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Friday, May 3, 2024

Arts & Culture


The Setonian

'Dangerous Liaisons' Exposed by 'Disarming'

Author: Kate Prouty Are a drunk and desperate doctor, an 18th century seductress and a stripper the best people to give love lessons? Maybe not in the traditional sense, but they can teach at least one truth: love is a deceptive, ambiguous and unreliable riddle. Although these three seemingly unrelated ...


The Setonian

Clemmons Gives New Life To Timeless Tunes

Author: Kate DeForest When Francois Clemmons took the stage in Mead Chapel on Thursday, a voice in the back of the crowd called out, "Diva!" Whoever that person was, he or she had certainly seen Clemmons perform before.He turned, spreading his arms wide so that the full effect of his performance dress, ...


The Setonian

Middlebury Clubs Create Magical Night of Music and Dance

Author: Yvonne Chen "'What does it feel like when you're dancing?' Once I get going, I forget everything. I sort of disappear. I feel a change in my whole body, like this fire in my body. I'm just there, flying like a bird, like electricity. Yeah, like electricity."This quote from the recent film "Billy ...


The Setonian

Ani DiFranco Singing Solo Is No 'Puddle Dive'

Author: Megan Crouch The scene at Burlington's Flynn Theater last Wednesday night included a girl, a guitar and a Persian rug. Conspicuously absent were the drum set, guitar amplifiers, keyboard and even the brass section that fans of Ani DiFranco have come to expect at her shows. At one point she put ...


The Setonian

Charles Simic's Life Peppered by Poetry and a Pulitzer Prize

Author: Claire Bourne "I had to recite divine verses in poor French in front of my class," recalled Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic in reference to the year he spent in the French school system following his departure from Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1953. While visiting D. E. Axinn Professor ...


The Setonian

Passionate Performance Provokes Controversy

Author: Jasmin Johnson William Cane's "The Art of Kissing" found its way to McCullough Hall last Saturday. A sold-out event organized by the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB), it is difficult to ascertain what it really was. MCAB called it a "presentation," publicity e-mails to the College ...


The Setonian

Middle East Journalist to Lecture on April 16

Author: Suzie Mozes Stephanie Saldana '00 will return to the Middlebury College campus next week to share her insights after traveling the world. After graduating from the College in 2000, she traveled on the prestigious Thomas Watson Fellowship to write poetry and "fulfill dreams of wandering through ...


The Setonian

Kiss and Tell An Insider's Take on 'Art of Kissing'

Author: Abbie Beane The atmosphere was rich with sexuality, and layered with contention, anticipation and vulnerability. Sixteen minty fresh volunteers, including myself, sat stiffly under warm lights and the stares of a large audience, saturated with shameless voyeurists, and the disconcerting knowledge ...


The Setonian

Simic's Poems Layer Humor Over Horrific Images

Author: Kate DeForest After luminous opening words by D. E. Axinn Professor of Creative Writing Jay Parini, Charles Simic, a Pulitzer-winning poet and past recipient of a MacCarthur Grant (the so-called "genius grant"), quipped, "Well, I probably shouldn't read too many poems after an introduction like ...


The Setonian

Soup and Art Partnered at the Zoo

Author: Crystalyn Radcliffe What is reality? Are we alone in the universe? What is the meaning of life? What is the difference between soup and art? Many of these universal questions were brought to light in senior Sara Garland's one-woman show last weekend. A collage of humanity, the piece brought ...


The Setonian

Fans Still Think Maceo Parker is a Funk Master

Author: Andrew Zrike Revered as one of the great funk sidemen in history, over the last 10 years Maceo Parker has also established himself as a solo artist to be reckoned with. Through his work with James Brown, George Clinton and now with the popularity of his solo outfit, Parker has been bringing ...


The Setonian

Tokyo String Quartet's Songs Celebrate Brahms

Author: Laura Rockefeller An excited murmur ran through the audience as the house lights dimmed and four men in dapper black suits walked quietly onto the stage. The notes that soon began to dance off the bows of the performers cast a spell of enchanted silence over all of the auditors in the hall.It ...


The Setonian

Bill Shannon, the 'CrutchMaster,' Break Dances on Crutches

Author: Kate Prouty "How many of you all were thinking — 'does he really need those crutches?'" This was not a totally unreasonable question for Bill Shannon to ask his audience halfway through his performance of "Spatial Theory." Nicknamed the "CrutchMaster," Shannon does what is too often considered ...


The Setonian

Showcased Student Film Pieces Profit From New Equipment

Author: Crystalyn Radcliffe On Thursday, March 21, students were invited to escape from the stress of midterm studies for an hour of entertainment in Dana Auditorium.The showing was comprised of five student films produced using the newly acquired digital equipment funded by the Provost's Office. Both ...


The Setonian

Controversial Exhibit Mirrors Holocaust's Evil

Author: Yvonne Chen "Shalom Yershalayam ani minatzel," says Hitler. "I apologize Jerusalem." This apears to be the real thing. The infamous Nazi leader is apologizing to Jerusalem through the 'real' manipulations of archived footage in a 15-second video art installation. The artist has edited film clips ...


The Setonian

Screenwriter Robert Perez Counts Down '40 Days'

Author: Abbie Vacant "I watched many important films in Dana Auditorium. This is not one of them," said Robert Perez, a Hollywood screenwriter, who visited Middlebury College on Sunday, March 18, to show his first feature film, "40 Days and 40 Nights." After changing his major from philosophy to film/video, ...


The Setonian

'Time Machine' Gives Glimpse of the Future

Author: Laura Rockefeller There is a point in the life of every human being when he or she is confronted with the vexing question: "What if?" What if I had gone to a different college? What if I had chosen a more lucrative career? What if I had told him what I really thought? It is this simple but evocative ...


The Setonian

ART IN THE BIG APPLE

Author: Elizabeth Logue It has been my intention for the last several weeks to write on an exhibit — a photography exhibit was the plan a few weeks ago and more recently the controversial "Mirroring Evil" exhibit at the Jewish Museum — but Yvonne Chen snagged that up quickly. But I seem to be consistently ...


The Setonian

'The House of Bernarda Alba' Opened Wide Up

Author: Suzie Mozes Visiting Instructor in Theatre Claudio Medeiros '90 flaunted the strength of the Theatre Department this past weekend in "The House of Bernarda Alba," a Spanish play written by Frederico Garcia Lorca.Lorca, who challenged the oppression of women in the early 20th century, explores ...


The Setonian

ART IN THE BIG APPLE

Author: ELizabeth Logue In this week's column, I humbly acknowledge my discovery of a new art form. Had you asked me weeks ago my definition of acceptable arts discourse in The Middlebury Campus, martial arts would not have been among them. To steal a sentiment from Harry in "When Harry Met Sally" when ...