AIDS Crisis, Disasters Explored in Upcoming Art Season

During the CFA’s annual Season Announcement May 9, Pam Tatge, CFA director, announced the center’s upcoming highlights.

“We are very proud of what we and Wesleyan’s faculty, students and staff have created for next year,” Tatge says.

New this year will be online ticketing, a deepened interest in engaging students, and creating a partnership with Middletown’s Luce eatery and the Green Street Arts Center.

In addition, the Dean of the College Office will collaborate with the CFA next year to allow first-year students to interact with guest artists. Through the new “Engage and Imagine” program, students can exchange views, discuss art and culture with guest artists choreographer Bill T. Jones and playwright Charles L. Mee.

“This is going to be an amazing initiative and we hope it’s first of many,” Tatge says.

GALLERY SHOWS
The season begins Sept. 8 with “Disaster! One Year After”, an exhibit on display in the Ezra & Cecile Zilkha Gallery through Oct. 29. Organized on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, “Disaster! One Year After” includes both historical and contemporary art that addresses the impact of extreme weather conditions.

BREAKING GROUND SERIES
The CFA’s Breaking Ground Dance Series will open Sept. 15 and 16 with “Another Evening,” performed by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. The ever-evolving 90-minute collage, featuring choreographer Bill T. Jones, interweaves new movement, excerpts from existing repertoire, original and traditional music and text into a vibrant multi-media work.

Compagnie TchéTché, an all-female dance troupe from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, will perform “Dimi” Nov. 17 and 18. In Dimi, the troupe explores the inner conflicts of contemporary African women.

The Joe Goode Performance Group will perform “Deeply There (stories of a neighborhood)” and “Stay Together” on Feb. 2 and 3. “Deeply There” is an intimate exploration of the AIDS crisis and the work widely acknowledged to be Goodes masterpiece.

CROWELL CONCERT SERIES
The Crowell Concert Series begins with San Jose Taiko on Sept. 28-29. By fusing the ritual drumming traditions of Japan with contemporary jazz, Latin and African rhythms, San Jose Taiko performers express the beauty and harmony of the human spirit through the voice of taiko.

Sérgio and Odair Assad, the Assad Brothers perform “Brazilian Guitar” on Oct. 21. Hear the brothers’ fine blend of styles, time periods, and cultures ranging from gypsy melodies and American tangos.

The FLUX Quartet, featuring the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music Alvin Lucier’s world premier, performs Nov. 3.

Paul Brady, one of Ireland’s most enduringly popular artists, will perform Feb. 16. Brady continues to push out the boundaries of Irish contemporary music in the new millennium.

Eight-time Grammy award winner Eddie Palmieri will perform “The Sun of Latin Music” on March 3. At Wesleyan, he will play with his ensemble, La Perfecta II.

OUTSIDE THE BOX THEATER SERIES
The Outside the Box Theater Series begins with the Pig Iron Theatre Company–performing “Hell Meets Henry Half Way” on Sept. 21 and 22. The Philadelphia-based Pig Iron Theatre Company calls itself a “dance–clown–theater ensemble.” A tournament of malcontents erupts in a deluge of florid insults and absurd cruelties.

Connecticut resident and OBIE-award winning playwright Charles L. Mee will hold “Creative Conversation” Feb. 22. His works, including “bobrauschenbergamerica,” “Big Love” and the rock-musical “True Love,” often draw inspiration from the Greek classics.

NAVARATRI FESTIVAL
The 30th Annual Navaratri Festival will be held Oct. 5-8. The longstanding tradition at Wesleyan celebrates Indian culture with music, dance, a religious service and the annual feast.

GREEN STREET ARTS CENTER
Janice Astor, assistant director and interim director of the Green Street Arts Center, says the downtown arts center will expand its age range from 7-to-14-years-old to include older teens. These high-school-aged students will have the ability to record their own videos or CDs.

She’s also allowing Wesleyan students to perform their own talents for the center’s students.

“Wesleyan has some amazing performers from tap dancers to cellists, and the kids love to interact with the Wesleyan students,” Astor says. “We really want to boost the collaboration between Green Street and Wesleyan students this year.”