It’s the daunting question every graduating senior has to grapple with: what will I do after I complete my undergraduate degree?

In the current exhibition entitled “Touching Base” at the Pence Gallery, open to the public until April 21, 11 former UC Davis undergraduate art majors answer this question, as they reveal their lives as a post-graduate in the art world.

The exhibition features a varying range of work such as paintings, ceramics, bronze sculptures and digital video and projections. Each body of work captures the essence and investigative nature of each artist’s personal endeavor, as well as regional influences.

Robin Hill, curator of the exhibition and instructor in the art department, was approached by the Pence Gallery to curate the show. Hill wanted to focus her attention on students who have gone on in recent years to pursue art and display work, thereby looking into their active lives as artists and achievements in the disciplinary field.

“Robin chose a really diverse group of students,” said Natalie Nelson, director of the Pence Gallery. “You have people doing ceramics and these fantasy kingdoms and personal things that are really great. These works are contemporary, interesting, and engaging, and it’s all about using new media in interesting ways to see how the work is engaging to you.”

Within the works lie the issues of bringing the personal stories and endeavors of how the students have gotten to where they are. Hill keeps in touch with many of her former students and values the importance of showing their ability to shine in the contemporary art world.

“What these students have accomplished says a lot about the contemporary art world,” Hill said. “They’re all very inwardly-focused individually about what interests them. They’re not trying to adapt to what may or may not be popular in the moment – it doesn’t have that look. It is that age group that really easily succumbs to that kind of pressure, such as what are in art magazines or what is currently getting attention. I feel like these artists are really holding their ground and taking risks.”

Each selected body of work is representative of the artists, their aesthetics and statements. Acrylic and spray painted pieces on wood by Jason Trinidad reveal a Bay Area influence as Kyle Hittmeier’s mirroring projections of New York’s streetscapes are perceptive to the life in the city where he currently lives and works.

For Daniel Glendening, his focus lies primarily in examining culture and ideas through his series of work. In an interesting piece entitled “We May Have a Great and Unrecognizable Future, 2011,” Glendening explores new mediums, utilizing sodium tetraborate, acrylic and contact paper and applying it to a Frontiers of Science book. The effect feels cold and futuristic, as if from a new era.

“I’ve been working with themes of utopia and the apocalyptic,” Glendening said. “I wanted to explore the relationships between those themes and their historical manifestations in ’60s and ’70s counter-culture and contemporary culture’s utilization of the Internet. The work is also very much about California [and] it being a site of utopia; the destabilizing nature of a virtual space, and the ability of an object to exist in multiple types of spaces in the mind.”

Caetlynn Booth currently has three works on display. All three pieces are of oil paint on stretched linen, which comment on how dark and light are perceived as an optical experience within the network of the urban landscape. Booth explained that her journey as a visual artist has been one that continues to deepen within the context of immersing oneself wholly into the act of creating.

“I had gone to the junior college in my home town, and transferring to Davis opened my eyes,” Booth said. “The studio and art history classes I took validated my investigations into material and concept as an artist – I really began to know myself and what I wanted out of being a visual artist. I’ve had a few other moments since then, and all have coincided with big life transitions where I’ve had to re-evaluate. The more I continue with my commitment to being an artist, the deeper my experience of making becomes.”

The searching and deepening desire for the arts is what connects these artists. But perhaps the greatest piece of all lies in a white notebook in the far corner of the gallery space. Inside are the personal interviews Hill had with each artist regarding their life transitions as a student to an emerging artist. Hill believes that these individuals are exemplary of the current art world and to which many current undergraduate art majors can look at to tackle some of their own questions.

“I asked the artists at what point in their art education did they make the transformation of being students to artists,” Hill said. “And what would you tell a young an artist who is trying to jumpstart or nurture their creative process, and what would you tell them is the most important thing to do?. The answers are very specific. It’s so incredibly rich with heartfelt advice.”

For more information about this exhibition, visit pencegallery.org.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

After spending a year living in the UC Davis dormsresidence halls, Stephen Leung thought the experience would be the perfect material for a sitcom.

Fast forward a year. Three episodes of “Freshman Fifteen,” the only known sitcom filmed in Davis by UC Davis students, are now on YouTube.

“Everyone was really close to each other [in the dorms] so I got this idea of making a film that expresses our friendship,” said Leung, now a sophomore biochemistry major.

