Wintry (Arts) Mix

As I walk the city streets, I sense the choreographic patterns of taxis, traffic, and passersby. When I steal a peek at patrons lit up by the blue lights in a hip café, I am reminded of At the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec, or conversely, the sight of isolated patrons in a fluorescent-lit pizza joint calls Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks to my mind. Snippets of overheard conversations become the captions to my imagined and recombined snapshots of city life. The arts have shaped how I see and experience the world. As an arts practitioner, advocate, and historian at Princeton, I wanted to find a post-graduation opportunity that allowed me to pursue a range of my arts interests. The past few winter months have been rich with the arts experiences that I hope to fill my life and career with.

Alongside my fellowship position at Education Through Music, I also work with a former Princeton dance professor of mine on various projects. Most notably, I work with her on securing rights and permission from various artists (dancers, musicians, photographers, videographers, composers, etc.) whose work appears in a short documentary film. This includes regular correspondence with these international artists, their managers, artistic directors of dance companies, and former curators of dance festivals. We tailor legal release forms to each of these groups to ensure that their work is properly credited in the film. Additionally, I have helped draft and edit press releases and invitations for a recent art show by her husband who is an active painter.

At the same time, this side project leads me back into the world of education. I have helped my former professor organize a current course on World Dance for undergraduates at NYU, including outlining the syllabus, gathering articles by anthropologists and dance critics, and discussing possible paper topics and questions for class discussions. As a dancer, choreographer, and educator, my professor has a sensitive and unique articulation for the intricacies of cross-cultural dance and the arts.

Outside of the PP55 community, I have found this professor to be another invaluable and inspiring mentor who has opened up my eyes to the wide possibilities of arts engagement, and I am extremely grateful. Nearly every time I walk to the subway after one of our sessions, I am refreshed with the thought of potential for where my own life in the arts may go.

Finally, I also recently performed with Ensemble Dance in the CoolNY 2012 Dance Festival in a piece choreographed by Pilar Casto Kiltz ’10 with music by Max Mamon ’10 and poetry by Professor Paul Muldoon. The piece, “First Wayside,” will be further developed and performed later this spring at a works-in-progress showcase.

Looking forward to spring in the city!