Granted, Hanover isn't known for its avant-garde art scene, but that doesn't mean culture and creativity do not abound at the College. Countless musical, theatrical and artistic events provide a wide array of entertainment and performance opportunities for students.
The Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts is, as its name indicates, a center for much of the artistic activity occurring on campus. The Hop, as it is known by most students, houses work, performance and exhibition spaces for drama, music, studio art and film. Curricular and extracurricular events and spaces exist side by side, integrating cultural activities into a liberal arts education.
Dartmouth Drama, in conjunction with the drama department, produces three main stage plays a year, one per term, in the Hop's 470-seat Center Theater. In addition, the Summer Repertory Theater brings professional playwrights from the New York Theater Works, a New York City-based theater company, to the College to work with students in the production of two or three plays.
"Many students are involved in the production as well as the technical and costume aspects and the classes themselves," said Robin Kendall, administrative assistant for the drama department.
Chance Whitmire '94 said he appreciates the variety the art department offers. "There are two different areas of study: theory and production," said this drama major who won the Eleanor Frost Play Competition, an annual competition of an original, one-act student production. "You can sit in a classroom and read all about how to direct a play and how to make a set, but Dartmouth really gives you the opportunity to get involved with everything."
The music department offers traditional classes, personal music lessons and a wide range of musical ensembles at the College, covering everything from classical to jazz to new age music. These include various instrumental ensembles: Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, Dartmouth College Marching Band, Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, World Music Percussion Ensemble and several choral ensembles such as Dartmouth College Chamber Singers, Glee Club and Gospel Choir. Most of the Hopkins Center ensembles present three concerts each year in one of the Hopkins Center performance halls.
The studio art department provides students with classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and architecture. Each spring an exhibition of studio art majors takes place in the gallery space of the Hop, displaying the wide variety of work going on within the department.
Another service the studio art department offers is bringing artists from across the country to the College. The Artist in Residence program allows an accomplished artist to reside at the College throughout the year, producing his or her art on campus, lecturing and interacting with students.
The Hood Museum of Art, adjacent to the Hop, is another of the College's valuable artistic resources. With an extensive permanent collection including a variety of work from American and European painting to Native American textiles to African sculpture, the museum often produces exhibits which relate to classes taught at the College.
Film is also incorporated into the Hop's facilities -- both academically and for entertainment purposes. Through this department, students produce films which often make their way to the silver screen in the annual spring showing of student films.
The Dartmouth Film Society brings filmmakers and a wide array of films to the College. "The films are interesting, unique, hard to find prints that you wouldn't otherwise get to see," Film Society Director Jeff Middents '94 said.
Student workshops are an additional artistic opportunity offered by the College. Jewelry and pottery studios and a woodworking shop are presently open for student use.
According to Erling Heistad, jewelry studio director, the studio serves approximately 25 percent of students on campus at any time and about one third of the students during their academic career at the College.
Open every weekday afternoon and some evenings, all students need to do is show up and instructors will help them learn the process, Heistad said.
"This type of facility allows students to expand their own desire and control the educational process," Heistad said. "The students come in with a problem. We give advice and explain the options. The students make the decisions. This is very different from a classroom situation, where the problem is provided."
Students must buy the materials they use, which are available for purchase in each of the studios.
The Hop is a popular location on campus because it also contains the Hinman Boxes, where undergraduates receive their much anticipated mail, and the Courtyard Cafe, a popular student eatery.
But, the College is making efforts to expand students' view of the Hop's purpose.
"We want students to know that the Hop is more than a place to pick up mail and eat," said Diane Kennedy, promotion manager of the Hopkins Center.
Part of this initiative includes Rock the Hop, an event during which every corner of the Hop is filled with student artists and performers. The program, which debuted this spring with the idea of bringing the Hop alive with the artistic activity of the Dartmouth community, is planned to continue as a yearly event.
The Hop's outstanding line-up for the upcoming year includes: the Martha Graham Dance Company; "Ghost Stories," production of short plays adapted from Stephen King stories; and "Sunday in the Park with George," the touring Broadway sensation.
At the beginning of Fall term the Hop will hold its annual Freshmen Night, which will include an introduction to the building's facilities and activities. According to Kennedy, first-year students will also receive a HyperCard computer program informing them of the various opportunities the Hop provides.
"The Hop belies preconceived notions that the arts at an Ivy League college are the province of a privileged few," Naomi Rhodes wrote in her 1990 book "21 Voice: The Art of Presenting the Performing Arts."
"The reality here is just the opposite. The Center is at the fulcrum of a delicate balance between academic and extracurricular interests," she continued.
