Theatre Majors Bring International Experience Home Posted on May 25th, 2014 by

Junior Theatre Major Autumn Ike (middle) with her younger Chinese sister (left) and Chinese mother (right) visiting The Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Autumn's Chinese family was invaluable in developing Autumn's Chinese to a level acceptable for the Chinese stage.

Junior Theatre Major Autumn Ike (middle) with her younger Chinese sister (left) and Chinese mother (right) visiting The Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Autumn’s Chinese family was invaluable in developing Autumn’s Chinese to a level acceptable for the Chinese stage.

Hannah Enright and Autumn Ike, both junior Gustavus theatre majors, seized a rare opportunity while studying abroad their fall semesters. Guided by their passion for theatre and dance, these Gustavus students managed to identify an outlet to satisfy their hunger for art: performance while abroad. Experience the passion, excitement, horrors and frustrations of performance abroad through Enright and Ike’s presentations on April 11 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the Department of Theatre & Dance, Schaefer Fine Arts Center.

Enright’s presentation Traditional Dagomba Dance: Keeping the Tradition Alive examines her own study of West African Dance in northern Ghana. It will include an analysis on how these traditional dance styles of the Dagbon people are a living physical history that encompasses the past, present, and future of their vibrant culture. She will share her personal story of learning the complexities of this dance and how it transformed her as a performer.

Ike’s presentation, 说对: An Experience of Theatre Performance in China, focuses on her studies of theatre performance while in Beijing, China, and her capstone performance of Cao Yu’s Lei Yu, where she embodied the character of Lǔ Shìpíng on the mainstage of Beijing Foreign Studies University. She will discuss in depth the challenges and necessity of performing abroad, while also tackling the complication of performance in a foreign language. She will also focus on the differences of performance in America and in China, and the challenges that accompany these differences.

Each presentation will be approximately 30 minutes, with an included 5-minute performance that will allow the audience a glimpse into each presenter’s experience in performance abroad.

Please join us on April 11 for this wonderful opportunity! Enright and Ike’s presentations begin at 2:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the Schaefer Fine Arts Center, Department of Theatre & Dance.

 

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