Category: Entertainment

By Ellin Youse

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Rashana Smith is a loving wife and a new mother to a seven-month-old baby girl. For fun, Smith is an active member of the Ohio Roller Girls’ Gang Green roller team.  She enjoys filmmaking and is a documentary film aficionado, as well as the the owner of an 80 pound Great Pyreneese mix. She’s worked as a freelance dance instructor in Seattle and Texas and received her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. Now, she is also the newest addition to Ohio Wesleyan University’s dance department.

Smith joined the OWU community this semester and will be instructing a workshop in Modern Dance, Dance Composition, Technique II and III during the 2013-14 academic year as well as working as the Artistic Director of Orchesis. Although new to OWU, Smith is not new to instructing dance at a university level. Smith has taught at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, she’s worked at The Ohio State University and Wittenberg University. And while she feels comfortable teaching at a university level because of her past experience, Smith said she feels a real connection to college students because she was one herself when she fell in love with dance.

“I took Ballet and Tap when I was 5-7 years old. And then I played sports. I danced a little bit in a drill team in High School, but it wasn’t until I went to college when I discovered that there was such a thing as Modern Dance and Improvisation,” Smith said. “At the time, I was an art major enrolling in elective courses. I took the standard ballet class and then tried to branch out with something new, which led me to Modern Dance. I was hooked. I changed my major and eventually transferred to University of Texas because it offered a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. After graduation, I continued to dance in Austin with local choreographers before moving to Seattle, Washington where I continued to dance and create work.”

It was in Seattle that Smith developed a love for “all things technology.” Smith said there were no dance programs that directly addressed technology the realms of dance making at that time, so to be able to work in both fields she loved she worked as a technologist during the day and a choreographer, dancer and educator in her free time. After some time living what Smith called a “double life,” she attended The Ohio State University for a unique masters program.

“Eventually, The Ohio State University’s Department of Dance offered a Dance and Technology masters program, which I am pleased to have completed,” Smith said. “I’m happy to be working in the field of dance and incorporating technology as well. I’m also ecstatic to be at OWU where interdisciplinary courses are supported.”

Interdisciplinary courses are just one of many things Smith said she loves about teaching in a liberal arts environment.

“I think I am at my best [in a liberal arts environment]” Smith said. “OWU faculty, staff and students have been very welcoming and generous. The Theatre and Dance faculty in particular have been open to hearing and sharing ideas, which is imperative when developing a dance program.”

As far as comparing OWU to other institutions she’s taught at, Smith said the devotion of OWU students is one quality of the university she finds particularly unique.

“The dance programs of each of the places I’ve taught at are all a little different from each other, so it’s hard to compare,” Smith said. “However, I will say that OWU seems to have a high academic standard of admissions.  I’m impressed with this year’s freshmen. In general, I’m impressed with the level of professionalism, technical skill, work ethic, and knowledge of the OWU students as a whole. I enjoy the students’ sense of curiosity and I find myself evaluating how I can continue to challenge them further. It’s a challenge that works both ways.”

The challenge of progressing her teaching and her student’s perspectives in her work is something Smith says cannot come close to the challenge of time. Smith said that no matter where she’s teaching, time is the one demon she always faces.

“I’m not new to teaching at the university level, but the challenge always remains the same – time,” she said. “I am always concerned with making sure each student gets the most out of their classes with me and this involves hours of preparation and meeting with students and colleagues. I love this aspect of teaching; I just wish I had unlimited amount of time for it.”

The challenge of time proved to be particularly present in the planning of this year’s Orchesis concert. The performance is an annual contemporary dance concert that features the work of students, faculty and guest choreographers that is usually held in the spring. However, due to scheduling considerations for Chappelear’s main stage, the concert will be held in the fall this academic year.

Smith said this year’s Orchesis will include works from five student choreographers, a new piece by dance faculty member Marin Leggat and pieces by Smith herself. Leggat was the artistic director for Orchesis in the past, but as she is on leave this year she left the production in the hand’s of Smith.

“We’re in the midst of intense rehearsals right now and loving every minute of it,” Smith said. “I enjoy working with so many young dancers with different dance backgrounds.”

One of the most exciting aspects of choreographing Orchesis this year was Smith’s ability to organize all 21 dancers into one piece. The production always features one act with a full cast, and Smith’s ability to direct it is one of most exciting honors of the Orchesis season.

“I like seeing these dancers performing as a large ensemble, all the while bringing their individual talents to the stage,” Smith said. “I was completely elated after our last rehearsal.”

According to junior Ben Danielson, Smith isn’t the only elated cast member. Danielson said Smith’s combination of efficiency and playfulness keep everyone in the cast uplifted and motivated.