Armed with a single camera and basic editing software, Leung directed his friends in three six-minute episodes chronicling common college student problems like paying attention in class and going on a date.

Leung said he was inspired by the sitcoms “Home Improvement,” “Friends” and “Listen Up!” while penning the script, which he tries to make familiar to all viewers.

“I like having really broad ideas, instead of really specific ideas that not everyone can relate to – for example, going to a restaurant and embarrassing yourself by accident,” Leung said.

After asking a few of his friends to be in the sitcom, Leung let them take a look at the script and provide feedback. Sophomore undeclared major Alma Jimenez, who plays Alice in the show, said she had to help Leung write the female characters.

“For some of the lines he thinks girls would say, I’d say, ‘A girl would actually not say this in that situation,'” Jimenez said. “I’ll tell him and he’ll say, ‘Ok, I’ll fix it up and make it more realistic.'”

After working with the cast, Leung adapted the characters to fit the strengths of the actors portraying them.

Sophomore math major Steven Turner often improvised his own part, adding extra lines for his character, Jerome.

“A lot of the things [in the sitcom] aren’t that far of a stretch from what actually happened in the dorms,” Turner said. “We don’t actually fit a lot of the stereotypes [portrayed] so it’s like we’re acting out of character.”

Most of the scenes were shot at the Allegre apartment complex where the cast lives. Each scene takes about an hour to shoot, with the camera person being whichever cast member who is not in the scene. Leung edits the footage into finished episodes.

Linh Tran, who plays Ana in eEpisode 2: the second episode, “Richard’s Date,” said the biggest challenge of filming was trying not to laugh.

“Every couple of lines we had to do multiple takes because we were laughing,” said Tran, a sophomore nutrition science major. “Or, we’re not supposed to stare directly at the camera so once we were done with our line [Leung] told us to just stay in that position for a couple of seconds, but sometimes we’d take too long and look back at the camera.”

Lighting also became an issue, since they didn’t want the scenes to look too staged or too dark, Turner said. Maintaining consistent hair length was also a challenge since often weeks would pass between shoots.

Still, the improvisational nature of the shoots was the most enjoyable part of filming for Turner, especially because the actors often didn’t know exactly what other characters would do next.

“The most fun thing is the random surprises that come along with filming. We don’t go in knowing the entire script a lot of the time because we’re just given it by segments,” Turner said. “We may not know if another character is going to pop out of nowhere or if someone is going to have a line that we’re not expecting to hear.”

Leung intends the show to remain firmly grounded in Davis. The people, professors, and places you see should be easily recognizable and familiar to UC Davis students, he said.

In fact, the show has already featured plant pathology professor Tom Gordon and English teaching assistant Nick Valvo as guest stars. Leung also worked with a local Starbucks for product placement and plans to feature other businesses in future episodes.

For now, “Freshman Fifteen” is a hit with the casts’ friends and families, though they’d like for more college students to see the show. The team was recently featured in a segment about “Freshman Fifteen” on the CBS 13 news.

Though Jimenez said she was embarrassed to watch herself onscreen, the fun of filming the show with her friends keeps her involved.

“It’s nice to take a break from doing schoolwork. It’s always fun filming and there’s a lot of laughs,” Jimenez said. “It’s my first time trying to act. Even if I’m not that good at it, I’m still having fun doing it.”

Watch “Freshman Fifteen” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef6xR0VSlx0&feature=related.

ERIN MIGDOL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Slug: Hope_ar.e-c1110407_ar_hope

Edits: RM

Notes:

Summary:

Headline: Hope for the homeless to take center stage at Freeborn concert

Layercake: ‘”Keep Hope Alive,‘” hosted by health and homeless organizations, will feature three local bands

By MICHELLE RUAN

Aggie Arts Writer

If your plan on Sunday morning was to wake up late and start playing Iinternet RPG games, surprise! You may have something more 3D to do. Popular artists Zion I, Seamoose, and SOJA will headline a concert, which aims to raise awareness about local homeless organizations, which is sponsored by Davis Homeless Outreach Through Prevention and Education (H.O.P.E.O.P.E.).

The concert will take place at Freeborn Hall at 2 p.m. and doors open at 1 p.m. Student tickets are selling for $19 and general tickets are $24.

Davis H.O.P.E is an organization that works with the local Davis homeless shelters. They provide educational services to the homeless in hopes that once educated, they won’t ever have to return to the streets.

