ARTS Potok retains his y RONA KOBELL - Don't ask Chaim Potok to choose a favorite among his novels. "That's like asking someone to choose among his children," said the famous father of three. As the author of eight best-selling novels, Potok does not exaggerate the difficulty of that choice. From intro- ducing the rebellious painter prodigy "MyName is AsherLev," tochroni- wing his own experiences as a chap- lain in "The Book of Lights" and "I Am the Clay," all of Potok's novels resonate with the human experience. Potok's passion emanates from his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew and as an observer of the world. In his childhood bubble, Potok grew up in an environment which frowned upon secular, outside influences and :ressed following Jewish values as outlined in the Torah. But at age 16, Potok looked into literature and discovered new reali- ties that challenged his Orthodox Jew- ish woridview. "It was through read- ing that I realized the power of the novel, that you can shape reality with wordsand sentences which bring forth the deepest feelings and thoughts you jve," Potok said. And Potok hasn't stopped rebel- ling. "The essential nature of modern fiction is that it is rebellion," Potok explained. "It's the individual who, for whatever reason, regards himself or herself in tension with his or her community." For Potok's characters, the im- plicit tension in rebellion intensifies with each turn of the page. This con- flict is central in "My Name Is Asher Lev," a book which Potok considers "a metaphor for my work as a writer." Asher Lev is a young Yeshiva student who has agift for drawing and painting. In the beginning, Asher's mother coddles his gift and encour- ages him to "make the world pretty" through drawings of sunshine, birds and happy people. But Asher's post- war world is far from pretty, and he becomes sated with the compulsion to paint the truth as he interprets it. Asher's fidelity to truth becomes an unplanned rebellion against the socialconventionshehas been taught. His father tells him not to rejoice in the demise of even the Jews' greatest enemies. But during class, Asher draws a distorted, mangled picture of Stalin in his coffin. His teachers re- mind him that the Torah is law. But Asher desecrates his Torah text by drawing a picture of the Rebbe -the highest spiritual leader in the com- munity -on one of its sacred pages. His mother orders him to return di- rectly home after school. But Asher spends every afternoon he can steal in the local museum sketching crucifix- ion scenes and nude women. Lev's inability to stifle his passion passion for art transforms him into a reluctant rebel, andhis dissidence alienateshim from the community he calls home. Potok attributes this tension to "the religious community handing down its value system, parental guidance, and control. Such control can become choking and runs into conflict with the creative impulses a child might have, especially if those impulses seem to be threatening." The religious community does not unilaterally view Potok as threaten- ing. "There has been no one reaction [to my work]on the part of the Ortho- dox community," Potok declared. "Some appreciate what I am doing, others do not. Some Orthodox institu- tions ban my books and won't let students read them,others assign them as required reading." While Potok draws on his reli- gious background, he says he's not pigeonholed as a Jewish writer. "The fundamental theme [of my work] is about what happens when individuals from the heart of one culture encoun- ter individuals from the heart of an- other culture." This encounter, Potok added, is not an exclusively Jewish phenomenon. "It's an experience ev- ery one of us has, whether Catholic, Protestant, secular, South African, Australian, Filipino or children from small towns in Mississippi." Potok doesn't have to worry about appealing to a universal audience. World reknown author, Chaim Potok, will speak at Hillel's Green Auditorium tonight at 7:30 p.m. According to Maraca Zoslaw Siegal of Philadelphia's Inside magazine, his writings have been translated into everymajor language, including Nor- wegian, Chinese and Hebrew. "The Chosen," Potok's most famous novel, is now in its 66th paperback printing. Although Potok is primarily anov- elist, he has succeeded in other ven- ues as well. Most recently, he has written "The Tree of Here," a children's book. He is currently work- ing on a non-fiction book about the life of Soviet Refusenik Vladimir Slepak and dissonance in the former Soviet Union. Even with all this diversity in his repertoire, Potok knows writers face the danger of becoming too comfort- able, of losing the passion that has propelled them to write.It is the same problem with Asher Lev when his teacher of 20 years tells him, "You are better today than when Ifirst taught you. But you do it too easily. There is no sweat under your armpits." Potok explains that writers, like artists, can "become so good with the technique of what you do that you lose the passion that generated the work when you were younger. If you create without passion and only when things are under control, then you have created something cold." Is Potok in danger of losing his passion? Is he still sweating? "I don't know," the writer an- swered, "but if I'm not, there's some- thing wrong with what I'm doing." Chaim Potok speaks at Hillel's Green Auditorium tonight at 7:30 p.m. ~ r.m Concert presents dancers thesis By MARIA SARNACKI Thesis ... Concert. While many of us would spend our time deliberating