you've got that
10."
Jackson should know. He has been
driving trucks, cars, and buses
professionally for 28 years.
He was with Southern Life, an
insurance company, for ten years,
working himself up from an agent to the
district manager, flut the work was too
demanding and he returned to buses.
In the past eight years he has driven
over 240,000 miles. He couldn't even
estimate the miles he drove in the first 20
years.
In all those years of driving, Jackson
had had only one accident. "The first
time I ever hit anything it was right here
at UNC," he said. "This car stopped real
quick and I didn't."
He was suspended without pay for two
days and placed on probation for 90
days. "Anytime you scratch one of these
things," he said with a sigh, "it's an
automatic suspension."
Before he took the UNC route,
Jackson drove high school and junior high
school students in Raleigh. "They're a
mean bunch," he said and told two
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stories to prove his point.
Once there was a fire on his bus. A few
enterprising students "aJJeJ up
notebook paper and set it on fire."
Students packed the bus aisle, Mocking
Jackson's view of the back seats and the
fire.
"A fella came up by me blowing his
horn," he said. "He told mc that my bus
was on fire. The paper was burning like
you've never seen. I took a fire
extinguisher and put it out."
Then there was the hanging.
"This cord came loose," Jackson said.
"Two high-school students made a noose
and put it around a girl's head. Then they
pushed her off the seat. It (the noose) slid
down and tightened so we couldn't get it
off. She turned blue."
Jackson whipped out a pocketknife
and began cutting the cord. After several
anxious moments, the girl was freed.
Despite her plea to let the boys go, he
turned them in to school officials. "They
were expelled for 30 days each," he said.
"I got all kinds of threats on account of
that. As far as I know, the girl was all
right."
Jackson hasn't saved ariy students
lately. His good deeds are presently
restricted to relieving the anxiety of exam
worried students, rushing them up
campus to class, and generally cheering
up anyone and everyone who boards his
bus.
"You meet so many different people,"
he said. "You be a little nutty and you
cheer them up. That satisfies me."
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