“It’s ironic to be asked this question because I was just boasting about how wonderful Rashana is,” Danielson said. “She’s an innovative thinker, she’s very organized and I can tell that she’s always keeping us in mind as a group, just to improve our experience in Orchesis. She keeps the rehearsals professional and efficient, but she adds her own flare and quirkiness at the same time. I’m very happy that she’s a part of our company, and she’s done nothing but great things.”

By Nicole Barhorst

Ohio Wesleyan students and staff, as well as Delaware community members, filled Chappelear Drama Center Friday night for a performance by RHAW, the first hip-hop dance theater dance company in the world.

Sophomore Nathan LaFrombois said he thought the “passionate” RHAW performance “set the standard” for future Performing Art Series shows at Ohio Wesleyan.

“I had never heard of concert hip-hop before; it was a new concept for me,” he said. “My favorite part was whenever individuals were spotlighted with the group dancing in sync behind.”

Established in 2007, RHAW stands for “Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring Works,” according to the company’s website.  This youth dance company was created as a preparatory group for the Harris’s Puremovement company, which features older dancers and was started in 1991.

Harris said he established the company because of the “overwhelming interest from teens and young adults” to join Puremovement.

RHAW trains pre-professional dancers and teaches them the history of street dancing, professionalism and techniques in various street-dancing styles.

The main goal of this Philadelphia-based company is to “encourage youth by demonstrating discipline and focus through Hip-hop theater performance, and education and outreach programing,” the website said.

The best part of the performance, according Delaware community member Erica Ankrom, was a piece choreographed to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” because it was “slower and had a story.”

According to the website, the piece is part of the full-length dance musical “Love American Style” that RHAW is premiering next week at Frostburg State University in Maryland. The musical addresses themes such as bullying and family relationships.

Ankrom said even though she doesn’t know anything about dance, she really enjoyed the performance.

Jenn Meckley, a Delaware community member, said she attended the event because she saw the Rennie Harris Puremovement Company perform a few years ago and enjoyed it.

She said she thought the RHAW performance was “energetic” and she loved seeing the dancers freestyle.

In a post-show question-and-answer session, RHAW member Brandyn Harris, son of Rennie Harris, said he’s been dancing for most of his life, but wasn’t interested in being part of the company at first because he really liked “to eat and play video games.”

Harris’s friend and fellow RHAW member Davion “Skates” Brown said he got his nickname from his background in skateboarding.  Originally from western Philadelphia, he has been dancing with RHAW for four years.

“Everything I’ve done with skateboarding easily translated to dance,” Brown said.

Rich Edwards, four-year chair of the Performing Art Series for four years, said OWU has been hosting visiting artists for about a century, and that the events in this series “meet a high standard of performance that is enjoyable, thought-provoking and inspiring.”

Edwards said he and his colleagues try to create “special educational experiences” as often as possible for students to have with the visiting artists. These experiences include discussion groups or master classes where students can learn how the artists created their performances.

Edwards said there are five other events in the 2013-14 Performing Art Series: a New York Jazz quintet, a Japanese/Indian music duo, a one-man comedy show, the Central Ohio Symphony from Delaware and a new age ensemble for modern classical music.

By Adelle Brodbeck

Transcript Reporter

Ha Le and Alex Michener, both seniors at Ohio Wesleyan, formally showcased their art exhibit “Windows” last Wednesday before leaving to attend the New York Arts Program for the rest of the fall semester.

Both students said they pride themselves in creating art that reflects their semi-surreal impression of their surroundings. Le and Michener said they based their art on real people in their lives, but allowed their creative insight to portray them in a completely unique way. Or as they wrote in their statement for the show, “their paintings and drawings are not just realistic copies of the real world, they are windows through which (the artists) see the world…”

Le said she took inspiration for most of her pieces in the show from the women in her life, particularly her mother.

“My mom is an endless source of inspiration because of her beauty, her strong soul, and her limitless love for the family,” she said.

“Jessica” and “Contemplating” are two of Le’s charcoal drawings that specifically reveal her view of strong women.

The former shows a nude woman from the waist up with a determined and tough expression. The latter depicts what appear to be three different women, but Le said it was actually the same model who she drew in different positions.

“All of the figures in the drawing are gazing towards one direction as if they’re waiting for something, or someone,” said Le. “All of the figures are naked women, causing the viewer to question: ‘Why? What’s going on? Who are they?’”

Le interested not only in portraying women in a thought provoking way, but also in illuminating the diversity of the different people in her life.

“I do find a lot of inspiration in people,” she said. “I appreciate all the similarities as well as differences. While similarities connect people, differences make us human, not mass-produced robots. Differences makes me question my own values and become more open-minded, which is really important for me as an artist.”

