This past weekend’s performance by the Oakland Ballet of two works by choreographer Phil Chan ’06 kicked off a term-long series of events on the theme of “Arts and Democracy.”
Conceived by the Humanities Center and co-sponsored by Arts@Carleton, the International Film Forum, and the Departments of Political Science and Theater and Dance, the series features performances, screenings, talks and discussions featuring artistic/creative work focused on issues central to democracy, artistic work created from communal, democratic praxis, and the arts, or techniques, of democracy itself.
The Oakland Ballet evening featured “Amber Waves,” a short meditative pas de deux set to a piano-scored series of variations on “America the Beautiful,” and “Ballet des porcelaines,” a Baroque, Orientalist work completely reimagined for a twenty-first century audience by an all-Asian-American creative team.
Upcoming events include a screening of Oscar Aibar’s EL SUSTITUTO (September 24); the exhibition MINNEAPOLIS PROTEST MURALS (opening October 14); a talk on the subject of Walter Lippman by University of Illinois scholar Ned O’Gorman (October 19); the Theater Department’s production of Paula Vogel’s play INDECENT (opening October 20); and a concluding roundtable discussion “Faculty Perspectives on Arts and Democracy”(November 1).
All events are free and open to all members of the community.