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WEDNESDAY

5

FEBRUARY 13~ 2002 5

Impact Dance for
Valentine's Day

Symphony brings
Mahler, Tilson
Thomas to Hill

By Rachel Lewis
Daily Arts Writer

With Valentine's Day looming on the horizon,
many students find themselves dreading a lonely
date on the couch with the Winter Olympics.
Lucky for these unfortunate souls, the girls of
Impact Dance have come to the rescue with their
high-energy, eye-catching dance moves. This year
their annual show will be performed at 8 p.m. the
night of Valentine's Day and the fol-
lowing night at the Michigan The-
ater, giving everyone (even the
dateless!) an excuse to go out. IMPACT
The performance, featuring not
only the girls of Impact Dance, but Michiga
also interludes by Amazin' Blue and
Comedy Company, will introduce Thursday
the new student choreography from at8
the 2001/2002 season. It will com-
bine classical jazz, modern dance, University A
hip-hop, tap, lyrical and pointe to
appeal to its diverse audience. The wide range of
dance styles parallels the interesting and broad
array of music chosen by the girls, stretching
from Ani Difranco to Britney Spears to Frank
Sinatra.
Alicia Gimenez, an LSA senior and second-
year member of Impact said, "There's a lot of
variety - it's not just pop." While trying to
appeal to the masses with sure hits like Britney
Spears' "Slave" and U2's "Elevation," the girls
aren't afraid to take chances, including a modern
ballet version of Steve Rich's minimalist song
"Zenophobic?" in the lineup for this weekend.

At
in
a
Or
lcti

the works to
be per-
formed is a
collabora-
t i v e
c h o r e o- Courtesy of Impact Dance
g r a p h i c The ladies of impact Dance will strut their stuff this weekend at the Michigan Theater.
effort in
tribute to the events of Sept. 11. The dance is per- Impact Dance began in 1983 as Impact Jazz
formed to an Enya song with a pro- Dance. The company was created by two women
jection of images taken from the and one man who realized that the University did
tragedy in the background. Earlier not provide a means for non-dance majors to pur-
DANCE this year, the number helped to raise sue dance performance throughout their college
over $2,000 for New York firefight- years. A proposal was brought to the University
Theater ers at a local fundraiser. Activities Center and Impact was born. Impact
With so many diverse members, has since evolved into an ever-changing company
nd Friday most having been trained in differ- that holds auditions annually for both male and
s det ent forms of dance, the assortment female members and produces two shows - the
students and range of the student-choreo- annual Impact Dance show and Dance Mix.
ivities Center graphed numbers are no surprise. This year's show should live up to the outstand-
Impact currently consists of 12 tal- ing reputation it established in years past. The
ented undergraduates who have been selected for excitement on stage will reflect not only the ener-
their performance ability and excellence in getic music and dance moves, but also months of
choreographic creativity. The choreographers hard work and dedication from this totally stu-
come from intense dance backgrounds, including dent-produced group. Every aspect of the show is
work with Enrique Iglesias, various dance com- controlled by the dancers, from the lighting to the
panies and multiple competitions throughout the editing and publicity. Anna Reby, a senior in LSA
United States. and co-chair of Impact said of the performance,
For most members the diverse repertoire is a "It's college students who want to perform, who
challenge, but a welcome one. Alissa Newman, have a common art and want to share it with peo-
an LSA senior and co-chair of Impact said, "It's ple." With the growing popularity of Impact and a
been a great experience to keep dancing and venue as large and well known as the Michigan
learn the extremes of what I can do. This compa- Theater, the girls should have plenty of people
ny does so many different styles." sharing and smiling this Valentine's Day.