Like Le, Michener draws inspiration from real people; but he said he is concerned more with portraying his subjects as accurately as possible.

“I really enjoy the struggle to convey some sense of recognizability,” he said.

Michener’s artistic style is distinctive. He utilizes saturated colors and a technique involving Mylar transparency in the portraits of his friends.

“I developed the Mylar process based on some printmaking ideas of color layering,” he said.

By painting a transparent sheet and then layering it on top of an already vivid picture, Michener creates vibrant and imaginative portraits.

Michener’s two self-portraits—“selfies,” as he jokingly calls them—stand out among his other paintings. For these two pieces he did not use the same layering technique, but instead made them distinct through their drastic size differences.

“Big Selfie” was the largest display in the exhibit, as the canvas was made up of two large wooden doors. Directly across from “Big Selfie” is the accompanying “Little Selfie,” which, as its name implies, is much smaller in comparison.

“I like that they’re staring at each other because they’re opposites in a way,” Michener said. “The large painting was done in about a day and in one shot, meaning I jumped straight into the final image. I was much fussier with the smaller one.”

The placement of the portraits, in addition to the size difference, allows viewers to more easily compare and contrast the two.

“Windows” received positive feedback from OWU’s campus, as shown by thanks and compliments left by friends, family and staff in a notebook in the exhibit hall. One particular comment thanked the artists for inspiring her to become a better artist. This remark is one of the many signs of the strong support system in OWU’s artistic community.

“[The department] always encourages me a lot, gives me advice when I’m in need, helps me out in any situation,” Le said. “Without all that, I wouldn’t have become who I am today.”

Soon after opening night, Le and Michener left to attend OWU’s New York Arts Program. The program helps arrange internships that will help students experience what it’s like to pursue a career in the arts.

Le is working with Jean Shin, an artist who is internationally recognized for her extravagant public installments. Le said she hopes to get a more practical take on the art world, as well as experience the diverse environment of New York.

Michener, on the other hand, is interning as a studio assistant with artists Ellen Altfest and Alexi Worth. Michener said the experience so far is “an amazing opportunity to shadow working painters and learn what sorts of issues that they need to overcome.”

As a final piece of advice to others who wish to follow in the footsteps of the two aspiring artists, Le said, “Art is not a game you play in your free time, nor a journey that has a specific destination. It is limitless, so you’d better prepare yourself.”

By Jane Suttmeier

Opera Workshop, a vocal performance club, has started rehearsals for their February 2014 performance of Stephen Sodheim’s musical, “A Little Night Music”.

Professor of Music Jason Hiester and Tim Veach, the Artistic Director and the founder of Columbus Dance Theatre, are heading the production. Stephen Sondheim wrote both the music and the lyrics based on the film “Smiles” of “A Summer Night”, by Ingmar Bergman.

“A Little Night Music” is set in Sweden in 1900 and follows the escapades of three couples.

Junior Gabe Incarnato, a music major who normally sings bass, is singing baritone-tenor for this production and said it is the hardest music he has learned to date. Incarnato is cast as lawyer Frederick Egerman in the production.

Junior Brianna Robinson, a vocal performance major, is playing Mrs. Nordstrom, a character that narrates the show with four other singers as the “Liebslieders.”

Robinson also said the music in the show is difficult, which she attributes to Sondheim’s technique.

“There are many key changes and somewhat unnatural melodies,” she said. “But even with this, the music is very beautiful and structured in a wonderful way.”

The cast has already started rehearsals and will rehearse throughout the fall for a February opening. Sophomore Hannah Simpson, who will play Charlotte, said she is glad the company is starting rehearsals early “because the music is very complex.”

Like Incarnato, she is switching vocal range for the show.

“Not only is my character’s vocal range much lower than what I am used to singing, (but) the music itself is also some of the trickiest music I have ever encountered.”

Simpson said she is excited to perform in a Sondheim show at OWU.

“I am a huge fan of Sondheim,” she said. “His music is brilliant, intricate and clever, and I am so fortunate that I get to perform his music.”

Sondheim’s work has won an Academy Award, eight Tony awards, eight Grammy awards and a Pulitzer Prize. His most famous pieces as a composer and lyricist are “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Company,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Into the Woods.” Sondheim also wrote the lyrics for the popular musicals “West Side Story” and “Gypsy.”

Robinson said she is happy to be on a stage performing at OWU this year.

“I could spend the rest of my life singing, acting and dancing on a stage,” she said.

Although the performance is months away, the cast has already begun picking their favorite songs.

Simpson said her favorite is “Everyday A Little Death,” which she will perform as Charlotte.

“It’s tragic, beautiful and unsettling all at the same time,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to performing it.”