Fusion of Cultures is an event where many multi-ethnic groups on campus come together and showcase different aspects of their culture.
What kinds of things will be there? Dancing, Singing, Theater, and of course FREE FOOD from around the world.
Brought to you this year by:
The African Students Association(ASA), The Arab Students Association (ASA), The Persian Students Association (PSA), The Pakistani Students Association (PSA), Michigan Pakistanis (MPak) and The Michigan Latino Assembly (MLA)!!!!!
Who: The University of Michigan Women’s Glee Club and Midnight Blue
What: Fall Concert: Celebrating Sisterhood, Song, and Strength
When: Saturday, November 8 at 8:00pm
Where: Hill Auditorium
Why: Why? Because the Women’s Glee Club is a fantastic group of talented women. Their fall concert is sure to be an impressive mix of styles and sounds: something for everyone who wants to support this group. I am excited to hear what they have in store on Saturday.
How: This event is on this week’s Passport to the Arts, so be sure to pick one up for a free ticket if you can. If not, student tickets are only $5 and available at the door.
Where can you find ComCo, Angels On Call, Groove, the Compulsive Lyres, the Michigan Magician Society, Arabian Dance Ensemble and the Violin Monster all sharing the same stage? Autumn Fest, of course!
What: The second annual variety show put on by Appreciate + Reciprocate, a University of Michigan student organization which raises money for the LSA Emergency Scholarship Fund.
When: Wednesday, October 22 at 8:00 pm
Where: Lydia Mendelssohn Theater in the Michigan League
How Much: $3 in advance and $5 at the door
Buy your tickets at the Mason Hall Posting Wall, October 16-17th and 20-22nd 9am-4pm, and join the Facebook event for a reminder.
All of the profits from the show will go to support Appreciate + Reciprocate’s newly established scholarship, which benefits Michigan students who suffer from financial crises, so no student has to drop out due to costs! For the price of one ticket, you can sample many great local talents, as well as treat yourself to a dose of good karma.
The transition from the Polar Vortex couldn’t have been more wonderful. I went from walking from the Bursley-Baits busstop to the MLB, fighting face-biting winds and dangerously slippery sidewalks, to strolling across the diag’s grass in the light of the setting sun. Warmth. But last night, the sun wasn’t the only thing that put a smile on my face. I had the opportunity to attend The Dicks and Janes: It’s not Delivery, It’s DJorno and Album Release performance.
The concert was held in the MLB at 7:30pm on Friday, April 11, 2014. My friends and I walked in, greeted by excited grins and tables of t-shirts and albums. We walked into the auditorium to upbeat music which was quickly interrupted by Justin Wong, who introduced the Maize Mirchi, a South Asian, co-ed a cappella group. A 30 minute set by the Maize Mirchi sang a lively array of music, including both pop and cultural tunes. Their chemistry was evident, and I found myself smiling throughout the entire performance.
Maize Mirchi
After an amazing opener from the Maize Mirchi, the Dicks and Janes took the stage at 8pm. The a cappella crew, who took 3rd at the ICCA quarter finals this year, came out ready to sing. They began the night with a stunning rendition of Zedd’s Clarity. After their first song, they talked quickly about the concert, the songs, and their album! They moved swiftly through the next few songs, which included Happiness is a Warm Gun by the Beatles, Bottles by V.V. Brown, Delicate/I Won’t Give Up by Damien Rice/Jason Mraz, A cappella by Karmin, and OK, It’s All Right from the Dicks and Janes’ album- Flying Bicycles. I was disappointed to take an intermission after senior Sarah Szollar’s breathtaking solo in OK, It’s All Right.
While looking through the program, I was surprised to find a majority of six freshman! But the young group wasn’t defined by year, only by talent. Kait Mulder and Austin Terris tore up their solos! I was amazed by their range and solo in I Won’t Give Up and Happiness is a Warm Gun. Throughout the next few songs, I was thrilled by their dancing, stomping, and incredible skrillex-like bass drops.