Sue Monk Kidd debuts first novel,

By Jim Schiff
Daily Fine/Performing Arts Editor
San Francisco is a haven for the
arts - and the San Francisco Sym-
phony stands at the pinnacle of the
city's artistic community. This
weekend, the SFS will journey to
Ann Arbor, another bastion for the
nation's top performing groups. In
two incredible programs exclusive
to Hill Auditorium and Carnegie
Hall, the SFS will
delight audiences with
their trademark energy
and technical bril- SAN FR)
liance. SYMP]
If one were to pin- At Hill A
point the source of the
San Francisco Sym- Friday and
phony's enthusiasm, it 8 p.m.,
would undoubtedly be University M,
their conductor and
musical director, Michael Tilson
Thomas. Tilson Thomas, commonly
referred to as MTT, has held the
post since 1995. His relationship
with the orchestra, however, began
two decades earlier, when at the age
of 29 he led the SFS in a perform-
ance of Mahler's "Symphony No.
9."
Tilson Thomas' penchant for
risk-taking and ambitious reper-
toire has earned the admiration of
the SFS musicians. But more than
anything, the orchestra members
find him to be a dynamic personali-
ty and the most exciting conductor
with whom they've ever worked.
English horn and oboe player Julia
Ann Giacobassi, who has been
with the SFS for 21 years, is a
huge fan of MTT. "He's just phe-
nomenally talented
a n d
ener-
getic
kj u s t
fee 1
like he's
a
g roun d-
breaker,"
she said.
"He has a
way of getting
people to listen to
new kinds of
sounds, of new
:fexperiences... He
has an encouraging
, manner about him,
about broadening
your horizons,
about the arts in
Courtesy of UMS
Conductor Tilson Thomas of the SFS.

A]
?H
$:
[us

'The Secret Life of Bees,

general.
Violist Don Ehrlich, a 30-year
member of the SFS, agrees with
Giacobassi on Tilson Thomas'
unique presence on the podium.
"He has the ability to communicate
on the energetic level - and not
just in the beats and in the phrases.
He manages to somehow involve us
in his music making with the ener-
gy he projects to us," Ehrlich said.
What began as a fascination with
Mahler developed into
Tilson Thomas' life-
long pursuit of pre-
NCISCO senting his works with
[ONY superior craftsmanship
:ditorium and style. Each time he
has visited Ann Arbor
aturday at with the SFS they have
20-56 performed a Mahler
sical Society piece. Friday's pro-
gram, for instance,
includes Mahler's "Das Lied von

By Maureen McKinney
For the Daily

When examining the quality and
prolific nature of Sue Monk Kidd's
writing, one cannot help but be
amazed that her career got off to
such a late start. Though Kidd was
,apassionate writer during her,
childhood years in South Carolina,
she ceased writing during adoles-
cence, prompted by both dwindling
confidence and the occupational
restrictions placed on her because
of her gender. She instead became
a nurse, and continued in this pro-
fession until the age of 30, at
which point she had, in her words,
"a defining moment" and began to
write.
Kidd will be reading from her
first novel, "The Secret Life of
Bees" at 7 p.m. tonight at Borders.
Kidd began in 1988 with "God's
Joyful Surprise," a memoir that
contemplated her own early-life
spiritual introspection. She then
followed in 1990 with "When the

Heart Waits," a second memoir that
recalled her mid-life personal and
religious rediscovery in which she
utilized teachings from an array of
sources including Jesuit monks and
Carl Jung.
In 1996, Kidd made an indelible
mark on feminist theology with her
third memoir "Dance of the Dissi-
dent Daughter". This was Kidd's

autobiographical chronicle of spiri-
tual awakening, independent of, or
perhaps more accurately, in
response to the paternalistic nature
of the organized religion of her
upbringing. During this period, she
also published hundreds of articles

