Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Tuesday, March 30,

Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Tue rd.y..March .3, ..

Poet and

his

environment

Musical mishmash.


By BERT STRATTON
Gary Snyder, this year's writer-
in-esidence, had his first audi-
ence - discussion meeting last
night. Tonight he is giving a
poetry reading at 8 p.m. at Rack-
har Aud. He is also lined up for
a couple of ecology - oriented dis-
acussiorns to be held throughout
the week.
Last night Gary talked mostly
about ecology and very little
about his writing. It seems safe
to say that Gary Snyder's writ-
is only a small facet of what he's
all about.
H r re is a man who is very deeply
involved with the land. His dis-
cssion last night always con-
cerned itself with communes,
r gAmerican Indians, and other
things - meaning anything that
is basic and primitive and am-
malistic is what Gary Snyder is
interested in.
$ He is not a poet who would feel
} comfortable reading in the UGLI,
he is 'a poet who would praoably
f prefer reading his poems to birds
and deer. He said last night he
>3 "was a little amazed that anybody
cared about his poetry at all, he
writes it for his close friends-
loggers, birds, and himself. He
Images o Russian peasantry

writes when he has to, he dloesn't
contrive "causes" and revolu-
tions to write about. (He said all
this last night.)
Gary Snyder is not a real dra-
matic character. I don't imagine
he will read his poems witna
kind of feverish dynamism along
the lines of Ginsberg or last
year's writer-in-residence Robert
Bly.
Actually having met the man
for such a brief time last night, I
can't be too sure about any of
this, but judging from his poetry
and a recording I've heard of
him, I'd guess that Gary is not
the type of personality who elicits
comments of "freaky" and "bi-
zarre", but is more or leis the
kind of man who is strikingly
sane and ordered.
He is a sane man who realizes
that it's a rare thing to be born
a human being, like there's bet-
ter odds you'd be born an insect.
His sense of the earth and ani-
mals came out in his opening
night discussion.
People directed questions to
his writing, but he seemed to
want to get on to more important
things. One girl said is poetry
was presumptuous because he
said he wrote, in part, to give the
birds,deserts, etc. a more pow-
erful voice. Gary agreed with the
girl that his poetry was presump-
tuous, he said all poetry is pre-
sumptuous, and then went on to
talk about his favorite topic of
the evening-American Indias
and how their culture has still
survived through the "occupation
of their land by the Anglos."
I'm glad that Gary Snyder has
shown up in Ann Arbor. I can't
think of any reason why he'd
come here except for bread,
which his commune in Northern
California could probably use.
I'd thinks that Gary Snyder's
poetry belongs "On the road" ini
the traveller's hip pocket, more
so than in any sort of writer-in-
residence program.
Here's a little background on
Gary, take it for wv h a t it's
worth: He's about forty, and he
grew up in, the Pacific North-
west, he went through academia,
studied Zen in Japan for 3 yeai s,
he has worked as a logger and a
forest-lookout. He has quite a
few books out, the latest is called
Regarding Wave, his poems in it
are generally about his rela-
tionship with the earth. He is a
very unassuming man.

By JOE PEHRSON
The final Composer's Forum
was presented last night at the
School of Music. The program
was a carnival of contemporary
style, and the range compen-
sated in some respects for the
general quality of the pieces.
The first piece on the pro-
gram, "Frog Songs" by Edward
Weiss seemed heavy. This piece
was more successful than many
of this same gendre a type of
unrestrained expressionism, but
many of the separate elements
seemed too noticeable in them-
selves and many times a con-
tinuity was missing.
"Suspended Se n te nc e" by
Russell Peck received an as-
tonishing performance by Kurt
Carpenter. Unfortunately f aor
the piece itself, this often served
as the focus of attention and
Peck's overuse of clusteral ele-
ments seemed distructive to the
performance.
This piece is not satisfying,
but Carpenter's sensitivity and
sensibility at the piano is won-
derful.
"Night Bird" by Thomas Jan-
son was an uncontrolled and
unlistenable arpeggiated com-
plex. To add to the stylistic pre-
dictability of this work, a can-
dle,placed on the piano, was
lighted at the beginning of the.
performance.
"Whatever You Wish," by
Timothy Place was possibly the
most interesting and certainly
the freshest work on the pro-
gram. Jazz elements in this piece
were not overdone, and a broad-
ranged brass texture served as
an echo for the sounds of an
amplified solo trombone played
by Place.
The trombone made use of a
variable "wah-wah" pedal, and
this was used at some of the
extreme points of each musical
gesture. At times, the instru-
ment was used to ~produce a
wind sound, also subject to this

