Celebrating veterans with “Basetrack Live”
Veteran’s Day is next Tuesday (Nov. 11), and this weekend is a great time to celebrate and honor our veterans with a performance of Basetrack Live. The show is Saturday (Nov. 8) at 7:30 p.m., and we’re excited to bring several free corresponding events to enrich your experience even further.
Kicking off the weekend on Friday is a photo installation featuring stunning images by photojournalist Balazc Gardi that will bring Basetrack Live right into our Grand Lobby (here’s a sneak peek of two of his images). You’re invited to experience the installation and follow Basetrack Live’s progress online. The photo installation will be on view Friday-Sunday. Click here for hours.
From Basetrack Live:
“In the current decade, more American soldiers have returned home from war than we have seen in a generation. They face an uphill battle reintegrating into a society where less than 1% of the population shares the experience of serving in the military, and even well-regarded cultural representations of war – such as The Hurt Locker – reinforce fictional stereotypes. Despite significant nationwide support for veterans of the post 9/11 era, an absence of genuine understanding contributes to isolation and depression that are unacceptably common obstacles to successful reintegration into civilian life.”
Basetrack Live follows ordinary people transformed by extraordinary circumstances. Learn so much more in this recently released trailer for the performance.
Before the performance, join us for Stories We Carry with Scott Thompson, M.S., M.Div., LMHC, on Friday (Nov. 7) at 6 p.m. Right or wrong, acknowledged or not, civilian or soldier, every citizen carries the moral burden of war. And yet, there are few resources for civilians and veterans to confront the moral and ethical challenges together. Stories We Carry aims to start conversations that create community. Stories We Carry is a guided conversation series that brings together veterans and civilians to openly share their stories, misperceptions, and experiences about war. Stories We Carry is not: Therapy. Counseling. Political. Judgment.
Made possible by a grant from the The New York Community Trust, Stories We Carry is a project of Mental Health Association of New York City; co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Rhetoric in Society. Stories We Carry is free, but registration is required. Sign up here.
By the time the performance is over and the cast and musicians take a bow, we’re sure you won’t want the Basetrack Live experience to end. Luckily, you can join us in the Cube for a fascinating post-performance panel discussion on the myriad impacts of war. Panelists include local veterans, servicemen and women, mental health professionals, and faith leaders.
Tickets for Basetrack Live are still available–you can get yours today right here.
The marriage of voice and technology
Vocal artist and creator of “Cipher,” Samita Sinha, spoke with students about how she discovered the marriage between voice and technology in a Q&A session on Thursday, October 9, 2014.
When asked how she first got started, Sinha told a story of how she used to listen to the only record she and her family owned: The Sound of Music. At eight years old, Sinha would listen to Julie Andrews sing until she had memorized the entire soundtrack. It didn’t take long for her mother to take notice and decide to take her to temple where, as Sinha states, she was taught “to learn how to really sing.” From there she began practicing the art of classical Indian voice.
Sinha told of how she started to “do a lot of weird things” in the privacy of her practice. These weird things were the beginning of her exploration of introducing technology into her practice. Upon creating a new vocal language, she realized she “needed sonic support,” which came in the form of technology, frequencies, and undulations.
Sinha did say she had to step away from the technology and began studying Qigong, a practice of aligning body, breath, and mind for health, meditation, and martial arts training. Sinha described the practice as making her realize that “the voice doesn’t just come from the voice box and diaphragm, but it comes from the soles of your feet and the environment around you.”
Sinha used these techniques she learned from her study of Qigong as well as some applications on her iPad later in the day in a small vocal workshop she hosted for students.
–Donna Thompson, a first year master’s of fine arts candidate in arts leadership, has been working with Jon Catherwood-Ginn, partnerships and engagement manager at the Center for the Arts, and Sarah Halvorson-Fried, graduate assistant at the Center for the Arts, in facilitating community engagement opportunities as part of her curriculum. Thompson was chosen for her participation in this event because of her passion for music and her background in classical voice, which she studied at Radford University while obtaining a bachelor’s degree in music and music business. Thompson and her colleagues have also created the blog for the School of Performing Arts, CreatiVe ConnecTions.
Kathy Mattea’s “Calling Me Home” in photos
We can’t imagine a better start to our second season in the Moss Arts Center than Kathy Mattea’s “Calling Me Home.” Her songs, all hitting so close to home here in Appalachia, filled the performance hall, as did a heartwarming theatre-wide sing-a-long.
In case you, like us, are are still thinking about opening night, here are some images to help you relive it. From lobby activities (a huge thanks to Just a Bunch of Guys String Band for filling the Moss Arts Center with some music from our home) to the meet and greet with Mattea herself after the performance, we’ve got it all here!
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Mattea delivered such a warm, easygoing performance–we couldn’t believe how quickly the minutes seemed to evaporate away!
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After the performance, Mattea took time to meet as many fans as possible–including some new faces and some old friends.
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We hope those of you who made it to the show thoroughly enjoyed it, and we hope to see as many of our patrons as possible throughout the season.
Get involved at the MAC with Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea will bring us all home during her performance at the MAC in the season opener on Friday. (Where did the summer go? Where?!)
Photo by David McClister
We can’t wait to have you all back in our casa again, though, and we have so many fun things planned for you all throughout the season, above and beyond the lineup of performances. How about live music on our patio? Check! A chance to meet Mattea herself and get signed copies of her CD? Check!
We’re also offering a chance for you all to hear a talk by Mattea herself, outside of her Friday performance. Join us Thursday, starting at 7 p.m., for “My Coal Journey,” which focuses on her family’s ties to coal mining culture and her current environmental advocacy efforts. And did we mention it’s free?
Before the talk, we welcome local and regional organizations and exhibits that are a part of this community. Learn about local and regional initiatives and experience the transformative power of Appalachian creative arts. Groups will be in the lobby beginning at 6 p.m.
We hope you all are ready for two evenings of fun as we kick off our second season! Be sure to check out our other exciting engagement events, coming up throughout the year.
Learning from BeijingDance/LDTX
By the time contemporary Chinese dance group BeijingDance/LDTX graced our stage in November, they’d already spent tons of time with Virginia Tech students! One of the greatest aspects of working with this presenting arts organization is the opportunity to connect our community members (from the Virginia Tech community as well as the wider Blacksburg community and beyond) to the artists that come through the center.
We have so much fun throughout the year, and we love being able to extend all the fun to you, too!
BeijingDance/LDTX hosted two master classes with area dance students–sharing tips and tricks of the trade in both contemporary and folk dance.
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The photos above are from the contemporary dance master class, while the photos below are from the folk dance class.
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From warm up to cool down, it was such an incredible opportunity to learn directly from these masters of their craft. But during their visit to Blacksburg, the BeijingDance/LDTX dancers had a little down time, too, and enjoyed Friday tea with honors students.
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And, of course, any patron could sit in on the post-show talk with artistic director Willy Tsao!
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Some extraordinary fun also came from some very, very talented local dancers: the 15-50 Dance Group! Their performance in the Cube ahead of the BeijingDance/LDTX performance was pretty magical!
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Of all of the activities surrounding BeijingDance/LDTX, which was your favorite?