Borders
ern writing, and Kidd's style
recalls such female Southern
authors as Eudora Welty and Eliza-
beth Spencer. The plot centers on
Lily, a 14-year-old girl whose
mother passes away when she is a
small child, and Rosaleen, the

der Erde," as well as two pieces by
Schoenberg. "I think the pieces are
intellectually very interesting and
work well with this orchestra," Gia-
cobassi said. "It's a wonderfully
balanced program."
Echoing Tilson Thomas' love of
Mahler, the orchestra has similarly
adopted the composer as among
their favorites. The SFS recently
began a series of live recordings of
Mahler's works, many of which will
be released later this year. His
"Symphony No. 6," in particular,
has become enormously popular
with the SFS. Performing this piece
for the first time on Sept. 12 of last
year, the audience was somewhat
perplexed that Tilson went ahead
with the program. But he felt that
"Symphony No. 6," written at the
time of World War I, captures the
madness surrounding such
tragedies. "The piece is very
aggressive, and in places ugly,"
Ehrlich said. "We had a kind of
intensity and focus that I've never
experienced before."
Along with Friday's performance,
the SFS will also be in residence at
the School of Music for a series of
educational events. The principal
players of the orchestra will con-
duct free master classes on North
Campus, while the orchestra per-
sonnel managers will lead a panel
discussion on the audition process
and the future of symphony orches-
tras in America.
Saturday evening's program will
include two Berlioz pieces, Six Tra-
ditional Hymns and Ives' "Sympho-
ny No. 4." For the latter two pieces,
the SFS will be joined by the UMS
choral union.

and essays expand-
ing on her percep-
tions of psychology,
spirituality, and gen-
der.
It would have
appeared as though
Kidd, who was then
in her forties, had
found her literary

II
SUE MONK KIDD
Borders on Liberty
and Maynard
Tonight at 7 p.m.

fiercely protective black
housekeeper who serves
as Lily's surrogate
mother.
The racially charged
South of the 1960s sets
the background for the
story, and provides the
conflict that forces the
two to flee and seek

niche in feminist religious studies
and introspective non-fiction.
Kidd, however, had other plans.
In 1993, she began writing and
publishing short works of fiction in
magazines and journals and quick-
ly established herself as a skillful
and proficient writer of both fic-
tion and non-fiction. Kidd received
much praise and many prestigious
awards during the time period from
1993 to 1996, including the South
Carolina Literature Fellowship and
a Poets and Writers Award. In
1997, she began her eagerly antici-
pated first novel.
"The Secret Life of Bees"
abounds with the richness and
eccentricities that embody South-

protection with a trio of black, bee-
keeping sisters.
"The Secret Life of Bees" seems
to be the logical literary progres-
sion into fiction, given Kidd's fem-
inist and spiritual past. Kidd
intermingles themes of racism,
religion and adolescent coming-of-
age, and manages to succeed with-
out pretension. The resulting story
is artfully told and celebrates the
relationships that exist between
mothers and daughters, both actual
and adopted, investigations into
one's self worth and most impor-
tantly, the inherent strength of
women. Kidd's first novel was a
long time coming, but it was well
worth the wait.

Courtesy of Viking Press
Author Susan Monk Kidd of 'Bees.'

I I


Are You Feeling Sad or Blue?
Medication free women suffering from
depression between the ages of 18-48
are needed for a 6-10 week treatment
study for depression. Participants will
receive free medication and clinic visits
during the study. For more information
call 936-8726.
Ynur ride tanarts and culture happenings p
Winter 2002
No Transportation? Interested in the Arts?
GET ON THE BUS! the...
10:00 am Departure
UM Museum of Art
(525 S. State Street),
Jazz Fridays at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Friday, February 15, 2002
Jazz Music by The Donald Walden Quartet. Detroit jazz master Donald Walden uses
his unique style of composition and improvisation which has given him national and
international attention as one of the important voices in jazz. Jazz Friday events also
included Guided Tours of museum exhibitions, Drawing in the Galleries for Adults,
and a Drop-in Workshop: Carnaval Masks.

LOOKING FOR GREAT
INTERN HOUSING THIS
SUMMER IN NEW YORK CITY.

EU N~

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