Talent pushes Open Mic Night to new levels
Wesleyan Argus- March 7, 2001
by Aja Gabel and Sarah Vollmann, Arts Editor

This year’s Open Mic Night broke barriers by combining a cappella groups with the raw freshman performances that the University has come to expect from the annual program. Through it all, crowds filled the Davenport Campus Center courtyard for an Open Mic Night unlike any other. 

Whether it’s because they love singing or hate musical instruments, a cappella singers are here to stay. This past Monday’s Open Mic Night featured seven different a cappella groups,
ranging from the New Group’s soulful tunes to Quasimodal’s facetious "tribute to pop." Their one commonality was wonderful singing just for singing’s sake.

The first to perform were the Cardinal Sinners, an all-female group. They started with "Carry You Around," a slow number by Ani DiFranco. Next, they did their version of the spiritual
"Wait in the Water." A soloist maintained the melody, while the others swayed to the chorus.

The New Group’s two songs were widely divergent in style. Aileen Payumo ’02 had a solo in a slow, melodic song. the title of which was unannounced. Next was a lively, pleasant song
in which all members participated.

"I think Open Mic Night went well," Payumo said. "We had a lot of fun, and that’s always most important."

Onomatopoeia, another all-female ensemble, sang a lively rendition of "California Dreamin’" by The Mamas and the Papas.

The Wesleyan Spirits took the stage to uproarious applause. While they sang the school songs of the University’s rivals, they acted out the words, feigning drunkenness during
Williams College’s drinking song. At the end, the audience clapped to the rhythm of the Wesleyan Fight Song. They ended with a funny, facetious number about an insomniac who can’t sleep without a girlfriend.

"We take pride in writing our own songs for the group, which not all a cappella groups do," said Paul Kim ’02, a member of the Wesleyan Spirits.

Quasimodal took the stage next. After a rousing song, the title of which was unannounced, they acted out "Bohemian Rhapsody," prissily clasping their hands one moment and jumping
around like rock stars the next. Their grand finale was "Quasimodal’s tribute to pop," a medley that included among others, U2’s "It’s a Beautiful Day," and Britney Spears’ "Hit Me Baby One More Time." During the last portion, one of the male members stripped to white boxers and lip-synched while a female member sang the melody.

The music of the Mazeltones, a Jewish a cappella group, was comprised of pop culture selections . The group sang both an Israeli rock song and Madonna’s "Like a Prayer"–in Hebrew. At the end, a member pointed out that it was "not the version you know."

With a bang, Vocal Debauchery ended the a cappella portion of the show. Lead singer David Wein ’04, clad in a bathrobe, took the stage.

"I signed up to do a group, but I have no singers," he explained, then–in a planned stunt–pulled members of his group out of the audience. After singing a silly song that seemed more at
place at an Italian restaurant, the group set in for the final shock: Wein set fire to the cardboard letters "VD," contained in a pot, but flaming nonetheless. A helper doused it with water
from a pitcher, then stomped on the pot’s remaining flames. 

From original performance pieces about "toast" to Zorro-themed comedy sketches, the freshmen were on full display at this year’s Open Mic Night. There was such a positive response that out of 35 acts that enthusiastically signed up with Marsilli, there were eight that were left after the activity had to close down for the night at 1a.m. 

The reaction to Open Mic night, despite the deviation from past years, was generally very positive. Just as many students attended this year’s open mic night as previous years’ and
audience members seemed both entertained and impressed.

"I come from a place where open mic night is usually a bunch of vocalists who go up and sing pop songs," said James Schoen ’05 who also performed. "But this was so much more. Each act was so unique and had its own charm."

Audience member Jake Orlowitz ’05 was inclined to attend for reasons other than the event’s first-class reputation.

"Ever since that ‘In the Company of Others’ skit, I decided this was definitely worth coming to–and this was definitely worth coming to," Orlowitz said.

"This is an excellent outlet for the end of orientation," said Lodro Rinzler ’05. "Personally, I think people sharing what they have with others is very moving."

Rinzler took the stage in the character of Zorro and had the audience in stitches by the end of his performance with a Spanish-tinged "Rappers Delight" and stories of the masked rider’s
sexual conquests. Rinzler said he just enjoys performing and "bringing joy to all beings," but because of the audience’s warm reaction, he may check out the comedy groups on campus. 

Rinzler isn’t the only one who was inspired to further tap his talents here at Wesleyan. The first freshman to perform was Delilah Lora, who sang Etta James’ "At Last". 

"I’ve never done anything like that before," Lora said. "But I had so much fun that I’ll definitely get involved in more things like this."

Frank Marsilli, coordinator for the campus center, helped organize the evening’s event and was pleased with the overall outcome. 

