Thursday, October 15, 1998
A&E Briefs
ON-CAMPUS: Dervishes whirl into Royce
Breaking 700 years of male-dominated performance tradition,
Turkey’s Whirling Dervishes, which take the Royce Hall stage
Saturday and Sunday, are weaving women into their legions of
spinning Sufi devotees.
Clad in blindingly white robes and stiff, towering hats, the
members of the Mevlevi sect of Sufism twirl hypnotically in sync
with the music of traditional ney (flutes), oud and tanbur (lutes),
kemenche (violin) and percussion.
Interest in this particular performing group, which has toured
the United States for the past twenty years, continues to mount
with the repopularization of the 13th century poet Jalaluddin Rumi,
founder of the Mevlevi sect. Aside from the addition of women to
the group’s 20th anniversary tour, the Dervishes repertoire will be
strictly traditional.
Kani Karaca, the well-known vocalist and Koran reciter,
accompanies the singing of Rumi’s texts.
The CenterStage Discussion before the performance features Dr.
Kabir Helminski, a Vermont-based Mevlevi sheik and the author of
"Living Presence, A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential
Self."
Tickets to see the Whirling Dervishes cost $35, $29 and $22.
Student tickets are $13. For more information, call (310)
825-2101.
Finalists selected for writing award
Five finalists have been selected in the 1998 UCLA Samuel
Goldwyn Writing Awards Competition. The finalists, who submitted
scripts either in the form of feature-length screenplays or
theatrical plays, were chosen from a field of over 77 entrants from
the nine University of California campuses.
Finalists were Bobbi Boes of UC Riverside for "Sacramento," Kris
Young of UCLA for "Slow Boat to China," Melanie Marnich of UC San
Diego for "Blur," Danny Kaufman of UCLA for "CardSharps" and
Lisanne Sartor of UCLA for "Night Blooming Jasmine."
Winners will be selected by screenwriter Pamela Gray, Academy
Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman and actor and director Tony
Goldwyn.
The $6,000 first prize and several other awards will be awarded
on Oct. 19th at the James West Alumni Center on the UCLA
campus.
Past winners include Francis Ford Coppola, Colin Higgins, Eric
Roth and Allison Anders.
Jimmy Eat World plays at UCLA
The angsty male adolescent demo band, "Jimmy Eat World," will be
performing this Friday at noon at UCLA’s own Westwood Plaza.
Finally, UCLA students can enjoy a form of live music that may
break the Westwood anti-dance stipulations.
Promoting their new album, "Static Prevails," the Arizona based
rock quartet plans to catch students on their way to class for more
than a brief punk rock moment of mid-day stress relief. Great as
entertainment for students on their lunch break, the free outside
show will be hard to miss.
Four loud bands fly the Coop
Tonight at 7pm, four rockin’ bands will be playing a free show
at UCLA’s evening hot spot, The Coop. Angry and tortured, the four
groups will attempt to create a slightly less apathetic environment
in the college music scene. Although recent years of Coop shows
have met with fewer crowds than previous ones, perhaps ’98 will
welcome in the existence of a true on-campus musical hang-out.
At least the four punk bands involved will make a decent effort
to be as loud as they can in order to draw crowds in. Featuring
John Cougar Concentration Camp, Carter Peace Mission, Agent 51, and
The Parking Lot Kids, the evening has the potential to insight a
pit of toe-breaking, college youths taking over the city chaos that
currently exists only in cheesy ’80s flicks.
Ovation Awards announcement
On Sept. 28, the 1998 Theatre L.A. Ovation Awards released the
nominations, celebrating excellence in Los Angeles theater.
Nominees for the category, Best Musical (Larger Theatre),
include "Peter Pan" by La Mirada Theatre, "Bring In Da Noise, Bring
In Da Funk" by Center Theatre Group and "Chicago" also by Center
Theatre Group.
Cathy Rigby ("Peter Pan") and Charlotte d’Amboise ("Chicago")
were among those mentioned for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Sir
Ian McKellen ("An Enemy of the People") and Frank Langella ("The
Father") were included in nominations for Best Lead Actor in a
Play.
Center Theatre Group’s play, "The Cider House Rules" leads the
entire group with 13 nominations, and Circle X Theatre Company’s
"Great Men of Science No. 21 & 22" leads the way for smaller
theater with seven.
UCLA Center for the Performing Arts
The Whirling Dervishes do dances with chanting and ancient
music.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]