The arts are a major part of Dartmouth life. From guerilla performance art to dancing groups, from major theatrical plays to photography exhibitions, art abounds at the College.
While Hanover's art scene can't compare with metropolitan centers like New York or Boston, artists at Dartmouth are hardly voices crying in the wilderness. The College's small size and active arts community allows students to become as involved as they want to be and accommodate students of all skill levels.
Listed below are profiles of several prominent campus painters, singers, and thespians, who explain how they became involved in the arts at Dartmouth and how you can too.
Shakespeare lovers abound
Matthew Gordon '98 should have been born in the 16th century, in Stratford-Upon-Avon to be exact. Because he loves Shakespeare, and read all 37 plays before coming to Dartmouth, Gordon said he knew that drama would play a part in his academic curriculum. He enjoyed acting in high school, and had done plays before coming to Hanover, but found Dartmouth to be superior to anything he had experienced in the past.
"The audition and rehearsal process here is just a step above" what one finds in high school, Gordon said. "It wasn't intimidating, but rather exciting. I had jumped to the next level." For this reason, he designed a very coherent curriculum: a major in drama and a minor in English, focusing on dramatic literature.
The drama department and theater at Dartmouth are virtually synonymous because professors direct the student productions. This allows students to get to know their teachers as people. Because the drama department is small and close-knit, all the students know each other as well, Gordon said.
"It's just like a little family," he said. "If you're lucky, the professors might even let you call them by their first names."
"Each professor has his own way, or individual style, and it is very recognizable," Gordon continued. "Some are very demanding of you, and very powerful in the way that they direct you. This shows through in their teaching as well. Others let you call the shots. Each has something amazing about him or her".
The department offers many classes to accommodate interests in every aspect of theater, be it the technical side or acting. Gordon recommends the Acting 1,2,3 sequence for Olivier-wannabes.
Study abroad fosters love of art
Joanna Gibson '98 fell in love with the ballet music of Tchaikovsky at the ripe age of five years. She started studying piano, and quickly became interested in Rachmaninoff. She was the musical director for her high school's productions of such plays as "Pippin" and "Godspell" and she was a member of her high school chorale. As a music major at Dartmouth, Gibson is a member of the Dartmouth Chamber Singers and continues to study piano under Associate Music Professor Sally Pinkas.
Gibson hadn't planned on majoring in music, but became involved with the department when she auditioned to study with Pinkas. After attending three to four concerts a week in London as part of the music department's foreign study program, Gibson said she "became immersed in the musical culture of the city, and couldn't imagine not spending [her] life devoted to music."
Gibson started her music career at Dartmouth with a prerequisite for the major -- Music 2: Theory. Taught by visiting professor Roderick Swanston, currently a professor at London's Royal College of Music, the class "was a good course even for people who don't want to be majors, but have an interest in music. It gives people a good foundation for the rest of the theory courses and the major."
Aside from her studies in London, Gibson said Music 38, Musical Theater, has been the best class she has taken at Dartmouth. Considering her lifelong dream is to conduct a Broadway show, the class gave Gibson, "the chance to learn about all the musical shows I had loved since I was a kid, and the opportunity to learn about other ones that I have come to love just as much," she said.
Gibson has also become involved with music on a nonacademic basis. As a member of the Dartmouth Chamber Singers, she joined because she wanted to sing under the direction of Professor Melinda O'Neal. Auditions for the Chamber Singers are held in the fall, and every other term depending upon what voice parts are needed.
Glee Club fosters friendships
Malia Bodhaine '98 is one of those Dartmouth students who will find any excuse to travel. While she attended the Spanish department FSP in Madrid last fall, and will serve as a teaching assistant on the Language Study Abroad in Barcelona during the winter, she also sings to pick up even more frequent flier miles. As a Spanish major and Sociology minor, Bodhaine said she would like to someday become a Spanish professor herself.
During her Freshman fall, she met friends who were Glee Club members, and they encouraged her to join. She finally took the plunge Freshman winter.
