NEWS
The Battalion I 2.27.15
3
A "Perpetual Motion" performer rehearses for the
program's Friday opening.
Annual program to include
1999 Bonfire Collapse tribute
By Taylor Siskind
The Texas A&M dance program
will present its annual concert,
“Perpetual Motion,” beginning Friday
night.
The showcase will feature five fac
ulty choreographers, choreography
by guest artists Elizabeth Ahaern and
Andy Vaca, a student-choreographed
piece by Kathy Quigley and Texas
State University’s Dance Company.
Quigley, a senior kinesiology and
mathematics double major, hopes to
unite Aggies through her piece “2:42
A.M.” in honor of Bonfire Memorial.
“It really stuck out as a very impor
tant tradition for me, and I wanted to
represent it in dance form,” Quigley
said. “And I feel like a lot of Aggies that
come to the show are going to under
stand that dance a little bit more than
non-Aggies. I think they’ll appreciate
what it’s trying to represent.”
“2:42 A.M.,” along with “Fallen”
— a solo performance featuring Lau
ren Dowdy and choreographed by fac
ulty member Carisa Armstrong — will
go on to represent Texas A&M at the
American College Dance Association
South-Central Regional Conference
over spring break at Texas Tech Uni
versity.
The Texas A&M dance program will
try something new by incorporating so
cial media in the lobby and show with
the use of the hashtag #tamudance and
a photo booth.
“There’s so many people that don’t
really know we exist. They don’t know
we’re really back here, so we invite all of
our friends and family,” Annie Forman,
kinesiology junior, said. “The people
who come and do know about it can
spread it to their friends and get more
of the Texas A&M community con
nected.”
Along with social media, this year’s
concert will be the first year to expe
rience a performance exchange with
Texas State. This exchange evolved
from Texas State’s assistant professor
Ana Baer Carrillo’s time as a guest artist
within the program last year.
Christine Bergeron, dance programs
director, said Baer wanted to expose her
students, and students at A&M, to the
different ways dance is approached at
various Texas colleges.
Based off her time teaching here,
guest artist Elizabeth Ahearn, an associ
ate professor at Goucher College, said
A&M’s approach to dance emphasizes
the connection between the body as an
instrument, and the anatomy that makes
the body function.
“The department seems to have
an interest in that connection to their
anatomy and the instruments that they
were,” Ahearn said.
In “Perpetual Motion,” Ahearn’s
piece, “Landscapes for Figures,” with
music by Zoe Keating and Melissa Full
er, revolves around the unique charac
teristics of particular landscapes such as
a mountainous landscape, a coastal land
scape and a polar region.
No matter the dancer’s background,
Bergeron said every student who takes
the stage at “Perpetual Motion” will
share a similar sentiment.
“We are people that will constantly
be in motion,” Bergeron said.
Perpetual Motion will show Friday
through Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The performance will take place in the
Physical Education and Activity Pro
grams Building in Room 207.
Lunar New Year shifts venues
Lion dancers perform at a past Lunar New Year Celebration.
PROVIDED
Jack Hanna, who will be on campus Saturday, is a zookeeper
and media personality.
By Mason Morgan
Since its inception in 2008,
Texas A&M’s Confucius Insti
tute has seen strong growth and its
Lunar New Year event is no differ
ent.
For the first tune, the event will
be held off-campus in downtown
Bryan. While it had previously been
hosted by Sbisa Dining Hall, the
event has outgrown its former home
and is now poised to take over 26th
Street.
Amanda Johnson, an administra
tive assistant and event planner for
the institute, said the focus this year
is on community involvement.
“For the past few years, mem
bers of several businesses downtown
had casually mentioned moving the
event there, but the conversation
was typically held too late to plan
for the upcoming event,” Johnson
said. “Immediately following the
2014 celebration, we met with Bry
an representatives to begin planning
the 2015 event.”
Johnson also anticipates the event
will spark a greater interest in the
Bryan area for any Aggies who have
yet to embrace it.