“Keep Hope Alive” will feature three prominent artists, each representing a different music genre: Seamoose, Zion I, and SOJA.

Seamoose is a local funk band that often plays shows at Burgers and Brew. It is a favorite with localamong local UC Davis students.

“One of the gifts of playing music is the ability to use music to help others. We appreciate the chance to share our music and help out a great cause at the same time,” Seamoose said in a statement.

Zion I is a hip hop duo consisting of DJ AmpLive and MC Zumbi, who promote social change through their lyrics. They are an underground group that came to prominence with DJ AmpLive’s complex production skills and MC Zumbi’s substance-filled lyrical content, which promotes social change for the future.

“It is a blessing to be able to give back to folks who really need the help right now. Our music has always been about the triumph of the human spirit,” Zumbi said. “We have moved on into focusing our energy on giving directly back to the community by rocking this show. It feels good to know that lives will be improved, and that we are part of that process.”

SOJA is an international rReggae band based in Washington, D.C. that has performed in numerous places such as Puerto Rico, Brazil, and even Holland.

“SOJA is very honored to be a part of The Hope Project Benefit event at UC Davis. The world is in a tough place right now and every possible path that leads to the rise of education is an important one. We do it through our music and are glad to share and ‘co-learn’ with the fans and students at UC Davis,” SOJA said in a statement.

And if these great artists aren’t already getting your musical palate salivating, Professor Charles BamworthBamforth, acclaimed brewer and a favorite teacher among Davis students, will be MC-emcee-ing the entire event.

Bamforth said he is offering his help to this unique concert because he believes strongly in helping the homeless.

“The cause is an amazingly important one. There are so many people out there with no home – more than 2,700 in this immediate region alone,” Bamforth said. “They live moment– by –moment with the reality of terrible risks. We need to do whatever we can to help and support them.”

Nikhil Borra, a fifth-5th yearsenior neurology, physiology and biology major is the President president of H.O.P.E and was a major factor in getting all three artists to perform together at the upcoming concert.

“We put together different bands because everybody has different music tastes. We want this to appeal to lots of students. But we also chose socially conscious artists who have a reputation for promoting change, such as Zion I, which sends messages about how we should all look out for each other,” Borra said. “We asked Professor. Bamforth to MC emcee the event because he’s popular with students and [he] believes in the cause. Homelessness is a big problem and it’d be great if we give as much attention that we’re giving to starving children in Africa also to the starving children possibly living down the block from us.”

Borra added that Dr. Sheila Kar of the nonprofit Sheila Kar Health Foundation was also a driving force in the organization of the concert.

Borra emphasized that the goal of the concert is not to make a profit but rather to alert the UC Davis student and academic community about H.O.P.E’s existence and itstheir message of helping the homeless through education.

“Everybody should come and enjoy the show. There are going to be really good live performances. And if you happen to want to donate more than your ticket price, please donate to the Sheila Kar foundation,” Borra said.

Kar said she is making a special trip up to Davis to see the show.

“I cannot miss this! I love music,” Kar said. “The bands chosen believe in helping others. Reggae has no color boundaries and Zion I’s lyrics are so full of peace. I hope the kids will spread the message. My hope is that there will be a H.O.P.E program on every college campus.”

But aAbove all, Karr stressed that the concert is meant to let all the students have fun and has a special message for all the concert attendees.

“By giving, you will give life,” she said.

Tickets can be bought at the Freeborn Hall ticket box. Doors will open at 1 p.m. and the concert will start at 2 p.m. To learn more about the organization or volunteer, go to davishope.com.

MICHELLE RUAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

A doctoral candidate at the State University of New York at Buffalo named Roberta Price applied for a grant in 1969 to travel west. She was to document the hippie communes that were springing up in the deserts of New Mexico and Colorado.

Price got the grant and headed out, but there was just one problem.

“I didn’t even have a very good camera,” Price laughed. “Once I got the grant I went out [and] bought a camera, so for the first summer when I was traveling around I really didn’t know if my pictures were coming out. I just took pictures.”

The pictures did turn out well, and 42 years later, it’s finally time for Price to share them with the world. An exhibition of Price’s photographs, called Across the Great Divide: A Photo Chronicle of the Counterculture, opened at the Nelson Gallery last Thursday and will be on display until May 22.

UC Davis is the first stop in a national tour of Price’s work, which coincides with the publishing of her photography book of the same name. At the conclusion of the tour, Price will turn her archives over to the Beineke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, where they will be preserved and digitized for future study.

