Tag Archives: CFA

Emily Johnson/Catalyst: Kinstillatory Mappings in Light and Dark Matter

From the the Center for the Humanities, the Center for the Arts, and the Indigenous Studies Research Network (ISRN):

Join us by the fire for a gathering hosted by Emily Johnson/Catalyst that centers around Indigenous protocols and knowledges, as we welcome the evening with our campus community and neighbors. Come sit and gaze at the stars, and share stories, conversation and food (bring food to share if you wish—hot apple cider will be provided). Kinstillatory Mappings in Light and Dark Matter is a community gathering. It is a way of being and a way of making. It is research and process as ceremony. It is dance. Come join us.

Rain Location: Beckham Hall (no fire)

Kinstillatory Mappings is co-hosted by the Center for the Humanities, the Center for the Arts, and the Indigenous Studies Research Network (ISRN). It was created with funding from The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. A Bessie Award winning choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award she is based in New York City. Originally from Alaska, she is of Yup’ik descent and since 1998 has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances function as installations, engaging audiences within and through a space and environment—interacting with a place’s architecture, history, and role in community. Emily is trying to make a world where performance is part of life; where performance is an integral connection to each other, our environment, our stories, our past, present, and future. Emily’s written work has been published and commissioned by Dance Research Journal(University of Cambridge Press); SFMOMA; Transmotion Journal,University of Kent; Movement Research Journal; Pew Center for Arts and Heritage; and the recent compilation Imagine d Theaters (Routledge), edited by Daniel Sack.

Her choreography is presented across the United States and Australia and most recently at Santa Fe Opera with Doctor Atomic, directed by Peter Sellars. Emily is a lead collaborator in the Indigenous-artist led Healing Place Collaborative (Minneapolis, MN), focused on the vital role of the Mississippi River in the life of residents along its path; she was an inaugural participant in the Headlands Center for the Arts’ Climate Change Residency, a member of Creative Change at Sundance, and served as a water protector at Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock. As a facilitator she has worked with artists and communities most notably during TIME PLACE SPACE, NOMAD in Wotjobaluk Country, Australia and during UMYUANGVIGKAQ with PS122 on Manhahtaan in Lenapehoking, a durational Long Table/Sewing Bee focused on indigenizing the performing arts and the world at large.

Her most recent work, Then a Cunning Voice and A Night We Spend Gazing at Stars—an all night outdoor performance gathering taking place on and near eighty-four community-hand-made quilts—premiered in Lenapehoking (NYC) with PS122 on Randall’s Island in summer 2017 and will tour to Chicago, San Francisco, and Narrm (Melbourne), Australia. Currently, she hosts monthly bonfires on the Lower East Side in Mannahatta in partnership with Abrons Art Center and is, with colleagues in Australia and Canada, developing a Global First Nations Performance Network.

Date: Tuesday, October 9
Time: 6:30-8:30 PM
Place: CFA Courtyard (Rain Location: Beckham Hall)
Facebook Event

Costume and Clothing Sale

The CFA Costume Shop writes in about one of the most highly-anticipated events of the year:

Come one come all to the COSTUME SHOP SALE. Do you want some cool new items to add to your everyday look? Are you looking for some awesome pieces for your Halloween costume? Are you not ready for the CT winter and need to stock up on warm clothes? Are you not sure what you want but love a good deal? WELL DO WE HAVE A SALE FOR YOU!!! The costume shop is hosting its annual sale. We will have everything from sweaters to pants to medieval garb. All purchases can be made using venmo or cash.

Date: Wednesday, October 17-Friday, October 19
Time: 12:00 PM-4:00 PM
Place: The CFA Courtyard (rain location will be in the CFA Theater lobby)

Somi

Somi in the Studio, Brooklyn, New York

From our friends in the CFA:

Superb jazz chanteuse Somi blends modern jazz, African music, and the singer-songwriter tradition, combining the musical and cultural worlds that resonate with her as an African and American woman. An Illinois-born resident of Harlem, she is the daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Highly regarded as both a scholar and artist, Somi is a TED Senior Fellow and the founder of New Africa Live, a nonprofit that champions African artists.

Date: Friday, October 13
Time: 8 PM
Place: Crowell Concert Hall
Cost: $28 general public; $26 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18 (reserved seating)

Wesleyan Concert Choir

Randi Plake writes in:

The Wesleyan Concert Choir, under direction of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Nadya Potemkina, presents a program featuring both a cappella and accompanied selections from classical and modern choral repertoire.

Date: Sunday, May 7th
Time: 4 PM
Place: Crowell Concert Hall

Wesleyan Chamber Music Concert

Randi Plake writes in:

Students from the Wesleyan chamber music program perform works by various composers on a variety of instruments.

Date: Friday, May 5th
Time: 12:00 PM
Place: Crowell Concert Hall

Beginners Javanese Gamelan

Randi Plake writes in:

Experience the culture of Java with beginning students of the Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble. The concert will include a prelude by the Wesleyan Youth Gamelan Ensemble.

Date: Thursday, May 4th
Time: 7 PM
Place: World Music Hall

Wesleyan Korean Drumming and Taiko Ensembles

Randi Plake writes in:

Wesleyan’s Taiko Drumming Ensemble, directed by Visiting Instructor in Music Barbara Merjan, performs the thunderous and thrilling rhythms of Japanese kumi daiko drumming. The Korean Drumming Ensemble, directed by Visiting Assistant Professor Jin Hi Kim, plays a variety of mesmerizing rhythmic patterns from the samulnori repertoire. Several dynamic and exciting styles will be showcased, demonstrating both traditional and contemporary sounds from each culture.

Date: Friday, May 5th
Time: 8 PM
Place: Crowell Concert Hall

Spring Faculty Dance Concert—“Shake”

Randi Plake writes in:

“Shake” is a rambunctious and tender duet born out of a nine-year friendship between Wesleyan Artist in Residence Iddi Saaka and Bates College Associate Professor of Dance Rachel Boggia. The world premiere of their first choreographed work features their shared love of vibratory movement, smooth breath, and cheesy humor; and influences including Ghanaian dance forms, American postmodern dance, fake tap dance, bad jokes, and life experiences.

Date: Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th
Time: 8 PM
Place: CFA Theater

A Celebration of Silent Sounds

Randi Plake writes in:

Celebrate the writing excellence of students in Middletown Public Schools, grades 6 through 12, and hear their winning submissions of essays, short stories, and poetry from the annual literary magazine “Silent Sounds.” Co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts, Community and University Services for Education, and the Middletown Public Schools Cultural Council.

Date: Tuesday, May 2nd
Time: 6:30 PM
Place: Memorial Chapel