|
|
BLOCK 7 – 2022
In This Newsletter:
1. Thoughts from the Director: Connect the Dots
2. “Forever Foreign Series” – Keynote by Viet Thanh Nguyen on April. 7
3. Block 7 Arts Opportunities
4. Arts Stories: “Boy mother / faceless bloom” – Reflections From a Crew Member
5. Keep in Touch!: Find Us in Cornerstone, Worner, and the Mail Center
|
|
|
Mutual Aid Drag Show Performance from the first “Arts in the Arena” event on Friday, March 11, 2022. Photo by Katya Nicolayevsky.
|
|
Thoughts from Ryan Raul Bañagale, Director of The Arts at CC
One of the true joys of being a member of the CC community is our constant and unending opportunity to connect the dots between our collective experiences. Classes, performances, exhibitions, athletics, late-night conversations with friends… These connections and linkages make us whole. And that, after all, is one of the true goals of a liberal arts education. To teach us how to understand ourselves and our world through the connectivity that binds us all — in the past, the present, and the future.
As we quickly move from spring to summer, Block 7 offers us a moment to draw connections across the span of this academic year. I think about the events of the “Forever Foreign” series and the ways this assemblage of artists, authors, books, and films deepens our awareness of anti-Asian racism while simultaneously celebrating the creativity of the Asian and Asian-American community. I think about our recent “Arts in the Arena” event and the ways that hundreds of students experienced the unique linkage of Battle of the Bands, a professional drag show, and Ed Robson Arena — the fire alarm added a little something extra as well.
One of the goals of The Arts at CC is that upon graduation, each and every student can identify a meaningful experience with the arts that connects more broadly to who they have become during their time at the college. As an extension of that, we hope students develop the habit of connecting with and through the arts in ways that keep them engaged with their future selves and communities.
As we near the end of the 2021-22 academic year, please take the opportunity to experience a few more of the many arts experiences available, so that you will have just that many more connections to link up with.
Sincerely,
Ryan Raul Bañagale
Director of The Arts at CC
Associate Professor, Music
|
|
|
“Forever Foreign: Asian America, Global Asia, and the Problem of Anti-Asian Racism” – Keynote by Viet Thanh Nguyen on April. 7
March 16 marks one year since the mass shooting of Asian Americans in Atlanta. As communities across the globe continue to remember and protest, the year-long series “Forever Foreign” organized by a group of CC faculty will culminate with a keynote lecture by the Pulitzer prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen at the Kathryn Mohrman Theatre on Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, another keynote lecture by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ayad Akhtar originally scheduled on April 5 will be canceled and rescheduled at a later date.
In their work, both Nguyen, author of “The Sympathizer” and “The Committed,” and Akhtar, author of “Homeland Elegies,” write evocatively about the legacies of America’s two longest wars and the intersections of violence, migration/displacement, memory, and racism. In addition, as part of the series, this year’s MacLean Symposium, to be held April 12-14, 2022, invites Ma Vang, Mai Der Vang, Divya Victor, Aaron Cohick, and Cathy Park Hong to speak on Asian American literature as forms of racial reckonings. Both as textual representation and self-reflection, literature has been foundational to Asian American studies and, in this critical moment of antiracist initiatives and resistance, it continues to play a vital role in creating dialogue around issues of war, justice, art, and community. In bringing these writers, artists, and thinkers together, we aim to amplify Asian American literature and its many points of intervention.
Additional details for the series are available here.
The “Forever Foreign” series is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program; Cultural Attractions Fund; National Endowment for the Humanities; MacLean Fund for the English Department; Department of History; Department of Political Science; the Butler Center; Department of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies; Center for Global Education and Field Study; and Feminist and Gender Studies Program.
|
|
First-year winter start students try their hands at throwing pottery at the Bemis School of Art on January 18, 2022. Photo by Joshua Birndorf.
|
|
Block 7 Arts Opportunities
Ongoing:
April 1-2, 9:30-9:30 pm: TWIT 24-hour improv show (Taylor Theatre)
April 12-14, 7:30-9 pm: Dance Workshop (Kathryn Mohrman Theatre, Armstrong Hall)
April 13-15, 3-6 pm: “Written in Our Own Hand” – Daya T. Stanley’s Feminist
and Gender Studies Capstone Project (Taylor Theatre)
March 28, 6-7 pm: Generosity Day Lecture – Watch Party (JLK McHugh
Commons)
April 1, 3-4:30 pm: Improv Practice Space (Cossitt Hall Gym)
April 1, 3-4:30 pm: “Meet and Greet and Create” with performing artist Doron Mitchell ’14 (Flex Room in Cornerstone)
April 2, 1:30-3:30 pm: Contact Improvisation Jam (Cossitt Hall South Studio)
April 8, 3-4:30 pm: Improv Practice Space (Cossitt Hall Gym)
April 15, 3-4:30 pm: Improv Practice Space (Cossitt Hall Gym)
April 16, 7-8 pm: Celecia K-Dance Workshop (Cossitt Hall Gym)
April 19, 4-6 pm: End of Block Art Department Open House (Packard Hall, TBD)
|
|
Juni One Set’s Crow Nishimura and Eddy Kwon during the “Boy mother / faceless bloom” World Premiere February 24-27, 2022. Photo by Erin Mullins
|
|
“Boy mother / faceless bloom”: reflections from a crew member
By Mahnoor Rehman ’23
It was a privilege to view the performance and theatrics by Juni One Set (Senga Nengudi, Eddy Kwon, and Degenerate Art Ensemble’s Crow Nishimura and Joshua Kohl) and everyone else involved with the production of “Boy mother / faceless bloom.”
As one of the backstage crew members, I can surely say that this was one of the most impactful work experiences I have ever had at Colorado College, and I am very grateful that I found the chance to be on the same platform as the spectacular team.
The dynamic among the whole team at the set was full of kindness, care, and respect for one another. There was never a moment that I felt intimidated by any of the performers or the crew members. Even during moments of conflict, the whole team stood with each other, listening to each other’s concerns and providing support.
One of the finest moments that became a usual practice in the group was the “soul check.” During this 10-15-minute session, the crew, Juni One Set, as well as all the other members involved in production came together and sat in a circle on the set. It was a space where people had time to share how their soul is feeling at that particular moment, in regard to their personal life, emotional capacity, and the show itself.
To be backstage for seven nights in a row and see how the performance built itself alongside the passion of Juni One Set and the love they manifested for one another was a nurturing experience for someone who is deeply interested in experimental theatre and dance. I was inspired by every bit of the performance and the creativity that it exhibited at all times.
I personally got to spend more time with Senga as I was her assistant. Senga’s kindness and warmth will always stay with me as she made sure to help me out throughout the scenes in the show and was welcoming to each one of us from the crew.
Lastly, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to the crew members, stage managers, lighting, and sound group for creating an absolutely wonderful workspace for me to grow in. I have made some long-lasting memories while working for “Boy mother / faceless bloom” that will remain close to my heart.
|
|
Find Us in Cornerstone, Worner, and outside the Mail Center!
|
|
|
|
 |
|