Despite being outsiders, Price and her then-partner, David, were given nearly unrivaled access to the Huerfano Valley communes of hippies and other counterculture participants who endeavored to drop out of mass culture and build their own self-sufficient utopian communities.

“They were pretty receptive because we were young, in our early 20s, we looked a little cleaner and had a working vehicle. We obviously were not back-to-the-land folk but we were kindred spirits,” Price said. “We were let in a lot of places where a lot of other photographers weren’t allowed.”

Price documented the everyday life of the commune members that summer, and by the following year she and David had moved to Libre, a commune in Colorado. They stayed there for seven years as Price continued to photograph the people, their homes and their rugged way of life.

Price said life in the commune was not for the faint at heart. Members built their own houses out of found materials and relied on few modern luxuries. Looking back, she said, the differences between the suburban life she was used to and life at Libre were great.

“We were very coddled, baby-boomer kids, and they had us mixing mud and hauling water, [using] trucks that didn’t work, chopping wood. In some of the photos you can see the amount of work we were expending. It was not a couch potato scene,” Price said.

UC Davis professor and architectural historian Simon Sadler is guest-curating the exhibit. Price reached out to him after reading some of his work on communes of the 1960s, and after seeing her photographs, Sadler suggested she bring them to UC Davis.

“What we get when we see Roberta’s pictures is a view from the inside, with the details of everyday life: domestic life, people looking after kids, cooking, building,” Sadler said. “For me the pictures work because you can tell they’re taken by an insider, not just someone passing through. There’s really something quite poetic about it.”

Sadler said the architecture of the commune structures is especially representative of counterculture ideals and practices, including self-sufficiency, rejection of suburban culture and drug use. Price’s photos depict houses of all shapes and sizes, made out of such materials as car parts and other recycled materials.

“There is that sense that you’re looking at something that was built on acid,” Sadler said. “When they built their shelters they would be built according to whatever special sense of the place these people might be getting, [and] maybe because they’re on drugs they would get a sort of vision.”

Price said she hopes her photos are viewed as honest portrayals of the counterculture movement – a movement she feels has never quite been accurately understood, though it continues to inspire activism for social equality, foreign policy and even environmentalism, she feels has never quite been accurately understood.

“It occupies a historical niche somewhere between a pernicious social virus and an amusing Halloween costume. I don’t think those times should be idealized,” she said. “I think the pictures give you an opportunity to just look at the people and feel a connection with them without a big media corporation or a professor telling you what to think about them.”

Erin Elder, an art historian, curator and friend of Price, said the 42-year-old photographs are still relevant to young people today. After all, Libre was started by 22-year-olds.

“That vision and naïveté and strength of spirit is so profound, [especially] to see how young they are,” Elder said. “Sure, they’re wearing funny clothes and the pictures are a little faded, but they’re almost exactly the same people as anybody in college today.”

Sadler said that the message viewers are supposed to glean from Across the Great Divide is open for interpretation. At a recent dinner with Price and Nelson Gallery director Renny Pritikin, he said, it seemed the photographs represented an experience that is more relevant today than ever.

“You could tell for them there was some urgency, as if they felt there was something they’d discovered in the 60s that they want us to know about today. But what is that thing? Even now I can’t quite place my finger on it,” Sadler said. “Except to say something like this: that those guys of that generation are trying to persuade my generation and your generation that it is possible to think naturally about things, to make connections and to have the guts to act or drop out.”

View Across the Great Divide through May 22 at the Nelson Gallery at Nelson Hall (formerly the University Club) on Old Davis Road next to Wyatt Pavilion. Gallery hours are Saturday to- Thursday, 11 a.m to 5 p.m. For more information, go to nelsongallery.ucdavis.edu or robertaprice.com.

ROBIN MIGDOL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Twenty-seven times last year, I got off the couch and drove at least 15 minutes to a movie theater that was neither spotlessly clean nor particularly memorable. I stood in line to buy a $10.50 ticket, picked my way through screaming kids and empty popcorn buckets and found a seat among strangers.

I sat through 30 minutes of commercials for products I don’t need and trailers for movies I don’t want to see. During the movie, I endured merciless kicking of the back of my chair, people coughing, whispering and squeezing their way through the row and heads that seemed to be in my way no matter how far over I leaned.

Why? Because, after 100 years of cinema, there’s still nothing like going to the movies.