“Our hope is that the people who
live in and around College Station,
but who have never visited Down
town Bryan, can experience the
great atmosphere it provides and be
come regular guests,” Johnson said
But the move has caused a few
problems for its volunteers.
“Many of our past volunteers
were international students who
didn’t have vehicles.” Johnson said.
“Since the event was on campus, it
was very easy for them to travel. It
just takes a little more planning and
carpooling, but we feel very fortu
nate that so many students and com
munity members have offered their
time to ensure a successful event.”
Gowa Borzigin, a prominent fig
ure in the Chinese community and
former emcee for the Chinese New
Year event hosted in San Antonio,
explained the significance of the
Year of the Goat.
“The Y ear of the Goat is believed
to bring peace, harmony, love and
resolutions,” Borzigin said. “It also
symbolizes wealth and prosperity. In
ancient China, only the rich could
domesticate goats and sheep so they
could enjoy bountiful meat dishes,
use sheep skins and fur clothing.”
Borzigin said the celebration is
association with a mythical being
called Nian.
“Nian is a monster who eats
children and livestock if not fed,”
Borzigin said. “People found out
that Nian was afraid of sticky rice,
the color red and firecrackers. So the
superstitious people began to pre
pare lots of food, wear red, decorate
their doorways with red banners and
light firecrackers to scare away the
evil spirit while also bringing good
luck to the new year.”
But Borzigin said the ancient tra
ditions have become more modern
over time.
“The celebration is becoming
more and more commercialized and
modernized these days,” Borzigin
said. “In fact, the biggest Chinese
New Year’s celebration outside of
China takes place in the United
States. Many people, businesses and
families take advantage of the event
to celebrate and renew business net
works, friendships and families. It is
a tradition that keeps on giving and
adding new meanings every year.”
Trung Nguyen, a lion dancer for
Lee’s Golden Dragon performing
Saturday, said lion dancing has also
modernized since its ancient begin
nings.
“Traditionally, there were more
powerful movements from the
lion to scare away evil spirits. They
would do very forceful movements”
Nguyen said. “I would say now, the
lion is more cute and playful and
fun, interacting with the crowd, so
it has changed in that aspect.”
The high-octane dance isn’t
without its consequence, however.
“This past week we suffered an
injury,” Nguyen said. “We’ve never
had anything real serious, no broken
bones or anything, but we have
fallen and been strained here and
there.”
The lion dances will take place at
2 and 3 p.m., with an encore perfor
mance at 4:30 p.m.
For a more comprehensive list
of events and times, check out the
Confucius Institute website.
HANNA CONTINUED
THE BATTALION: What can
people expect to see at
your event? What will be on
stage with you?
HANNA: It's a lot of fun for
everybody, educating in a way
that's serious but also fun and
it's worked pretty good for
40-something years. I'm not a
celebrity, I’m not a star, none
of that stuff — I'm a person
that lives on a farm, a person
that believes because I've
seen what all of us do in the
real world. As far as animals
go, I'll be showing clips
from my television shows,
interviews, some bits from
700 shows over 30 years. I'll
be showing clips from my
travel from around the world,
so you'll see my trip to see
the mountain gorillas, for
example, in Rwanda. There's
about 700 in the world left.
I'll be showing wild animals. I
will be showing clips of young
baby animals in rehab centers
around the world, whether the
mother died or was poached
or whatever, and them being
taken back to the wild. I'll
show my blooper video, which
all young people love. I'll be
showing clips from David
Letterman, over 100 shows
from the Letterman Show, I'll
be showing clips from when
y'all weren't even born yet of
the Letterman Show.
THE BATTALION: Initially,
you became a zookeeper,
later gaining the title of
director of the Columbus
Zoo, then going further by
appearing on multiple live
TV shows and developing
your own. How have
your opinions regarding
conservation changed over
the years?
HANNA: My views have
changed in that I'm a more
positive person. I used to
be a person that looked
at the negative part of
conservation. Animals dying,
animals going extinct, this
animal, that animal, it's all
you hear, you know? News
stays negative, "The whole
world is coming to an end."