Singing since the eighth grade, Bodhaine said she still puts in about six hours per week with the 60 or so other "Gleek" singers. She explained, "We do tryouts every term, except the summer, and I think it is pretty competitive to get in." She also added that "Dartmouth has an amazing arts program that is open to everyone, not just future opera starts and music majors."
The Glee Club sings classical and contemporary music under the direction of Louis Burkot, and they put on a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta every two years. Fully staged and costumed, they performed Iolanthe this year.
As an official Gleek, Bodhaine has traveled throughout the Midwest and Florida over past Spring Breaks. She said, "Tours are a definite bonding time for the choir, and I have met some of my best friends through Gleek .... It is a great break from the stress of school -- as we can go to rehearsal and just sing our hearts out and forget all about those exams for tomorrow. By far, Gleek is my favorite extracurricular activity at school The people are great, the music is great, and it is a great release!"
Visual and vocal arts combine
Melissa Cho '98 has always dabbled in the arts -- painting, drawing, and just making things in general. For this reason, she said she was torn between majoring in studio art and art history.
But her involvement in the arts doesn't stop with her major. A member of the Asian Christian Fellowship and the Korean American Students Association, Cho also sings in X.ado, a Christian a capella group. "X.ado is a contraction of ancient Greek words meaning, 'singing praises to Christ'," she said.
Cho said she has run the gamut of art classes. Starting off with Studio Art 10: Basic Design, Cho said she discovered that the class was work-intensive, but that "the assignments were really interesting and it was a good introductory class." She has also taken Studio Art 15: Basic Drawing.
"In this class I learned to take a totally different approach to drawing," Cho said. "Each student had a lot of freedom, and it was impressive to see how everyone's work progressed throughout the semester."
But perhaps it was Professor Marlene Heck's class in modern architecture that turned Cho on to the historical side of art. As the best class that she has taken yet, its lectures "were really engaging", and she had "never had as much enthusiasm for a class as I did for this one," Cho said.
Because of her encouraging experiences in the art departments at Dartmouth, Cho said she would like to take advantage of even more opportunities in the arts. Despite the waiting list, she'd love to go on the art history FSP in Italy during the Spring term. She also works in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery in the Hopkins Center as a gallery attendant, and plans on a career in art exhibition after graduation.
"The Art History department here, as a whole, is really strong," Cho added. "Every professor I've had in this department has been a great lecturer and really helpful outside of class as well."
Art serves personal goals
Like Cho, Scott Listfield '98 said he "just stumbled into [studio art] freshman fall". While he had taken studio art classes every year in high school, Listfield said he had never seriously considered himself as very skilled or knowledgeable -- he simply enjoyed it. But because of an auspicious start in basic drawing, he stuck with the department.
Listfield explained that at Dartmouth, his work in the arts became "a real focus of more than just schoolwork ... it wasn't even a question of what I would major in but rather how far could I push myself."
He said he prefers painting and drawing classes because "working down in Clement [Hall] is great if you can get some personal space, and the drawing rooms are usually pretty nifty."
But Listfield added that nothing is perfect: "The 'dungeon' in the lower Jewett corridor [located in the Hop] is not top on my list, but fairly inevitable for the basic painting folk. If you're lucky, you'll only have to spend one term there, though."
Listfield said he found the professors to be encouraging, especially Esme Thompson and Deborah Kahn. He also said he finds the department to be extremely supportive of students because, "all of them realize how outside the loop we are up here, and that they need to somehow make up for that. But obviously, it's a difficult thing to do." Because of Hanover's rural location, Listfield tries to "get to as many museums and galleries as possible ... especially down in Boston."
For Listfield, sticking with studio art is a matter of "personal pride."
"Outside yourself, the teacher, and maybe a few classmates, probably no one will ever see what you do, so you really have to make it a very personal process," he said. "You have to become your own evaluator and find your own sources of influence."