That’s not what the latest technology would have you believe. With movies on-demand on every cable provider, Netflix streaming instantly to our TVs and 3D TVs already on the market, we’ve never had better excuses for enjoying the latest blockbusters from the comfort of our own living rooms. Combine that with higher-than-ever ticket prices, and it’s easy to convince yourself that there’s just no point in going to a movie theater anymore.

But what a shame that would be. You’d miss out on one of the greatest communal activities the modern world has ever seen – one that has remained relatively unchanged since its inception a hundred years ago. The newsreel and cartoon have been replaced by commercials, trailers and reminders to silence your cell phone, but that comforting ritual of buying a ticket and experiencing a film for the first time with complete strangers in the darkness has never gone away.

Sure, at home you’re spared the sticky floors, the crying babies, the chit-chatting ladies who always manage to sit right next to you – but where’s the fun in that? Retelling horror stories about the movies is often more enjoyable than talking about the movie itself.

I don’t remember the dozens of peaceful movie theater outings I’ve had, but I’ll never forget the midnight screening of The Dark Knight, when the movie started ten 10 minutes late and the crowd, made up completely of teenagers, nearly started a riot. Or the time my mom snapped at a woman who had refused to move to the empty seat next to her, which my family still laughs about to this day.

Snug on your couch, you’ll never experience the thrill of three hundred people bursting out in applause, or howling with laughter. A remote and a DVD player means you can sit (or lay) any way you like, but even the sharpest high-definition TV can’t match the impact of an epic battle or romantic love scene on a screen four stories high.

Inevitably, sometime in the next few weeks to a month I’ll once again drive to the theater and wait in line to pay money I can’t afford to spend. I’ll find a good seat if I’m lucky and try to ignore the child-size foot banging into my spine. I’ll do all this because, really, there’s no other way I’d rather see a movie.

ROBIN MIGDOL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Artist: Christina Perri

Album: The Ocean Way Sessions EP

Label: Atlantic

Rating: 5

If Britney, Rihanna and Ke$ha are the head cheerleaders of the music world, then Christina Perri is whatever you call the quiet girl who spent lunch strumming her guitar behind the bleachers. And as everyone found out at the 10-year reunion, she turned out to be way cooler than the cheerleaders. As the 23-year-old singer-songwriter croons in her fantastic EP The Ocean Way Sessions, “Karma tastes so sweet.”

Perri’s raspy, powerful voice and bluesy melodies are a far cry from most of the processed pop hits of the Top 40, which is part of what makes her tracks (rRecorded live at Los Angeles’ Ocean Way Studios) so darn refreshing. The hypnotic single “Jar of Hearts” shows off her achingly passionate vocals, while the cheeky, revengeful “Bang Bang Bang” hits an infectious level of euphoria. She relaxes on “Tragedy” and “Black + Blue,” making it all the more obvious that when you have as much talent as she does, all you need is a guitar and lyrics written straight from the heart.

Give these tracks a listen: “Jar of Hearts,” “Bang Bang Bang,” “Black + Blue”

For fans of: Florence + The Machine, Colbie Caillat, Alanis Morissette

– Erin Migdol

Artist: Lykke Li

Album: Wounded Rhymes

Label: LL Recordings

Rating: 4

At first listen, it’s clear that Wounded Rhymes is no sophomore slump. But it’s also clear that Lykke Li isn’t afraid to experiment with her sound.

In comparison to Li’s debut album Youth Novels, which was mainly filled with upbeat tracks that mirrored the album’s title, Wounded Rhymes depicts a more introspective and darker tone. Instead of singing songs titled “Dance, Dance, Dance,” Li explores heartbreak and pain in tracks such as “Unrequited Love” and “Sadness is a Blessing”.

That’s not to say that Li’s album is a downer. The unique electronic beats that kept her first album moving along are still very much present in Wounded Rhymes, giving even the darker songs an ironicironically upbeat feel. And Li still manages to have fun on a few songs, such as the standout “Get Some.”

Wounded Rhymes is a beautiful example of Li’s growth as an artist and as a songwriter. You may not be playing Li’s album the next time you’re getting ready to go out on a Friday night, but it’ll make great background music the next morning.