between these two alternatives, some talented people fulfill both simultaneously. This weekend five dance majors will combine their efforts to produce the 1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance Arts Concert. Seniors, Danielle Archer, Michelle Proctor, Jeremy Stew- ard and Michael Woodberry, will perform their own choreographed works in "Undeniably Deep and Heavy." A thesis concert enables dance majors to experience the same pressures that choreographers and producers must face on a day to day basis. "We basically are running the whole production ourselves," Lisa Darby explained. "We have to perform a solo and choreograph agroup work as a requirement." Unfortunately, responsibility goes hand in hand with artistic freedom. Music, lighting, costumes and public relations must all be arranged within a tightly restricted budget. Nevertheless, Jeremy Steward enjoys the latitude since, "We're all able to shape the performance and give it whatever kind of theme we want to." The final product promises to be an exciting and unique collection of works as each dancer inevitably contributes their own personal artistry. Some students spend weeks complaining and procras- tinating about their thesis, while other people begin brain- storming before the topic is even assigned. Danielle Archer transcends both categories since she knew her thesis would be interracial relationships as early as her sophomore year. Archer's experiences as an African American woman inspired her to choreograph "Prism." Using a mixture of musical styles, Archer arranged a group number with four black men anda white women to the music of Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and Santana. As the piece progresses, "You can see the combination of jealousy and bitterness since Iam not, quote, 'as beautiful' as they all are. My solo culminates in a moment of self- realization." Archer added, "It doesn't have to be about interracial relationships. It's aboutgetting over one part of your life that has always been a problem, or a series of stepping stones. After you gain strength from the first trial, you can move on to the next step." After reaching the point of self-acceptance, Archer wants everyone to share in her confidence. "No matter what we as individuals believe about ourselves, we are all beautiful. There is always something that makes you unique." While some of us feel the need to pencil 'free time' into our daily planners, other people welcome spontaneity in their lives. "I don't like having a set idea and then fitting people into that idea. I had to let the piece change and evolve," Steward explained. "At first, I thought it was going to be specifically about illness, and how it affects your life. Now it's more abstract. Through courage and compassion, a group of people help support one another through their feelings of loss." A thesis concert enables dance majors to experience the same pressures that choreographers and producers must face on a day to day basis. In "Fear of Fall," Jeremy Steward identified his danc- ing style as "post-modern, which incorporates the performer's voice and gestural movements." Instead of treating the dancers as receptacles for his own ideas, Steward encourages them to contribute to the production as well. "I have given the dancers three words to work with; courage, compassion and comfort. I've asked them to come up with gestures that stem from these words and incorporate them into the piece."In the end, Jeremy wants the audience to feel "a sense that we are all in some ways connected to one anothereven though our experiencesand struggles might be different." With five individual choreographers, one cannotprom- ise an overabundance of continuity, but diversity is cer- tainly guaranteed. As Steward observed, "The choreogra- phers all have different styles that they focus on. Some are more balletic, modern or jazz oriented." This weekend the senior dance majors will share the fruits of their hard work and personal struggles experienced here at the University of Michigan. Hopefully, the audience will also be pre- paredtosharein something "Undeniably Deepand Heavy." The 1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance Arts Concert will be performed in Studio A of the University Dance Building, November 11-13 at 8p.m. Tickets_ are$S and available at the door; one hour prior to performance. Most bands take a little time off at some point in their career, but Concrete Blonde continues to roll on without looking back. After reaching a mainstream audience with the hits "Joey" and "Everybody Knows" and their third album, "Bloodletting," the band has been touring and recording consistently. Thankfully, the pressures of the road have not sapped the band of their energy or creative powers. Johnette Napolitano, the band's distinctive, throaty lead vocalist, explores her fascination with Mexican culture on their ambitious new album, "Mexican Moon." Currently touring to support their fifth album, Concrete Blonde brings their powerful, melodic rock & roll to the higan Theater tonight. The Oblivious opens the show at 8 p.m. Tickets are only $17.50 in advance. Read and Recycle the Daily rI'N.T CvS C C _ _ _ - - 1217 PR a'' n fi " " 0 MULTI COLOR SPECIALISTS ARTIST ON STAFF RUSH ORDERS NEAR U O}F M CAMPUS Cn you sell elevator passes to fans in Michigan Stadium? Can you sell par~rng passes to UM bicyclish? Can you sell sudy space in e UGU? If you ans~wered "YS" to nnv o~f 4, following, ntiotrns. vnh'rhird. 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