Category: Arts & Humanities

Her hands are demonstrative. When Laura Elise Schwendinger talks about getting down to work, her hands mime the rolling up of sleeves. As she describes a violin composition, they play an imaginary violin in a manner that almost conjures it visible. Whenever she sits back up after doubling over in one of the delighted full-body laughs that consume her, they sweep her blond hair back over her ears and push her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. It is as if the contemporary composer, in depriving her hands of the piano keyboard and whatever manuscript she is working on at the moment, has let them off-leash. They are restless, rambunctious, as if they can’t wait to return to the service of Schwendinger’s creative impulse.

It’s said that art imitates life.

On a cold November night, with papers bearing bad news and autumn hues gone gray, the UW Dance Program took a somber turn.

Madison Repertory Theatre’s production of The Greeks, performed in partnership with the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Theatre and Drama, avoids the pitfall of trying to portray the epic scale of the Trojan Wars, choosing instead to focus on the terrible toll that those events inflicted on ordinary people. And, in that sense, the production is a success. By personalizing the crushing impact of the war the play reaches its audience in ways that mere bombast and bloodletting could not.

Muscle and ferocity are the most apparent qualities of Li Chiao-Ping’s dancing. She’s one tough dancer.

UW-Madison’s Homegrown Hip-Hop Festival put our city on the map last year as a destination for the best regional hip-hop artists. This year, planners of the free, three-day fest hope to illustrate just how much the Midwest contributes to hip-hop across the country, from the small towns of Wisconsin to the clubs and record labels of New York and L.A.

Matt Forrest, a UW junior who launched the fest last year, says a great deal of the innovation going on in hip-hop now happens in the Great Lakes region, and not either coast. “One of our two headliners, Kid Sister, really embodies the Chicago sound, which has burst onto the national scene in the last year,” he says.

The title of the Chazen Museum of Art’s new exhibition, Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas, is telling. Note that it’s not arts about water spirits; it’s arts for water spirits, in the sense that the makers of these artworks are invested in Mami Wata’s powers and possibilities, both good and bad. We’re talking connection, not mere depiction.

Mami Wata (her name is pidgin English for “Mother Water”) is an African water spirit thought to reside in rivers, seas and other bodies of water. She’s remarkable in her multivalence. She appears in numerous guises, most frequently as a mermaid or snake charmer, and has associations that are both positive and negative, from nurturing mother to dangerous temptress.

The UW-Madison School of Music has a similar program, called Piano Pioneers, where graduate students give piano lessons to children and adults who otherwise could not afford them.

Allen Ebert, executive director of the La Crosse Community Theater, has been named co-director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Art Institute’s Wisconsin Film Festival. His last day with the La Crosse Community Theater is Nov. 14.

Ebert will rejoin Norma Saldivar, a professor with whom he studied while earning his bachelor’s degree in theater and drama at UW-Madison.

There is a new documentary, “Trumbo,” opening at Sundance in Madison Friday. It arrives with great reviews for its portrayal of the blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo.
Stephen Holden in the New York Times called it a “stirring documentary” that “gives you reason to cheer but also to weep.”

Thursday, I climbed some stairs to get a look at the film’s genesis: Trumbo’s letters, which are stored on the fourth floor of the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison.

Song and dance will mix with the goals and challenges of running a major university Thursday at the public’s first chance to meet and greet new UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin.

Eastern influences are in the spotlight this weekend in a UW-Madison dance concert that melds traditional Indian, Taiwanese and Chinese movement and music.

“Refiguring A/musing” features the choreography of UW Dance Program Chairman Jin-Wen Yu, who is Taiwanese, and Indian guest artist Parul Shah, a dance professor at Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India. Yu and Shah both dance in the program, joined intermittently by two dozen UW student dancers and a handful of local residents who practice Tai Chi, a form of Chinese martial arts.

Dance and theater, improvisation and structure, Europe and Japan: For Kate Corby, contemporary dance is all about blending. And no matter where the influences emerge, Corby, the newest dance professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will always “begin with and return to the body.”

A floating tribute to the water deity Mami Wata (pidgin English for “Mother Water”) set sail on Lake Mendota on Saturday to kick off the upcoming Chazen Museum of Art’s “Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas.”

Local artists and art organizations painted sails for the regatta, which was organized with help from Hoofer Sailing Club. A parade of lighted boats wrapped up the event.

André DeShields, UW alumnus and a Broadway actor, will not direct “Hair” at University Theatre this spring as planned and announced.