Give these tracks a listen: “I Know Places,” “I Follow Rivers,” “Get Some”

For fFans of: Robyn, Florence + the Machine, Oh Land

– Anneta Konstantinides

Artist: Britney Spears

Album: Femme Fatale

Label: Jive Records

Rating: 5

Before Lady Gaga steamed up the dance floor with bad romances or Ke$ha sang talked about how she wakes up feeling like P. Diddy, there was Britney Spears, the princess of pop. Now she is back to remind everyone exactly why she still is, and always will be, the princess of pop, no matter how many more new pop artists start infiltrating radio airwaves.

Her long awaited new record, Femme Fatale, is full of club beats thumping hard behind Britney’s infamous coos and lilting whispers. The CD has 16 songs on the track list, with the Japanese version having a bonus track titled “Scary.” Like most Britney songs, the lyrics are a play on words such as “Hold It Against Me” which stems from the old Groucho Marx pickup line. The lyrics aren’t of much substance, but they’re extremely catchy and great to sing while dancing, which is what your body will want to do once the songs start playing.

Some might complain that there is too much auto-tune on this album. Yes, there might be an excess of auto-tune but it blends very well in all the songs and doesn’t make this album any less of a dancing delight. Instead it ensures playtime in all the hottest clubs, popular radios and any if not all parties for the rest of the year.

Give these tracks a listen: “Inside Out”, “How I Roll”, “Trouble for Me”

For fans of: Madonna, Ke$ha, Cascada

– Michelle Ruan

MUSIC

Waiting for Bruce, Newz Makers

Tonight, 7:30 p.m., free

Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St.

All ages are welcome to attend this free show by two local cover bands. Waiting for Bruce sticks to blues classics, and Newz Makers play classic rock and R&B. Drinks will be sold inside.

Turvey, Mona & Janaki, Byron & Ilan, The Telling, Morgan S. Woolf (comedy)

Tonight, 8 p.m., $3 to $10 donation

Tacos and Beer, 715 Second St.

Tacos and Beer has a full lineup of live music, DJs and stand-up comedy tonight. Donations will help support efforts to save the Domes housing, which will close this summer.

Yolo Mambo

Friday, 7 p.m., free

Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St.

Can you believe it’s already time for another 2nd Friday ArtAbout? Well, it is, and that means you again have the opportunity to hear Yolo Mambo perform at the Natsoulas Gallery. If you’re downtown on Friday night, don’t forget to stop by.

Shearing Pinx, Gaarth, Wreck & Reference, World Losers

Friday, 8:30 p.m., $5 to $6

The Hub, Sacramento

KDVS presents Vancouver’s Shearing Pinx and an eclectic lineup of black metal, metallic and psych-punk bands.

Keep HOPE Alive feat. Seamoose, Zion I, SOJA

Sunday, 8 p.m., $19

UC Davis Freeborn Hall

Charitable organizations, including the Sheila Kar Health Foundation and Davis H.O.P.E Foundation, come together to promote awareness to helping those in need. Three Bay Area artists will perform and Professor Charles Bamforth will host the concert. See the preview in today’s MUSE.

THEATER/MONDAVI

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

Friday, 8 p.m., $25

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

Musicians from more than 20 countries make up The Silk Road Ensemble, which was started by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000. The ensemble is also a nonprofit organization that hopes to bridge the gap between nations through music. The concert on Friday is currently sold out, but you may get on the waiting list for any returned tickets.

Lara Downes, piano

Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., $17.50

Mondavi Center, Vanderhoef Studio Theater

Frequent Mondavi Center performer Laura Downes will perform a piece entitled, “Long Time Coming: The Music of Duke Ellington and David Sanford.” The show combines spoken word, music and film to reflect on Ellington’s legacy and continued impact of American music.

Sarah Silverman Live

Sunday, 7 p.m., $12.50

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

Get ready, Aggies: Sarah Silverman is coming to town, and the gloves are off. The comedienne, actress and author (don’t tell me you’ve never seen her hilarious music video “I’m F***ing Matt Damon”) will no doubt sound off on everything from her life and upbringing to pop culture and current events at Sunday’s stand-up performance. For mature audiences only.

China Philharmonic Orchestra

Tuesday, 8 p.m., $22.50

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

In the big scheme of China’s thousands-of-years-old history, the China Philharmonic Orchestra is shockingly young – it was established in 2000 – but it has quickly emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the symphonic music world.

Max Raabe & Palast Ochester

Wednesday, 8 p.m., $12.50

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

If you’ve ever seen (and loved) the classic musical Cabaret, you’ll want to see Max Raabe and the Palast Ochester on Wednesday night. The Berlin-based ensemble brings Weimar-era cabaret to back to life with accurate yet modern interpretations of that unmistakable jazzy sound.

