This past weekend,Amherst College’s student-run La Causa hosted its 20th annual Voices event, the largest free spoken word concert in New England. Voices’ mission is to bring poets of color from across the country together in one space for a weekend of decolonizing the arts through slam poetry that revolves around the subject of marginalized people’s experiences. Both professional and student poets performed their work to a packed Powerhouse with food provided by Fernandez Family Restaurant, a Puerto Rican establishment in Holyoke.
Dance and Step at Amherst College (DASAC) hosted its fall show this past weekend, and in it, the group once again exemplified how to combine style, agility and audience engagement in a performance piece. The theme for this show was “Old School vs. New School”, but after a few minutes watching the show, it became clear to me that this was really a show about two schools of confidence. There is the cocky, big-headed kind of confidence that constitutes the old school.
Netflix’s favorite alcoholic horse returned last month with its highly anticipated fourth season. Through its previous three seasons, “Bojack Horseman” has left me heartbroken almost as many times as Amherst has, which is saying quite a lot. When I first started watching, I never expected a vulgar, adult-oriented cartoon to be so relatable on topics such as anxiety, depression, abortion, sexism and generational trauma.
This past weekend, Dance and Stepping at Amherst College (DASAC) performed their spring show in Keefe Campus Center’s Friedmann Room titled “DASAC Gets Out.” DASAC, Amherst’s student-run dance group focused on hip-hop, Caribbean and other dance styles originating from the black diaspora, celebrated its 15th anniversary with this show. The group was founded by black and brown students disappointed at the lack of representation of black dance. Each semester, the show is given a culturally relevant theme (last semester, the show was an homage to Beyonce’s newest album “Lemonade”).
With streaming services at peak popularity, binge-watching has become the primary way most Americans consume media, and thus network television has begun a steady decline. Networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC have grown concerned for their futures as Netflix and Hulu increase their amount of original content every year. With the exception of networks such as the CW and Fox, networks are eager for a steady supply of tent-pole shows guaranteed to have viewers tune in weekly. NBC may have found that tentpole with their new family drama “This Is Us,” which just wrapped its first season.
Amherst’s second Annual LitFest Poetry Slam took place last Thursday at the Powerhouse. Fresh off of last year’s event, in which Latrell Broughton ’19 took home the top prize, Amherst students hit the ground running this year with personal and provocative poems.
The Amherst College theater and dance department celebrated Valentine’s Day in an unorthodox way this past weekend. Theater and dance major Lauren Carter ’17 performed her senior acting thesis, Charles Mee’s “Big Love,” last Thursday through Saturday in Holden Theater. Directed by department professor Yagil Eliraz, “Big Love” follows three sisters who flee their home country to escape arranged marriages to three men. They ultimately take refuge in an Italian villa, where they convince its wealthy homeowner to take them in, despite his reservations toward refugees.
