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The Dartmouth
June 25, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
Arts
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Special Issue

Seniors reflect on their artistic journeys at Dartmouth

By Emily Zhang | June 14, 2020

While majors in the arts remain some of the least common at the College, Dartmouth’s arts programs continue to draw in students. In interviews with The Dartmouth, seniors reflected on their artistic development in the past four years — and while each story was different, all were bound by the unifying theme of art as an avenue for self-exploration. 

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Arts

Theater students turn to new formats for productions

By Dae Lim Chung | June 1, 2020

This term, theater students and faculty faced an unforeseen challenge when the College switched to remote learning. For some students, months of preparation and practice were put to the test as they scrambled to adapt to performing their projects remotely.

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Arts

Museum Collecting 101 offers students a hands-on experience with art acquisition

By Mia Russo | June 1, 2020

Have you ever wondered how museums acquire new pieces and organize exhibits? Since 2002, the Hood Museum of Art has worked to include students in the curatorial process, giving them a behind-the-scenes look into the museum through its Museum Collecting 101 program. The program is offered one term each year to students of all grades and majors, and provides the opportunity for students to select a work — typically a photograph — that the Hood will purchase.

Arts

'Fine Forever' establishes indie pop band Varsity’s talent for storytelling

By Sathvika Korandla | June 1, 2020

Varsity, a five-person indie pop band from Chicago, has solidified its place in the genre of indie pop with its new album, “Fine Forever.” Composed of lead singer Stef Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Pat Stanton, bassist Paul Stolz and drummer Jake Stolz, Varsity released “Fine Forever” on May 29 through independent record label Run For Cover Records. While the album’s self-aware lyrics touch on themes such as loneliness and heartbreak, the cheerful instrumentals infuse their songs with an optimistic quality. In “Fine Forever,” Varsity layers complex anecdotes with upbeat indie-pop sounds to stress a message of positivity amid the difficulties of life.

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Arts

Annual arts awards ceremony highlights student achievements in music, theater, studio art and film

By Lauren Segal | May 28, 2020

The Hopkins Center for the Arts hosted its annual Arts at Dartmouth Awards ceremony on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate exceptional student work in the theater, music, studio art and film and media studies departments. While the ceremony typically takes place in Spaulding Auditorium, this year’s event was livestreamed via YouTube to accommodate the remote nature of the term.

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Arts

Spotlight: Mary Pedicini ’19 explores metaphysical ideas with 'Imaginary Tyrants'

By Sathvika Korandla | May 21, 2020

While many people disregard old objects, Mary Pedicini ’19 finds a new meaning for them through her sculptures. As one of five interns selected by the studio art department, she has spent the past year working as a teaching assistant and helping faculty prepare for classes. From her life-size honors thesis project to her philosophical exhibition at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Pedicini has developed a distinct style of creating sculptures out of found objects during her time at Dartmouth.

Arts

Review: Laura Marling's 'Song for Our Daughter' boasts compelling storytelling, dynamic instrumentation

By Jack Hargrove | May 14, 2020

In a genre as old as folk, it can be hard for anything to stand out against the large body of work comprising the genre’s canon. Artists like Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon cultivated the sound that became associated with folk singer-songwriters in the middle of the 20th century. While the sounds they played were by definition based on earlier American musical styles, these artists sounded novel and each presented a unique brand of folk. In recent years, however, artists like Ed Sheeran have figured out how to soullessly manufacture the singer-songwriter formula by repeating the same tired sound again and again. Faced with a barrage of mediocre music, modern folk singer-songwriters have been forced to innovate in an attempt to stand out.

Arts

‘The Half of It’ is a beautifully bold stroke and the love story we’ve been longing for

By Chloe Jung | May 11, 2020

On May 1, Netflix released Alice Wu’s “The Half of It,” a film that follows Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) as she navigates love and personal identity as a queer, Asian American teenager. “The Half of It” transforms the common teen romance narrative into a funny, relatable and heartwarming work of art by pushing the boundaries of representation in mainstream romantic comedies.

Arts

Review: 'What Kinda Music' is a creative triumph

By Charlie Palsho | May 7, 2020

Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes released their latest project, “What Kinda Music,” through the jazz label Blue Note Records on April 24. Their collaboration is an experimental album combining the upbeat, polished chords and production of Misch with the jazzier, more experimentally inclined sound of the drummer Dayes. “What Kinda Music” is Misch’s first project since his 2018 album “Geography” and is also Dayes’ first album release since 2017. “What Kinda Music” is exactly what the name implies — a genre-defying album, incorporating the best of both Misch and Dayes. It’s a project that’s part electronica, part jazz and part hip-hop. Dayes’ experimental inventiveness melds with Misch’s catchy chords and pitch-perfect voice (and a well-rounded range of featured artists) to create an original UK sound.

Arts

Hop to Broadway: Live with Ali Stroker

By Lola Ellenberg | May 7, 2020

The Hopkins Center for the Arts has continued its Hop to Broadway series virtually with an April 29 conversation featuring “Oklahoma!” star Ali Stroker, hosted by theater professor and “Oklahoma!” choreographer John Heginbotham. Stroker, who plays Ado Annie in Daniel Fish’s revival of “Oklahoma!,” shared her perspective on theatrical connection through virtual platforms and the expressive power of song.

Arts

Hood Museum’s virtual gallery talk explores limitations of the virtual artistic experience

By Kamren Khan | May 4, 2020

Even after we emerge from quarantine, our interaction with museums and the arts will likely be influenced by social distancing, according to Hood Museum of Art director John Stomberg. Last Wednesday, Stomberg’s virtual gallery talk titled “Mediated Authenticity: Art and Experience Now” provided a window into our new way of interacting with museums and by extension, with art itself.

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Arts

Amir ElSaffar’s Live Living Room Concert: Expanding the boundaries of performance in an age of social distancing

By Elizabeth Garrison | April 27, 2020

Last Thursday, jazz trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and four members of his Rivers of Sound orchestra performed together live from multiple locations for the Hopkins Center for the Arts’s first online concert through its new program, Hop@Home. ElSaffar and the entire 17-member orchestra were originally scheduled to perform at the Hop this spring. The in-person concert has been rescheduled for 2021. 

Arts

Review: 'Sawayama' is musically fascinating, but falls short of greatness

By Jack Hargrove | April 27, 2020

Every 20 years, like clockwork, American culture repeats itself. This does not mean that the same exact trends are recycled in an endless loop. Rather, after about 20 years, outdated culture becomes “retro,” and nostalgia for past decades shapes new styles and artwork. The 1970s had “Happy Days,” and the 1990s had “That ’70s Show.” In a more abstract sense, the infatuation with the glamorous lifestyles of the fabulously wealthy in the 1980s inspired reality television and “Gossip Girl” in the 2000s. As we enter the 2020s, the music stylings of the early aughts are making a comeback. Artists like Charli XCX and Slayyyter evoke Britney Spears-style pop, while Poppy and Grimes both recently released music that is heavily reminiscent of nu metal.

Arts

Review: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' is a slow burn that highlights a sad reality

By Nicole Aboodi | April 24, 2020

As a wave of states introduced abortion restrictions last year, abortion rights have increasingly come under fire. Now, in the age of COVID-19 — with abortions deemed non-essential in some states — the right to choose is especially pertinent. With this in mind, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and can now be purchased on Amazon Prime, is even more timely than it would’ve been just two months ago. 

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