We learned, through small skits and jokes, that the Dicks and Janes album is compiled of 5 years’ worth of music and groups. We also learned that they went through many album names…from punny to downright hilarious! While names like Barackapella, Falling From Grace Notes, and my personal favorite- Queen Jane and the Dicktators- were thrown around, they eventually settled on Flying Bicycles.
After a brief intermission, we were continually delighted the Dicks and Janes’ vocal ability. They had great range, great chemistry, and everyone had a good opportunity to showcase their voice.
The show continued with Bizness by Tune- Yards, Here We Go by Mat Kearney, Royals by Lorde, the groups ICCA set, which included Why Oh Why by Little Big Town, The Plains/Bitter Dancer by Fleet Foxes, and It Doesn’t mean a Thing by Club Des Belugas. My two favorite moments of the night were both in the ICCA set; I’m not at all surprised they received such a high ranking. During Bitter Dancer, all the men in the group really stepped forward and sang out. Now, maybe I’m just a sucker for guys who can sing, but that was an amazing musical moment. During the final song of the set, the group seemed to be huddling together, but much to my surprise, they exploded into musical and visual waves. Arms flew around as the Dicks and Janes incorporated a sick bass drop into their a cappella set. I was blown away!
The show ended with a small award presentation to Justin Wong, who has really gone above and beyond to make this group as good as possible, and followed up by a heartwarming sendoff for the three seniors in the group- Elise Coletta, Jeff Ferguson, and Sarah Szollar.
All in all, I would highly recommend listening to the Dicks and Janes if you have the chance! Check out their album- Flying Bicycles- which should be on iTunes shortly! The Dicks and Janes would like to thank the alumni of the group for all of their help on this album!
Photo from A Night of Premieres Facebook event page
A night of premieres and a night of transitions, the Women’s Glee Club fall concert was fantastic. As a celebration of Hill Auditorium’s 100th anniversary, each song the club sang was composed or arranged in the year 2013, and the styles ranged from classical to operatic to pop.
The song choices were not the only demonstration of range in this concert, however, because there were little kids! Little, elementary-aged kids from the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale Descant Choir; older, middle school-aged kids from the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale Concert Choir; and even older, high school-aged girls from the Ann Arbor Huron High School Bel Canto Choir. It was a shocking, adorable transition when the Women’s Glee Club left the stage after a few opening songs and the tiny Descant Choir entered. Their first song, “The Path to the Moon”, remains one of my favorites of the concert because they all looked and sounded so adorable on the massive Hill Auditorium stage.
Each choir took the stage—getting progressively older, taller, and more mature voices—until we were back to the Women’s Glee Club, which proceeded to add another level to their program in the second act. A graduate student in the school of Music, Theatre, and Dance, the immensely talented Elizabeth Galafa joined the club as a soloist for a beautiful piece titled “BeNevel Vekinor”, which was composed by University of Michigan doctoral student Asaf Peres.
This one concert told a tale of the passion for singing that can span across decades of life. It just might be that some of the children who performed that night and heard the college students sing will be inspired to pursue music. Perhaps the next U of M graduate student studying voice or the next composer was sitting in the seats tonight after performing with his or her school choir. Concerts like this are important not just for the students who participate in them, but for the community to see and hear the talent that surrounds them.
Also, I can’t end this without saying that these women did a kick-ass version of the Bellas Final from Pitch Perfect. I mean it. Top notch.
Moral of the story: check out a Women’s Glee Club concert sometime, you guys.
What: U of M Women’s Glee Club Fall Concert 2013: A Night of Premieres
When: Saturday, November 9 at 8:00PM
Where: Hill Auditorium
Why you should be there(!): The University of Michigan Women’s Glee Club is an organization composed of fantastically talented young women. The combination of beautiful voices and unique song choices always leads to musical performances that are definitely worth hearing. (This is apparent in their performance of “Frobisher Bay” in a 2012 concert, and no I am not biased just because I was in it.)
This concert will feature many songs written specifically for the Women’s Glee Club, as well as special performances from local youth choirs. Tickets for this event are $5 for students, or free when you use a Passport to the Arts! Check out the Facebook event page for even more details.
