Time and identity are just a few of the artistic explorations in the annual senior showcase of the world arts and cultures/dance department.
This year, the show, titled “moving/still,” displays works of art from nine graduating fourth-year students that range from dance to video art and documentary. The students investigate various topics such as identity, time and spirituality through their individual interpretations of this year’s title. Students studying world arts and cultures with or without a concentration in dance are able to use this showcase as an opportunity to share their artwork and talents with the public.
The show’s title “moving/still” is both an oxymoron and a term that encompasses all nine fourth-year students’ pieces. Unlike showcases in which the theme is established first, “moving/still” came later on in the production of the project and translates into both physical and metaphorical terms.
“Because we all started on our own unique projects separately, we really wanted to find a title that was specific enough to portray a general concept but broad enough to represent all nine works,” said Jacob Campbell, a fourth-year world arts and cultures/dance student whose dance is featured in the show.
After having gone through an application process beginning their third year, the participating students came together at the end of winter quarter of their fourth year and decided on the title.
As an ambiguous and enigmatic title, “moving/still” essentially means something different for each artist and has the ability to be interpreted in several ways, said Ahilya Kaul, a fourth-year world arts and cultures/dance student.
Kaul’s piece, “Incandescent,” which centers around a giant light bulb installation, is a dance that explores divine inspiration and the presence of a greater force.
“For me personally, in a literal sense, the moving aspect of the title relates to the dance portion of my piece, whereas the stillness correlates to the stillness of the installation,” she said. “However, ‘moving/still’ also just means we as seniors are still progressing and moving forward with new ideas and into the next chapters of our lives.”
For others, this progression relates to racial and historical identity. The ethnographic film of fourth-year world arts and cultures student Xihuanel Tutashinda discusses racial identity and the historical background of women of color.
Tutashinda said it is composed of interviews with five different women on their experiences regarding race and features shots of nature, including the ocean, sunset and sky. She said this portrays how color is essentially found everywhere.
Overall, Kaul said the majority of the showcase deals with similarly heavy subjects. In this way, the showcase follows suit with previous ones, as past productions have centered around personal topics.
“While we’ve had previous showcases that featured some more light and upbeat performances, for the most part, the majority of the pieces are serious and personal,” Kaul said. “Because they’ve been worked on for over a year, there are often pieces that have great significance to us and are multilayered and multifaceted.”
Ultimately, however, the goal of the showcase is not to push any one topic onto the audience but rather to display artists’ thoughts and investigations as portrayed in their works.
“This showcase is just about the artistic process and the evolution of our ideas,” Campbell said. “And so it’s really rewarding to be able to share that with others.”