"I' 1 ”.", 111 *.—
Altered States for
altered audiences
By Scot K. Meyer
Battalion Staff
“Altered States” is a movie that will be most enjoyed by those
members of the audience who are somewhat altered them
selves. The film is what used to be called a real trip; one that just
begs for you to fall into it, chanting “oh wow.”
The special effects are quite impressive though, even without
chemical participation on the part of the audience. There is one
sequence that is particularly striking, and reminiscent of the
star-rider sequence in the film “2001.“
like the star-rider sequence, it portrays a type of metaphysic
al journey. But this journey is not directed outward and into the
future, but instead inward, and into the past.
"Altered States" is the story of a scientist who wants to
explore man's past. And instead of using the conventional tools
of archaeology, like picks, shovels and carbon-14 dating, our
scientist wants to use his mind.
The theory goes like this: the genetic material in a person's
cells contains not only everything that a person is, but also
everything his or her ancestors xvere in the past. So even though a
person {say a male scientist played by William Hurt) may look
like a modem example of homo sapiens, he has a repressed
genetic memory of all his ancestors, all the way back to strings of
nucleotides swimming around in primeval ooze.
But how can a person tap that genetic memory? Would you
believe by taking magic mushrooms and hopping into a sense
deprivation tank?
Of course you would.
Director Ken "Don't Call Me Subtle” Russell does an impress
ive job of duplicating the effect of psychedelic drugs, and if
you've always wanted to try such drugs, but have been afraid to,
this is a great movie.
Otherwise it's not so great.
Because underneath tne bio-eenetic jargon and the flashy
effects, the movie is not particularly original. It's basic premise is
the same as that of a lemon of monster movies, from ^Franken
stein” to "The Fly."
Ready?
ft goes like this: There are some areas that science should not
mess with, and nasty things will happen to any scientist who is
imjmident enough to mess with those areas.
develop bodies,talent
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wolves, gigantic day-glow Webs, radioactive tarantulas the size
of trucks, nuclear meltdowns, and (on several occasions) the end
of civilization as we know it.
Now we have a scientist who is messing with mysticism and
i body's genetic structure. And boy is he ever sorry.
One'could argue that even though the message is old and
stale, it has not been listened to in the past. Hence by dragging it
bade out and jazzing it up again, the film makers are doing
sodety a great service. If they see to it that the message is listened
to this time, they may be instrumental in saving the world from
monsters, blobs and all.
Well, maybe. But I think any scientist who watches the film
will say “oh wow" along with everyone else, and then go back to
doning cells and splitting atoms. Because although the film's oh
wow-quotient is high, its intelligence-quotient really isn't
By Kate McElroy
Battalion Staff
Some Texas A&M University
students are keeping on their
toes this semester with dance
classes instead of No-Doz.
The Dance Arts Sodety holds
dasses Monday through Thurs
day nights for its 250 members.
It includes students and Bryan-
College Station residents.
For $20 a University semes
ter, students can study modem
dance, jazz, tap, ballet or aerobic
dance— spedalizing in just one
form or partidpating in all five.
If enough students belong in
each range, the dasses are di
vided into three levels — begin
ning, intermediate and adv
anced. In most of the dasses, the
first 30 minutes are dedicated to
warm-up and exerdse (in ballet,
the barre), and the remaining
Julie Grant, a freshman bio
medical sciences major from
Rockwall, works out with
the Dance Arts Society.
Photo by Kate McElroy
time is spent on the dances
themselves, with the beginning
class starting each session.
Dove Lyons, Dance Arts Sod
ety president, said that although
some of the instructors are stu
dents, all are qualified to teach.
“Many of our teachers are
professionals,” she said. One
instructor, a student, has
danced for 15 years and has per
formed with tne Houston Ballet.
"Before they're accepted as
instructors, we audition them
first," said Adriana Meza, sode
ty treasurer. “We just don't take
tneir word for it (that they're ex
perienced dancers)." The sode
ty checks, she continued, to
make sure all instructors are not
only excellent dancers, but also
good teachers.
The culmination of the classes
is the society's annual spring
performance, which is open to
the public. Last year the prog-
ram featured student-
choreographed jazz and mod
ern dances, and a 30-minute
g resentation of "Graduation
all," a standard ballet piece.
Some students join the sode
ty to perform publicly; others
just like the workout.
“Many go into the classes for
exerdse," Lyons said. “We try
to get people interested in help
ing their bodies."
The advantage of holding a
class in aerobic dance, exerdse
set to music, Meza said, is that
people interested in exerdse can
concentrate on that form.
Meza stressed that newcom
ers are welcome to watch or par-
tidapte in a class before dedding
to join. Those interested in au
diting a session should wear
clothes appropiate to the parti
cular dance.
For people not familiar with
some of the dances, Meza ex
plained their concepts.
"Modern dance is self-
expression, unusual move
ments" she said. "It's lots of
fun." Jazz differs from modem
dance, she continued, because
the jazz movement is more
dynamic and stmetured.
Lyons said the sodety is in
terested in having more men
join the dasses. Right now, 10
men are Dance Arts Society
members.
The four-year organization
holds its dasses in the Universi
ty dance studio, 216 G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
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