It's Winter Carnival, and you, intrepid Ivy League student, have decided to forgo papers and books for an entire weekend of uninterrupted bliss and bacchanalia. But with all of that free time, why not drop by the Hopkins Center and enliven your on-campus cultural life as well? The Keystone will still be there when you get out.
Winter Whingding
One of the centerpieces of the weekend is Winter Whingding, an elaborate a capella showcase in Spaulding Auditorium. This year the all-female Subtleties will host the event on Friday, Feb. 9. The Cords, an all-male a capella group, will join them onstage. In the past, visiting a capella groups from other schools have performed the opening act; when the Subtleties last hosted Whingding in 2005, they invited the Brown Derbies. This year the Subtleties have instead elected to invite the College's Ceili Irish Dancers to perform. Dave Faherty '07 of the Dog Day Players, Paul Wright '07 of the Dodecaphonics and Wes Milks '07 of the Aires will emcee the evening's events.
The host for each "-ing" concert -- which also includes Fall Fling and Spring Sing -- is determined from a rotation that includes all eight a capella groups on campus. This is the third time the Subtleties have hosted Winter Whingding in the last four years.
The setting and prevailing mood of Winter Carnival create a very different atmosphere from the typical a capella show.
"When you're performing in Spaulding, right away you can feel the energy and the intensity in the atmosphere," said Subtleties president Adela Santana '07. "Everything's bigger in Whingding, from the audiences, to the stage, to the amount of preparation time that has gone into this one show."
Subtleties alumna Meredith Raucher '06 remembers her "-ing" shows fondly: "It's always so exciting to get out there in front of an audience of several hundred and prove to yourself why you've been working so hard."
The groups have been working hard indeed, as the Spaulding concert traditionally provides groups an opportunity to introduce new pieces in their repertoires. This means not only extra rehearsals the week before the show, but an intensity and healthy work ethic over the entire term leading up to the big weekend.
Santana is proud of the group's effort. "I think we've been really good about staying focused in rehearsal, working on our parts independently outside of practice and really maximizing the short amount of time we have left to get ready," she said.
It also turns out that the influx of alumni for Winter Carnival affects more than just the sketch factor in fraternity basements. Santana said that many former Subtleties members are expected to come up to watch the show and join the current group onstage in singing its alumnae song.
"It will be different to watch the Subtleties from a seat in the auditorium instead of being onstage with them, but I'm really excited to hear their new songs, meet the new members and be nostalgic," said Raucher.
Coast Goes Latin
While Winter Carnival is usually associated with frostier events, the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble is bringing some heat to Hanover with this year's show, "Coast Goes Latin." The shows tend to feature a mix of big band, Latin, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American jazz, a combination that makes the Barbary Coast one of the most eclectic college ensembles in the country.
The ensemble, which is composed almost completely of non-music majors, has performed during Winter Carnival since 1978.
"We just got into it [that year] and it became a tradition. It's certainly a fun time to do something," Don Glasgo, the ensemble's director, explained. "There are more students, actually, than any of our other concerts. It's a rowdier, more lively crowd."
The party-like atmosphere shouldn't belie the ensemble's hard work. Glasgo receives music for the show at the beginning of the term so the Barbary Coast has enough time to perfect each piece. The ensemble rehearses every day of the week leading up to the show with the guest artists to make sure everything will go smoothly on Saturday evening.
Another traditional feature of the Barbary Coast shows is the prestigious guest artist, who has joined the group since 1979 for these featured concerts. This year, audiences will get a chance to see Jimmy Bosch on the trombone, Giovanni Hildago on the trombone and composer/arranger/conductor Ray Santos.
"Even in the highly competitive music industry, our Winter Carnival guest artists Jimmy Bosch, Ray Santos and Giovanni Hidalgo prove that nice guys finish first!" Glasgo wrote in the show's playbill of the fact that such world-renowned musicians are visiting the College.
Bosch, who last performed with the Barbary Coast in 2001 and was a favorite guest artist of ensemble members, is the leading figure in the "salsa dura" movement. He has led his own group, the Masters, since 1996, after years of working with top Latin groups around the world.
Santos has worked for over 50 years as a composer, spearheading a wide variety of projects that include four Grammy Award-winning albums for Linda Ronstadt, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D'Rivera and Tito Puente. He has worked in the finest musical institutions over the course of his career, from the Palladium Ballroom in the 1950s to the Lincoln Center today.
Glasgo referred to Hidalgo as the "greatest conga player in the world," and many agree. Hidalgo has been playing percussion since age five and since then has played with some of the greatest Latin and jazz artists in the world, including Dizzy Gillespie.
Dartmouth Film Society and Movies
Finally, for those of you who want to complement your white snow with some silver screen, the Dartmouth Film Society and Loew film series both continue this weekend. The three movies planned for Winter Carnival offer a variety of cinematic experiences for the film lover to choose.
On Thursday, the Loew series highlighting Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's illustrious oeuvre continues with "Law of Desire." This 1987 film features the heavy dose of sexuality and interesting cast of characters that audiences have come to expect from Almodovar. Widely considered to be the director's first explicitly gay film, it centers on a love triangle between three men.
Loew is showcasing a second film on Saturday; "House of Sand" -- essentially a mother-daughter film that centers on a family's struggle in northern Brazil -- was directed by Brazil's Andrucha Waddington and won the Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006.
On Sunday, DFS will show "The Last Command," a silent film that will feature a live piano accompaniment by Bob Merrill, whose participation in past DFS series has always been a highlight. Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar in 1928 for his performance as a deposed general forced to re-enact his fall in this story of revenge.
There's a lot more going on this weekend other than polar bear swims and pong. Even if you're a regular at Hop events, the big weekend atmosphere offers a completely new experience that is sure to amp up the already-exciting shows that the many talented groups on campus have planned.