variation, and no pitches were
heard.
"Messages from a Private
Universe" by William Ross was
an excellent example of this
romantic contemporary music,
full of meaningless gesture and
sounding ultimately as if one
were attempting to saw con-
temporary music out of a piece
of wood.
Larry Cohen's "Apple Juice
Music" may be one of the most
humorous pieces of music yet
invented. Larry uses much con-
trivance, but these devices seem
very fresh. An example is his
use of applause on the part of
the performers at the end of the
piece. By itself, this would be a
gimmick, but the fact that it
was attached in sound to the
applause of the audience kept
it interesting.
"Aurora, Morning Redness in
the Sky" by Michael Bayer is
an extremely ambitious work. I
sense a lack of sensibility in
Bayer's work, but sometimes the
general sense of an animal!
thrashing about in his style is
worthy of attention.
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4~,JJ
3020 Washtenaw, Ph. 434-1782
3rd
BIG
WEEK
SHOW TIMES
WEEKDAYS
7 and 9 only
SAT. and SUN.
1-3-5-7-9

Theatre wi ll be
cleared after every
performance on Sun.


By DIANE ELLIOT
Time was when an evening at
a show or concert meant a few
hours respite from the urgent
crush of daily affairs, a chance
to enjoy a fairytale world where
no act has consequences or to
share a great artist's ordered
vision. No more. Now the World
assaults us, sometimes from the
stages of our theatres and con-
cert halls, and sometimes, as
on Saturday night at Hill Aud-
itorium, from the front steps. A
crowd of "cultural scabs" cross-
ed the picket lines of the Jewish
Council of Greater Washtenaw
County last Saturday evening to
see a performance of the Si- t
berian Dancers and Singers of
While the well-organized, dig-
nified protest s t i m u l a t e d
thought and discussion in the
lobby, the dimming of the house
lights found the audience cap-
tiavted by the joyous exuberance
of the Russian dancers and sing-
ers, whose performance reflect-
ed not the stolid grinding of
repressive bureaucracy but the
festival gaiety of age-old folk
customs.
Simple folk tunes and straight-
forward choreography conveyed
the images and events of rural
Russia " - the waving of half-
grown corn stalks, a young girl's
flirtation at the well, the mak-
ing of tea in the samovar, the
dressing of the scarecrow, t h e
bear hunt. Arranging their
seemingly unsophisticated ma-
terial with great art, the Rus-
sians are exuberant showmen
who give their all to an audience
and establish a rapport which
transcends cultural and linguis-
tic barriers.
Large production numbers
meshing song and dance alter-
nated with mournful folk tunes,
sung a capella by the women's
chorus as they moved in simple
pleasing patterns, arms folded
or around each other's waists.
They sang of waving fields of
corn, of the river and the moon,

of lovesick girls and the weep-
ing willow tree. Though t h e i r
high nasality at first sounded
harsh and foreign, the American
ear soon accepted this as musi-
cal convention and appreciatied
the singers' lovely harmonies
and full, rich tones.
But it was the dancers w h o
brought the house down. They
began slowly, accustoming
themselves to the well-rosined
floor, but by the second number
they had warmed to their work.
Choreographically, they moved
in the most elemental folk dance
patterns: symmetrical rows and
lines with rarely a circle or a
diagonal. While even the simp-
lest steps were performed with
gusto, their most stunning mom-
ents were the series of almost
superhuman leaps and acrobatic
stunts in which Russian m a 1 e
dancers glory. The men climax-
ed each dance with trick after
trick, displaying tremendous
strength, flexibility and eleva-
tion, seeming to vie with o n e
another in skill and daring. Un-
hampered by any kind of class-
ical training, they knew how to
use their energy to best advan-
tage; from my tenth row seat I
watched them throw themselv-
es around the stage, spiralling
five feet in the air, repeating the
stunt as an encore without ap-
parent sweat or strain. Delight-
ed youngsters and adults en-
thusiastically applauded this
seemingly effortless technical
display.
Here was clowning at its most
traditional, the little man
matching wits with the giant,
the buffon secretly the most
skillful prankster of all, the
bashful dancing bear in the fin-
ale. The Russians know how to
endear themselves to an aud-
ience; though the evening is
long, you cannot grudge them
the applause they solicit w i t h
consummate showmanship. The
appeal was perhaps a bit too
blatant in the singing of two