Instead, the actor and director, 62, will appear in “Impressionism” with Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons in a Broadway production directed by Jack O’Brien.quare

Points of Departure: A Concert of Early Works and Premieres, a Li Chiao-Ping Dance presentation at the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space on campus last weekend, proves yet again that Li, a UW dance prof, is one of the country’s most interesting second-wave postmodern choreographers.

The evening was bookended by works set to experimental composer Steve Reich’s three-movement suite Different Trains, dark poems to World War II. Both pieces worked well with Li’s new company (only Robin Baartman returns this season). The first, “Points of Departure,” a Madison premiere choregraphed in 1990, took its cues from the Trains suite’s first two movements, “America â?? Before the War” and “Europe â?? During the War.” As the sound images of the dome-car Zephyrs that linked the U.S. coast-to-coast in the 1940s and ’50s gave way to the death trains of Europe, the choreography evoked a jig, train crossing signals, then flailing and horror. The dancers were in shoulder-stands at the end, legs crossed overhead like swastikas.

Please refrain from texting during the performance of “The War of the Worlds,” the director requests soon after we enter the Mitchell Theatre. It would totally ruin the mood.

It’s one thing for a play to nod to a time period in costume, set or speech. It’s another to fully embrace it and push it outside the script, as the University Theatre has done in its head-to-toe vintage production of “The War of the Worlds.”

The evocative title of the latest concert by the contemporary troupe Li Chiao-Ping Dance, “Points of Departure,” raises as many questions as it answers. Are these literal points of departure, actual physical locations? Do they refer to places where Li has found inspiration, in music, history and art?

The answer is: all of the above.

It takes a village to produce a play, one of the most collaborative of all art forms.

So it might seem natural this season that UW-Madison’s University Theatre is putting the spotlight on cross-town teamwork. But that’s not the only reason: Sharing the stage helps the bottom line, too.

Aliens have landed in Black Earth, and they’re attacking Madison!

Rising from cylindrical balls and emitting toxic gases, the Martians’ relentless march toward the city will be chronicled in University Theatre’s staging of “The War of the Worlds,” opening Friday, Sept. 26.

It’s been 70 years since Orson Welles’ legendary radio broadcast convinced fearful listeners that Martians had invaded New Jersey. University Theatre has retained the 1938 setting, but changed the location from the eastern seaboard to the capital of Wisconsin.

Don’t be surprised to see Queen Amidala, Draco Malfoy or Frodo wandering around campus this weekend.

Whether decked out as one these popular science fiction/fantasy characters or not, more than 1,000 aficionados of everything from computer games to science fiction will head to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the second annual Geek.kon.

A self-described former “very liberal” college activist, UW-Madison grad David Zucker â?? whose work on 1980’s “Airplane!” cemented his place in the satirical comedy ranks â?? has a shock for anyone familiar with his long-ago political stances in Madison.

When art student Sarah Muehlbauer began work last spring on a wax-paper dress in an experimental textile class at UW-Madison, little did she know it would end up at the Smithsonian â?? and earn her a $20,000 cash prize.

Author: Mr. Nadler is chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the author of “Sinoza: A Life” and “Rembrandt’s Jews.” His new book, “The Best of All Possible Worlds,” will be out this fall.

Despite obstacles like funding challenges, William Farlow has had a successful decade piloting the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s opera program, which primes young singers for globe-trotting careers.

On Friday, some of Farlow’s hard work will be recognized in a gala performance featuring 30 alumni, graduate and undergraduate students. The evening of singing will include selections from operas the university has produced over the years, including Mozart, Offenbach, Wagner and selections from Broadway productions.

MADISON, Wis. — It is a seldom used power that the University of Wisconsin-Madison says it is considering using again.

WISC-TV first reported on Tuesday about the possibility that the university could condemn private property owned by Brothers Bar and Grill.

Because it is an arm of state government, the UW Board of Regents granted the university the power of eminent domain. This means if negotiations between the university and the two property owners don’t lead to a sale agreement, the university could condemn two private properties, WISC-TV reported.

Two anonymous donors have given $20 million to the UW-Madison School of Music to build a new performance center on the northwest corner of University Avenue and Lake Street, a few blocks north of the Kohl Center.
The space will feature two concert halls: one 800-seat facility and a 350-seat recital hall.

Plans call for an architect search to begin this winter. Construction could be completed by spring 2013.

As part of a plan to create an arts hub on the UW-Madison campus, the “East Campus Gateway,” the School of Music has received $20 million from anonymous donors to build a performance center at the northwest corner of Lake and University avenues.

If all goes well raising the additional $18 million necessary to build the facility, School of Music director John Schaffer hopes to open within five years.

