University of Utah Student Newspapers | 2013-03-06 | Page 5

www.dailyutahchronicle.com 5 ARTS Wednesday March 6, 2013 PHOTO COURTESY SCHOOL OF MUSIC The U Women's Chorus performs tonight at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall for the annual Women's Chorus Festival at 7:30 p.m. Choirs celebrate local women's voices Lynette Randall STAFF WRITER A women's choir is something that should be celebrated, and Jessica Napoles, the U Women's Chorus director, is setting out to do just that. Tonight, the Libby Gardner Concert Hall will play host to the annual Women's Chorus Festival at 7:30 p.m. "The festival is really an exciting opportunity for people who are choral music lovers and people who just enjoy a fun concert," Napoles said. The Women's Chorus Festival values the power of women uniting together. The festival shows the community the importance of celebrating women's choruses and al- lowing them their selective performances. "When I first came to the university, I saw a need to celebrate women's choruses and for us to have an opportunity to feature women's singing," Napoles said. After starting at the U, she began a quest to create an event all women in the community could participate in and enjoy. Napoles actualized her goal by reaching out to local choirs and explaining her desire to create an event that celebrated the voices of women. Soon, Napoles had willing participants and her cause has now evolved into an annual festival. This year marks the festival's fifthconsecutive performance. "The festival has definitely grown in popularity over the years," Napoles said. "In the first year we started off with four choirs. Last year we had eight choirs and this year we have 1o. This year we actually had to turn a couple choirs down." The festival is truly accessible to all types of singers. Speaking about the U's own Women's Chorus, Napoles said, "The women's choir at the university is non-audition, so we have a lot of non-majors in our choirs here." Singers performing at the festival come from local community choirs, high school and college choirs. "The diversity of the choirs really adds more to the performance," Na- Performing Dance Company explores complex emotions Louisa Austin STAFF WRITER The Performing Dance Company is exploring the human experience in its latest concert series. The pieces focus on relationships, the human journey and the sake of dancing for the love of movement. One of the PDC's faculty choreographers, assistant professor Shaun Boyle, has created the work "Tenderly We Bite" in collaboration with the two featured dancers, Michael Garber and Shelby Terrell. The piece is about the two-sided life of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Fitzgerald is well known for his novels "The Great Gatsby" and "The Beautiful and Damned." The couple lived during the Jazz Age of the 192os and '3os and was very popular, but also exploited by the media. The glamorous life that the media portrayed the couple to have intrigued Boyle. Hidden beneath the surface, though, the couple was plagued with alcoholism, financial problems and psychiatric hospitalization. Boyle saw the contrast between the Fitzgeralds' "beautiful" public life and their "damned" private life and wanted to explore it. In an interview, Boyle said she likes to present humanity in her choreography, and this couple's story provided a broad range of emotions to draw upon for the piece. Envisioning the two dancers conveying a scope of emotion on stage, Boyle hopes to disguise the dancing and instead highlight the humanity in the piece. Boyle's goal is for the audience to be able to relate to the universal themes of love and struggle within the Fitzgeralds' relationship. She chose the title "Tenderly We Bite" after F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, poles said. This year's participants (followed by conductors) in the festival are Kearns High School (David Martin), Maple Mountain High School (Cory Mendenhall), Salem Hills High School (Justin Bills), Wasatch High School (Stephen Reynolds,), Murray High School (Alan Scott), Box Elder High School (Claudia Bigler), Salt Lake Choral Artists Women (Jane Fjeldsted), Utah Valley University (Cherilyn Worthen), and Utah State University (Michael Huff). Each choir will sing two pieces that they have handpicked. "There is no real theme with the music that is performed, the [choirs] will perform what best showcases The Performing Dance Company will be performing on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayes Christensen Theatre at the Marriott Center for Dance. "Tender Is the Night." The piece plays with the tenderness of the couple's relationship as well as the turmoil within their marriage. Along with Boyle's piece, the company features works from faculty choreographers Eric Handman, assistant professor, and Steve Koester, department chair. Handman's piece "Good Morning Midnight" features five dancers that explore a number of mysterious, emotionally and physically intense events where partnerships form, collapse and come together again. "Dances take on a different level of significance when I see characters altered by their journey — even if these relationships are