A Scene, A Song, A Number – Game On!

It was the first-ever 72-Hour Musical Theater Contest in Stanford history. Possibly in anyone’s history.

In this whirlwind of a weekend, small teams were given the challenge of creating a musical theater piece (one song, one scene, and one dance) – all over the course of only 72 hours! Three days of intense creative endeavor culminated in a live cabaret- style performance where teams presented the results of their hard…

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Scene in Action

Director’s Notes

I had a revelation about the performance Scene in Action a few weeks ago. My original vision was to bring undergraduate students into two incredible spaces – the Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection – to develop a kinesthetic, spatial and intellectual dialogue with the art. After all, Robert Frank was a contemporary of…

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A molecular physics experience through movement at Stanford

Stanford collaborators fuse cutting-edge art with research-grade science.

Earlier this year, dS headlined at the Barbican, London’s hot multi-arts and conference venue. Now it’s coming west. dS, short for danceroom Spectroscopy, is the world’s first large-scale, interactive molecular physics experience, and it was created by scholar, scientist and artist David Glowacki, a Royal Society research fellow at the University of Bristol, presently in…

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Summer Swing at the Bing on 7-26

Swing dancing and summertime seem to go together, with breezes, if the crowd is lucky, carrying the music on the evening air. Dancers—casual or dressy, adept or striving or slightly abashed—jump to the beat, maybe pausing for a sip of something cool. It’s a popular pastime all over but nowhere more so than in the Bay Area, and now it’s part of the offerings of Stanford Live.

In a turn—or maybe a twirl—away from Bing Concert Hall’s usual programs, Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, a local institution, are playing not the auditorium but the lobby. The band’s sizzling jazz will come complete with swing dance instruction from two Stanford grads, Paul Csonka and Rachel Liaw. Smith, a one-of-a-kind diva…

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Stanford Dance Division breaks new ground with ‘Construction Site’

Guides calling themselves the "construction crew" lead a traveling audience to site-specific dances built around five campus locations.

Wear sturdy shoes, bring a flashlight, prepare to step lively, bikes and skateboards optional. Not the usual set of instructions for attending a dance production, but the arts at Stanford aren’t always predictable. In a year that saw choreographer Jérôme Bel enlist untrained members of the Stanford community to perform in The Show Must Go…

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Construction Site locations and approximate schedule for May 27

7 p.m. Breathe Life in the Telling Site: Bing Concert Hall patio and atrium Choreography: Manuelito Biag Music: Said and Done by Nils Frahm Musician: Nils Frahm Dancers: Amy Chen, Sonya Erlandson, Rosemary Le, Tyler Rivlin, Abby Thien-Ly, Nicola Ulibarri 7:25 p.m. Daughter Gone Site: Harmony House interior and exterior Choreography: Robert Moses and the…

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Immersion

For a group of Stanford students last week, spring break meant plunging into the arts—in New York City.

Eighteen lucky students went to museums, galleries and performances. They danced with members of the Mark Morris Dance Group, met with art experts at Christie’s, attended a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic—and much, much more. Throughout the week, students gathered their thoughts and impressions about the trip on tumblr. The students were participating in…

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Stanford’s Pan-Asian Music Festival marks a 10-year milestone, and keeps going

Founder and artistic director Jindong Cai brings people and traditions from East and West together through music.

The Pan-Asian Music Festival has been a musical odyssey for founder and artistic director Jindong Cai, and 10 years in, the journey continues. He sees endless possibilities for future festivals built around Asian countries, regions and artistic forms. With the 2014 festival a few days behind him, Cai is already thinking of 2015 and beyond…

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Stanford Savoyards present The Mikado in Dinkelspiel Auditorium

Devotees of Gilbert & Sullivan tell the tale of young lovers living in a town where flirting is illegal and punishable by death.

I always chuckle walking into a rehearsal for the Stanford Savoyards. The university’s 40 year-old operetta performance group is an eclectic and interesting mix of university students and community members alike. From computer science majors to law and business school staff and even Stanford hospital anesthesiologists, the Savoyards have attracted a wide array of characters…

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Student Initiative

A couple of stories this month demonstrate the initiative and drive that Stanford students bring to their creative projects.

Camille Brown’s experience volunteering with Camp Kesem at Stanford, a summer camp for the children of cancer patients, inspired her to write and produce a one-woman play, “Seeing the Spectrum.” Brown received a Spark! grant from the Stanford Arts Institute to realize her vision for this artistic tribute to a community she came to know and appreciate deeply. Her project…

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a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Conference

Over 100 interdisciplinary students interested in crossing creative boundaries are attending

The a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Conference, hosted at Stanford, takes place Thursday, January 30, through Saturday, February 1, 2014. Over 100 interdisciplinary students, each from an a2ru partner university, were selected to attend this conference. All selected students share a deep interest in crossing creative boundaries and actualizing collaborative projects, and this conference provides the…

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Screendance: A New Visual Language

A festival showing of new dance films made for the screen

The film program “Screendance, A New Visual Language” features seven award-winning short dance films from around the world including artists from Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Tibet and the U.S. The program is on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7:30-9 pm in Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building, 435 Lasuen Mall. It is free and open to the public. Screendance,…

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Stanford Arts: Breadth and Depth

Breadth—because we are integrating the arts and creativity across the university. And depth—in the excellence and resonance of our individual programs.

Welcome to 2014! It’s an exciting time in the arts at Stanford. Last year brought us the opening of Bing Concert Hall, and this fall we will see the opening of the Anderson Collection at Stanford University. We are eagerly anticipating the arrival on campus of this magnificent collection of postwar and contemporary American art. Keep an…

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Webcam lets you follow the action at McMurtry construction site

Whether you’re curious to see how construction in the Arts District is coming along, excited about working in the McMurtry Building when it opens in 2015 or just nostalgic for your childhood Erector set, LBRE has a website for you. The website of the Department of Land, Buildings & Real Estate includes views from two…

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Stanford dance scholar examines how ballet challenged the Soviet regime

Through a study of one of the most innovative choreographers in Russian history, Stanford Professor Janice Ross discovers how ballet served as a vehicle for political protest in the USSR.

From the royal courts of the Renaissance to modern-day theatres, classical ballet performances have continually delighted audiences. But in 20th-century Soviet Russia, ballet took on another role, that of a powerful vehicle for political resistance and reform. Through a study of Russian choreographer Leonid Yakobson (1904-1975), Janice Ross, a professor of theater and performance studies…

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