"I’m always impressed by the talent that the freshmen bring, especially those groups that had only been playing together a couple of days," Marsilli said. "I thought some of the comedy
was great…I always admire those who can get up there and perform like that."

Several students came together having only practiced a few days prior to the performance. One group, introduced as "Butt Love and the WestCo Sauce," played a rousing rendition of
"Stir It Up" complete with bongos and heartfelt singing. Jessica Firshein ’05 ended up playing her acoustic guitar twice, running through Dispatch and Bob Dylan songs.

"I rehearsed only two hours before I played ‘All Along the Watchtower’ with my friend Matt," said Firshein, who was on most people’s lists as their favorite
performance of the night. "If you want a completely random cross-section of the class, this is a great idea."
Themes ranging from "both sides of the Mississippi," to relationships, to breaking, were presented by 14 student choreographers in 14 different dances this weekend in the ’92 Theater. The Spring Dance Concert is the culmination of the Dance Composition class, the second of four choreography requirements to complete the dance major. 

For most of the choreographers, this was the first time they had had to audition dancers and work with an ensemble. 

"[Spring Dance] is a class assignment. This is a transition between solo and group work that is a central stage in the process," said Pedro Alejandro, the instructor of the class and chair of the Dance Department. The dances are all related to the semester long investigation into the choreographing process."

After auditions during the second week in February, the three month long process to produce Spring Dance began in earnest. Until this past week, the choreographers held separate rehearsals with their groups of dancers. Only last Wednesday did they come together and learn what each other had created in the choreographing process. 

"It is a similar process in the sense that the ultimate goal is to create a dance based on the movements that come from the dancers’ bodies, but we all went about it in very different ways," said Katie Horowitz ’03, one of the choreographers.

This may be a function of the different dynamics created between dancers and choreographer during the rehearsal process.

"It’s definitely a group thing," said Gwen Guarino ’01, who  performed in SheenRu Yong’s ’02 piece. "Everybody has input, but the choreographer is more the brain of the operation. They almost never have an idea of how the dance is going to look in the end. It always takes on a life of its own. The best thing about Wesleyan dance is that everybody, even people who are not dancers, get to be part of the process."

Choreographer Emily Watts ’03 said that building an open, trusting community committed to creating a running dialogue about the dance is an important factor in the choreographing process. 

"[choreography] is a collaboration between what your vision is and what your dancers can do. I think the most effective thing to do is bring in a movement phrase or idea and see where it takes the dancers and work from there. It’s really about being able to give and take," Watts said. 

Spring Dance opened with a dance choreographed by Katie Lowry ’03. The dance used series of pedestrian movements to evoke the mundane quality of everyday life. 

"It has to do with feelings of being stuck in either your job, a relationship, or anything you feel is not changing in your life," Lowry said. 

At the time of the auditions, she had not begun the choreographing process. She worked with four dancers using improvisation to try to come up with movements, as well as working on movements on her own. 

"She knew the theme she wanted to work with that came across in the dance, but the actual making of the dance is a communal effort," said Anna Halperin ’03, who performed in the dance. 

Horowitz choreographed the tenth dance. She was inspired by the soundtrack from Requiem for a Dream, which contains three distinct sections– soft, rigid, and disjointed and broken. 

"I started out with the idea of variations on the word break. It became about trust and breaking trust and being afraid to trust again," Horowitz said. 

To begin the process of choreographing, she had her four female dancers write down when they had experienced breaking up, breaking down, and breaking something. They then created
short movement phrases to represent their responses. 

"We started out with improvising, and then taking those movements and combining them. Katie would take those phrases and tell us where to go with them," said Lena Eson ’04, who performed in the dance. Often, however, Katie was unsure about where the dance was going and appealed to her dancers for help. 

"My dance was psychological and emotional. The dancers did a lot of acting and infused the movements with the emotions they saw as appropriate," Horowitz said.

The dance that Watts choreographed used the interactions between the three female and two male dancers in the dance to explore relationships, hetero-normative spaces, and
expectations when one enters social spaces. 

"It was about how people deal with social expectations, how you get into them, how you get away from them," said Philippe Gosselin ’04, who performed in the dance. 

As was the case with Horowitz and Lowry, Watts began by using improvisation to generate ideas for movement. 

"We started by exploring personal space. From what we were doing, she saw things emerging. It was pretty different from how she had conceived it," Gosselin said.

Though the process of creating and outcome of the individual dances differed, the show was well received. 

"I’m always amazed at the creativity, the imagination, the ideas, the humor," said Wendy Osserman, a choreographer with whom some of the Spring Dance choreographers have done internships. "There was variety. It wasn’t just cookie cutter."