somewhat open to interpretation," Handman said. "A little mystery is a good thing." Koester's piece "Reconstruction of a New Work (a.k.a., Because I'm Old and It Makes Me Happy)" is set to Bach's second Brandenburg Concerto. Koester takes the dancers back to a time when dance was simply about movement and the joy of moving through space. The work asks the question of why humans dance in the first place — whether it be for just experiencing the physicality of dance or the chance to dance with others and experience a sense of connection. Also featured is a piece from guest artist Yannis Adoniou titled "naivete in minor." Adoniou has spent six weeks teaching master classes to dance majors and creating this work. The piece is about longing and being vulnerable and features a cast of 11 students. Although each choreographed piece is different, they each illustrate the beauty and struggles behind what it means to be human. The final two shows of this concert are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayes Christensen Theatre at the Marriott Center for Dance. Tickets are $12 general admission and $8 for faculty, staff and non U students and free for U students. [e-mail] l.randall@ chronicle.utah.edu Visual effects teams not getting recognition they deserve in film industry ew things make me reach into my wallet and happily give money to a cashier, but a movie theater ticket is one of them. I do not splurge on eating out or shopping, but movies are my weakness for entertainment, and this year especially will exploit my love of film. I revel in anticipation for "Iron Man 3," "The Great Gatsby" and "World War Z." While the actors in these films are well-known favorites, the visuals are largely what get me to fork over $8.50 for a night at the theater. Visual effects have been taking over cinema the last few years. For an example of this kind of awe-inspiring animation — if you can call it that anymore — just look at the 2013 Oscars lineup. One of the clearly more visually stunning films, "Life of Pi," snagged four golden statues, and no one can deny it was because of the VFX that dominated the film. Or maybe some can, since the VFX community has risen up to protest unfair treatment after neither the cinematographer, Claudio Miranda, nor director, Ang Lee, of "Life of Pi" thanked the VFX team during their Oscar speeches. Plus that hefty movie theater ticket cost never reached the VFX studios. Not only did the film's creators forget the VFX team, but when VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer was accepting the best visual effects Oscar, the academy cut his mic time at about 45 seconds, while Miranda talked for almost a minute. Many assume this is because Westenhofer was about to address the VFX protests that have been taking over Hollywood when the shocking "Jaws" tune interrupted his speech. Chances are most do not know about the discrepancy between VFX studios and other film contributors, which just magnifies their point — the visual effects community is not getting any love from the film industry. F CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO their own group," Napoles said. The U Women's Chorus will perform "Sylvie" by Leadbelly and "Sous le Dome Epais" (duet from the opera "Lakme") by Leo Delibes. All and all, a combined total of more than 400 singers will grace the stage tonight, which will create a wonderful display in the final number when the choirs will join together on stage as they sing "Holy is the Lord" by Jeffrey Ames. Napoles has certainly accomplished what she set out to do five years ago. Tonight's event is sure to be a success with only better festivals to continue in the future. SAVANNAH TURK A&E Editor The VFX company Rhythm & Hues, which did the effects for "Life of Pi," and "Snow White and the Huntsman," also nominated for a VFX Oscar, has recently had to file bankruptcy, a shocking move considering the films grossed more than $1 billion in the box office. Visual effects are a new art that filmmakers might not appreciate yet, but they will when the next Avengers movie does not have a Hulk. Some of the largest-grossing films would be nothing but green screen without the VFX team putting their magic into a movie, something directors like Lee should appreciate since "Life of Pi" would simply be a guy on a boat without Rhythm & Hues to add the ocean and tiger. Granted, if the VFX community is serious about getting the recognition and money they deserve, they need to get organized. Without regulations and a union, there is not much that VFX studios can do right now about the unfair payouts from box office hits. But, in conjunction with the visual effects community getting their act together, fans of films like the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy or "Avatar" should support the studios that make these films possible. With all of the big-budget movies that will grace theater screens this year, it will be hard not to notice how much influence VFX has had on modern entertainment. After satisfyingly walking out of "Star Trek Into Darkness," I will be sure to thank the visual gurus that made it possible for Captain Kirk to sail through space just one more time. [e-mail]