ART / GALLERY

Engendered opening reception

Friday, 6 p.m., free

Delta of Venus, 122 B St.

The Davis Feminist Film Festival’s feminist art show, entitled Engendered, will hold its opening reception at Delta of Venus. Artists include Michelle Steen, Cassandra Sechler, Julia Litman-Cleper, Naomi Vanderkindren and Allison Wachtel, among others. Get psyched for the upcoming film festival and discover new artists at the same time.

Author talk: Elizabeth Freeman, Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Histories

Wednesday, noon, free

Memorial Union Bookstore

UC Davis professor of English Elizabeth Freeman will discuss her new book, which examines the effects of time and history on queer identities and struggles. The talk will be followed by a book signing and Q&A session.

ROBIN MIGDOL can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

When the lights went up on Tuesday night at the end of the Alvin Ailey American Dance company’s Theater’s performance, the Mondavi Ccenter for the Performing Arts practically shook as the crowd erupted into a standing ovation accompanied by whoops and cheers. The diverse crowd of every race and ethnicity, with attendees young and old, dressed to the nines or in the clothes they wore to class, and of every race and ethnicity, all shared the same huge smile and the same goosebumps on their arms after the exhilarating two and a half-hour performance.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance TheatreTheater, a modern dance company based in New York and a major African -American performance group, presented as much energy and passion as its audience’s response during the Davis stop on its national tour.

The company, which was founded by choreographer Alvin Ailey in 1958 and has since gone on to become globally renowned, featured an amazing range of emotions, and an even more amazing range of talent, while showcasing a repertoire featuring dances, both new and old.

The performance began with a sexy bang with “Night Creature,” choreographed by Ailey himself in 1974. The dancers shimmered as they slinked in their costumes, and the sultry jazz music accompanying every hip sway and seductive twist of the arm seemed to transport the audience back to 1920’s Harlem, New York. The dancers transformed themselves into coquettish “creatures,” even getting laughs from the audience as they both flirted and rejected each other. The combination of the choreography, music and perfect attitude of the dancers made the piece a great opener that was sexy, sassy and fun to watch.

The second piece of the night, “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine,” choreographed by Camille A. Brown, kept the upbeat theme going. A soloist dancer, Briana Reed, played a character whose costume was half a man’s suit and half a woman’s bra. She began her dance without any musical accompaniment, only her grunts and the sounds of her feet slamming the stage giving any noise to the auditorium. Her body and performance was so powerful, I had to double-check the program to see if the dancer was male or female. And yet, as the music switched to songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson, she was able to embody perfectly the seductive and flirtatious female and, keep the audience laughing with her fun attitude as she played her changing role with perfection.

After intermission, the tone of the show completely changed. The fun and flirtatious pieces were replaced with two extremely powerful and serious performances that kept the audience gasping with wonder at the showcase of talent onstage.

The third performance, “Vespers,” was an all-female dance. Clad in serious black dresses and dancing with chairs, the women dancers’ true strength and talent shined. “The Hunt,” the all-male dance that followed, was also full of power, with the men performing amazing flips and stunts as they danced across the stage to music accompanied by heavy drums and chanting.

Perhaps the most exciting performance of the night, though, was the performance of the company’s classic dance called “Revelations,” another dance choreographed by Ailey in 1960. The 30-minute piece, the longest of the show, represents Ailey’s own religious experiences as a child growing up in Texas.

The dance, broken up into three sections, was by far one of the most haunting and inspiring of the show. The beginning, dubbed “Pilgrim of Sorrow,” featured an astonishing moment in which all company dancers shared the stage, their hands raised in the air, as gospel music rang above them. The powerful piece was followed by the brighter “Take Me to the Water,” a dance that represents baptism, and the show ended with a glorious, thumping dance known as “Move, Members, Move.”

One did not need to be religious to be moved by “Revelations.” The performance was powerful in the passion contained in the dancers. Their talent and their love of what they were doing shined clear as their limbs seemed to become one with the traditional gospel music playing around them.

Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theatre was, in short, truly inspiring. Groundbreaking in the 1960’s for showcasing the talent, creativity and experiences of African-Americans, the cCompany proved that they are still every bit as passionate and amazing today. Tuesday night was the first performance of the cCompany that I had seen, and I can assure you it definitely won’t be my last.

ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.