American folk songs: the chorus'
solemn, thickly accented rendi-
tion of "O bury me not on the
lone prairie' 'elicited titters. But
all considered, the Siberian
Dancers and Singers are a de-
lightfully entertaining group
and left me feeling I had come
to know them and their cul-
ture.
By the time people spilled out
of the theatre, the picketers had
gone. They had sought to make
us aware of a Serious Situation
of Immediate Import, a poli-
tical and cultural injustice
which cries for action. It is true:
the Jews of the Soviet Union
are victims of discrimination
and repression. 'Tingling with
the energy of the Singers and
Dancers of Omsk, the departing
audience tasted not so much the
bitterness of present Soviet pol-
icy as the sweetness and vital-
ity of a centuries-old Russian
peasant culture. Yet, for some,
did not those lilting melodies re-
call haunting Yiddish tunes bur-
ied in immigrant memories? As
I leafed through the souvenir
program, a photography of the
company's choreographer caught
my eye: it was a distinctly Sem-
itic face and beneath was print-
ed "Yakov Kolomeysky, Merited
Artist of the USSR."

ROUET MICHREL I
ADFORD POLLARD
LITTLEFRMS
AMDBIG HALSY
3rd
HIT
WEEK

I

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"A ROARING
VISUAL DELIGHT!"
-L.A. TIMES

"A MUST"

-PLAYBOY

.

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;,

Sponsored by
Creative Arts Festival
APRIL 2-3
7 and 9 p.m.
Natural Science
Auditorium
$1.50 AT DOOR

Solstis Film Series

OPEN 12:45
SHOWS AT 1:15-3-5-7-9 p.m.

qvmwpqw

rrAa

Corner of State and Liberty Sts.
DIAL 662-6264
Starts Thursday, April 1st
Dustin Hoffman
as
"LITTLE BIG MAN"

La Terra Trema
by De Sica, Italian neo-realist
who also directed "Bicycle Thief"



..

TUESDAY, MAR. 30
Friends' Center
Hill St. across from Ark

8:00 P.M.
Donation 75c

............................ "....::::':::.Y ". ...
.: :::::....... r:::::.. .. . :.V "'i:::: F.::

U

presents
LEN CHANDLER
Columbia Recording Artist
THURS.-SUN. Night 330 MAYNARD ST.
April 1-4$2.00 8 P.M. Doors Open
Fi

Writer-In-Residence
presents
GARY SNYDER
March 29 thru April 4
During the week Snyder will read his poetry and
hold lectures and discussions on ecology, an-
thropology, Asian culture Zen, mind-body.
Poetry Reading Tonight
Rackham Auditorium, 8:00 p.m.
FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IS FORTHCOMING
March31-Aril

/f
'< 

: w B

.41

velours with sunshine in
every stripe for Miss J..

I

Residential College
present
ENDGAME
and
BEDTIME STORY

Players

_ __

'! A

Vivid summertime colors are
{ coming to light in the
plushiest way possible.. .
7' a collection of cotton velour
separates in stripes of
purple/white/green or
orange/purple/yellow with purple
or orange solids. Sizes 5-13.
A. Shirt, $14. Pull-on skirt, $12.
} B. Hooded zip-front tunic, $22.
Pull-on pant, $20.

4

by Samuel Beckett
by Sean O'Casey

I

A:ril 1, 2, 3-8 P.M.
EAST QUAD AUD.
-ADMISSION 50c-

r

NOMINATEDFFORAI
ACADEMY
AWARDS1

{
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March 31-April 3 '
Trueblood Theater
Noel Coward's

8:00 P.M.

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BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST ACTRESS GP
BEST ACTOR
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