Yes, we have problems in the
world today, negativity drives
news. My speech is positive,
I speak about issues with
rhinos and other animals that
cause concern, but I'm not
going to sit up there and tell
everybody, "Guess what?The
rhino is going to go extinct
in five years!" What would
happen? Nothing. But I am
gonna tell you what you can
do to help. Yes, my views of
conservation change because
conservation efforts have
changed. There is good and
bad. You try to come up with
something that gives hope.
My views have changed that
way, to view conservation in
a positive way, not a negative
way.
THE BATTALION: Was
there a particular person
or experience that inspired
you to further endorse
wildlife conservation? If not,
how did your passion for
conservation develop?
HANNA: The passion has
always been there. As a little
boy on a farm I fed animals,
and I cleaned cages when I
was 16, so I've always been
driven by love of animals but
I took it to the next level. So
1 worked hard when I was
younger, and it took a lot of
work. "Marlin Perkins Wild
Kingdom," which you're way
too young to have ever heard
of. It was a show I used
to watch on TV. And by the
way I never wanted to be
on TV, ever. Now, you have
most people go out and seek
TV, I never did. But now I
have "Jack Hanna's Animal
Adventures," "Jack Hanna's
Into The Wild," and "Jack
Hanna's Wild Countdown,"
which is the combination of
Animal Adventures and Into
the Wild.
THE BATTALION: Interaction
with live animals plays a
large role in your show.
Has there ever been any
unexpected hilarity that
ensued?
HANNA: We used to be able
to bring people up, but we
can't do that now legally. But
we'll bring a camera on stage
to show you the animals, we
also hope to show you a baby
kangaroo on stage inside the
mom, you've never seen that
before. And if we get lucky
we can do that this time, it's
very rare. Several things have
happened, animals will go to
the bathroom on my head,
sometimes when we fly birds
over the audience it might lay
on your head or something.
Sculpture honors OPAS’ 40 years
By Katie Fuller
MSG OPAS will reveal on Sunday a sculptural trib
ute to its 40th anniversary that has been two years
in the making and is meant to capture the program’s
arts-centered essence.
Anne Black, associate director of the MSC, said the
sculpture, ADAGIO, was commissioned by donors and
begun two years ago, in OPAS 40th year. The program
is now in its 42nd season.
The sculptor, Larry Schueckler, Class of 1975, said
each part of the sculpture tells a story of movement.
“That was a very important theme in the sculpture,”
Schueckler said. “There will be stories that will be per
sonalized if you look at it. It is not just the sculpture of
a figure, there is a progression of events, there is a story
that unfolds and each person will see it differently.”
The name is a representation of the movement within
the static sculpture, Black said. ADAGIO means “slow
movement” in music.
Even the sculpture itself was slowly and uniquely
made, Schueckler said. He used tools that were enlarged
six times the size of a regular work tools, and even took
a rib from a cow to carve pieces of the sculpture.
“There is such a wide range of things on stage at
OPAS, it is the same we wanted for the sculpture —
that everyone could get something out of it,” Schueckler
said.
OPAS brings performing arts to the students of Texas
A&M, Black said, and they want the sculpture to rep
resent that.
“To have this beautiful sculpture outside of the Rud
der facility, which houses a lot of art events, I think it is
wonderful to signal that there are arts happening there,”
Black said.
Allison Bradshaw — THE BATTALION
Statue will be unveiled Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Schueckler said the sculpture will require a math-
and-science-centered campus like Texas A&M to think
a little differently.
“Quite often we think in terms of, ‘What does this do
for my career and the financial return?’ But there is more
to life than just that, and I don’t mean recreation and
enjoyment,” Schueckler said. “Watching a ballet, it is all
movement to tell a story, you are required to pay atten
tion to learn and use different senses other than analyti
cal, you are required to look at things in different ways.
The unveiling will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Rudder
Complex Plaza.