Former Chancellor John Wiley was honored Monday night at the Overture Center by the Office of the Chancellor and the UW-Madison Arts Institute.

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that two anonymous donors have made a commitment of $20 million in support of UW-Madison’s School of Music’s future Performance Center.

The commitments were announced Monday night during an “Evening of Celebration” at the Overture Center for the Arts, which featured student performances in music, drama and dance in celebration of the career of former Chancellor John D. Wiley.

Both Wiley and current Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin informed the audience of the development.

The center will have approximately 56,000 square feet of space and contain two concert halls. One will have 800 seats, while a recital hall will hold 350 patrons, UW-Madison said in a news release. In addition, the performance facility will house a box office, dressing rooms, support services, recording studio, a lobby and green room.

Former Chancellor John Wiley went out with a bang â?? as well as a song, dance and symphony â?? at â??An Evening of Celebration,â? held at the Overture Center for the Arts Monday night.

A review of My Family and Other Saints, by Kirin Narayan. Narayan is a professor of anthropology at UW-Madison.

Sitting in his State Street studio, Robert Schultz smiled as he described his upcoming showing at the Chazen Museum of Art as “hometown boy makes good.”

Schultz graduated from Madison West High School in 1971 and attended University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1971-76 and again from 1978-81, earning a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in art. Now Schultz’s work, mostly black-and-white human figure drawings in graphite, is featured in galleries in Los Angeles and Chicago (Koplin Del Rio and Printworks Gallery, respectively). An exhibition of his sold work assembled from collectors opens Sept. 20 at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus.

The fifth annual Madison World Music Festival, which starts Friday, Sept. 12, and runs over 10 days, is the biggest and most spread out it’s ever been. The festival will mainly be staged at the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. — outside on the Terrace, if weather permits — but other venues will include The Annex and the Willy Street Fair.

And best of all, it’s free, although donations are encouraged to keep the festival going into the future.

This Friday night, Cinematheque celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a screening of the classic Singin’ in the Rain, shown in its original 35 mm format.

Manning the projector for Cinematheque is Mike King, a recent transplant from Chicago who got hired earlier this summer as an associate academic curator (which is basically fancy job-title-speak for “projectionist,” although he’ll be involved in some programming as well).

We are blessed with a great arts scene in Madison, which many of us take for granted. An oft-repeated sentiment is that with all the plays, concerts and gallery openings to take in, a person can get overwhelmed quickly.

But a few places stand out as being consistent locations to experience locally and nationally made art, and offer a good introduction to the fine arts scene here.

(Among the seven are the Chazen Museum, Wisconsin Union Theater, Vilas and Lathrop halls)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ The college graduate, wearing the traditional cap and gown, sits on top of the world.

A closer look shows the world is actually a bomb and a lit fuse is coming out of one side.

The date on the cover is May 1939, more than two years before the United States entered World War II, but the University of Michigan Gargoyle humor magazine was clearly on to something.

Published near the end of what is considered the heyday of college humor magazines, that issue of Gargoyle is one of more than 1,000 recently donated to the University of Wisconsin-Madison from what may be the largest collection of its kind.

“Did you see those awful jokes these students wanted to put in their magazine?”

“Filthy, weren’t they? What are college students coming to?”

Thus begins a self-parody printed in the late, great Octopus, the UW-Madison’s campus humor magazine. Those naughty, naughty students were writing jokes about sex … in 1928.

It was a war of words Wednesday night, and Madison was somewhat triumphant.

The hometown spoken word team placed second in its competition against San Antonio, Houston and Manchester during its first bout in the National Poetry Slam held at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Various venues around the city are hosting the competition, which ends Thursday night.

Monday night the (City Plan) commission OK’d plans for a $9 million, 70,000 square foot expansion of the Chazen Museum of Art at 750 University Ave.

The project consists of a new four-story museum building linked to the existing Chazen via an enclosed bridge. The third-floor bridge will serve as an art gallery and span Murray Street, which is being converted into the east campus pedestrian mall.

Eighteen has been good to Danez Smith.

It’s the age that he’s come into his own, he says.

And the age he was named Madison’s Grand Slam Poetry Champion.

With less than a week remaining before National Poetry Slam 2008 gets rolling in Madison, the cityâ??s team is working hard in preparation for the competition. All five members — Evy Gildrie-Voyles, Josh Healey, Ryan Hurley, Eric Mata, and Danez J. Smith — are busy making their performance decisions and last-minute adjustments to ensure their success. But how did they find themselves on the hometown squad for the latest addition to Madisonâ??s artistic crown jewels?