OCR Text |
Show Life Monday • March 30, 2009 B3 Traditional African dance expert shows off skills ILORAINEGHOLDSTON^ feet, hands, and, in sum, your whole body. As a belly dancer, I'm used to dances that loolccomplicated but are Last Wednesday, dance actually pretty easy. African students and passers-by in dance is a whole new ballthe PE hall stumbled across game, filled with the beauty a rather unusual sight: the of ancient art and the love of energetic Kim Strunk, UVU life. And no one in the room dance instructor extrao- ever has more enthusiasm dinaire, was struggling to than Baegne. keep up in dance with an She is from the Repubolder woman who had a cast lic of Congo, an area of the on her foot. world she describes as being That woman was Mabiba "shaky right now." Her pride Baegne, on her annual tour in her heritage is evident in around the country; stopping the way she teaches, and in in to grace us with her talents her expertise. and to teach the willing - and She answered her stuthe very nimble - the simple- dent's questions on all the looking yet deceptively com- different styles of regional plicated traditional African African dances, and even dances. gave them advice for if they Never have I experienced want to visit Congo to learn such difficulty in maintain- more about the dances. "Let ing a straight line as I have people know where you with African dance. I tried it are, so they can find you" last year, and ended up danc- if anything goes wrong, she ing by myself, with Baeg- emphasized. She told them neyelling at me, "Where is it would completely change your line? Get back in your their perspective on dance. line!" "How they dance in their The steps look easy but community and how they are complicated because you dance for audiences is very need to be synced with ev- different," she said. eryone in the line, and you One student asked what have to be quick on your rhythm they were using, and Life writer Loraine Gholdston/UVU Review Mgblba Baegne, a touring African dance instructor, visited UVU last Wendesday to teach dance students the deceptively complicated art of African Dance. Oh, Danny be good V I D E O G A M E Baegne answered that it was Nkkumba - otherwise known as Rumba, as revised by Cuban dance. Her love for dance is not limited to African styles. On ballet, she commented, "It's amazing to me how they can go from flat foot to tip-toe," she said. "I'd be flat on my face, and that's it." After thirty years of dancing on stage, she says she is done with it and content to teach. But she did love the stage. "When on stage, you are not you anymore. You are dance," she said, with a little light in her eye. She still has no desire to return to performing. "You go on stage," she tells the students. "Me, 1 watch." Strunk informs her students of Study Abroad programs available, which they can use to travel and learn about dance. She also advises them to go to the camps where the. people from these nations live and to talk to the teachers. For more information on African and other dance programs, contact Strunk at kim.strunk@uvu.edu R E V I E W Comes to the DS... ...andit (sorta) feels so good! JONATHAN Ufe writer Courtesy of Ed Torriente Danny Torriente plays Inspirational and positive tunes. Local musician guaranteed to impress WHERREY Life writer Just like every local music scene, Provo has its disappointments, but Danny Torriente is not one of them. His audiences can't help but listen mesmerized or take to the dance floor as he lets his fingers: "play" with the guitar in the literal sense — there is nothing methodical here. But his artistry doesn't stop at the guitar. He can effortlessly switch instruments with his bassist Scott Manning as they harmonize aid perform their repertoire together. Guitar and bass are just the latest culmination of Danny's musical progression. He began his music career playing the tambourine in his family's 1950s rock band, then moved on to percussion, and then to piano — largely at his mother's insistence. At the age of 14, he made the transition to guitar and began composing his own music more seriously. Torriente seems to have found his passion in this latest instrument, and rightly so. He's good. Really good. But was his inspiration the 1950s rock of his youth? Of course the happy, upbeat, familiar songs from his father's band and childhood mean a great deal; however, his influences have also . come from U2, Switch Out,1 Lifehouse and Vertical Horizon. Born in 1986, this is the music of his era. Torriente likes the inspirational music that lends a message about optimism and finding peace in life's choices. "I wouldn't do music unless I had found a voice that 1 think needs to be heard, a voice that contributes to influence and helps others like it did me," he said. : ^ ; His niche is clear. He is a class unto himself. Could he be compared to Jon Bon Jovi, who has distinguished ( • • • himself as both an artist and a "good guy"? Yes, absolutely! Millions love Bon Jovi's style and persona, and its conceivable that Torriente could be the next bearer of his proverbial torch. Today, there seems be a greater need for artists to deliver a more positive message in the midst of a world of confusion and turmoil. Not saccharine, emptyheaded , overly-produced love ballads, of course; but fun, inspirational rhythms and thoughtful lyrics. And just as Torriente's exceptional talent isn't content to lapse into either melancholy or triviality, it is also not content to just stay put. His sound reaches across borders to South America, where there is no artist like him and there is a great market for his style. It helps that he is fluent in Spanish. Spanish is in his blood. Torriente is related to Fidel Castro's first school minister in Cuba. In spite of Mr. Torriente's disagreements with Castro in regards to the Revolution's communistic bent, the school, minister was and is a popular historical figure. Perhaps fame is in his blood as well. Danny's bachelors degree in history with a minor in Spanish speaks of a responsible person who hopes to reach out to the public with his countercurrent music. And although he prizes the pursuit of musical expression in his life, he also values the role a teacher has in our society. The question is, will he teach and influence with his gifts and talents in music, or will he be a professor who brings joy and excitement into the classroom? Either way,-his role is unavoidably that of teacher. And with his wide-eyed, positive message, he has a lot to teach-a disheartened public. "•'I Nintendo's cult classic Fire Emblem series is known by gamers the world over for its ability to inspire both pleasure and frustration in shockingly equal amounts. Seldom-used word combinations like *'punishingly addictive" or "enjoyably frustrating" are employed freely by anyone and everyone that's ever given the franchise a spin. Suffice it to say that the new DS remake, Fire, Emblem: Shadow Dragon, looks to continue this irritatingly fine tradition. For newbies, the first thing that you absolutely must know when diving into a Fire Emblem game for the first time is that if your characters die, they're finished. There is no magical return-to-life spell, no ability to revive after the battle is over and no second chances. They're gone, baby, gone. This can lead to a lot of resetting if you're a perfectionist and even if you're not there'll probably be some profanity involved when that guy you didn't see ends up offing your favorite hero. But hold on, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. FE: SD follows the story of Prince Marth, known primarily to North American gamers from his appearance in the Super Smash Bros, se- • ries. Marth has been exiled from his kingdom following a hostile takeover and he's none too happy about it. Rallying around a small group of supporters, Marth battles his way across the world. Throw in a cast of colorful enemies, an ancient power-crazed wizard and an almost-omnipotent-dragongod-thing and you've got the makings of a fantasy epic. It's a little contrived but the point of the story is to get you from one armed conflict to the next and in that endeavor it succeeds, even admirably at times. But nobody that knows Fire Emblem Amazon.com games plays them for the story; they play them for the challenge. In this, FE: SD does not disappoint. Hell, the hardest selectable difficulty setting has 5 sub-settings to determine just how ridiculously, eye-clawingly-"• infuriating you want your game session to be. Also, with all of the hidden characters, bonus levels and the absolutely staggering variety with which you can build your army, FE: SD packs a lot of replay value for such a tiny package. Go pick up Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon today, and discover what being aggravatingly entertained really feels like. |