The Hong Kong Ballet to visit Farthing Auditorium

Janelle Silverman - Entertainment Beat

The Hong Kong Ballet will perform Monday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium as part of the 2001-02 Performing Arts Series, sponsored by Appalachian State University’s office of Cultural Affairs.

According to a press release by Denise Ringler of Cultural Affairs, “The Last Emperor,” a rendition of the 1987 Bernardo Bertolucci film, will depict the life of Pu Yi, the last emperor of the Manchu Dynasty in China.

The story begins when he becomes emperor at age two in 1908 and ends with his death at age 61 in 1967, during the Cultural Revolution. At the time of his death, he was only a simple gardener.

The ballet was first performed at the ceremony to celebrate Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule. According to a recent press release, choreographer Wayne Eagling only had five weeks to create the ballet, which he completed in 1997.

Stephen Jefferies, the company’s artistic director, asked Eagling to help him with the creation of the ballet.

Eagling, who is the current artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet and a former Royal Ballet dancer, watched the Bertolucci film and read Pu Yi’s autobiography to get a feel for how to create the performance.

According to the press release, occasional blackouts are used in scenes of the ballet to show different parts of Pu Yi’s life. “I needed to have ways to go from one period of his life to when he is older. That was a good way of the audience accepting him being 10 years old, to all of a sudden, he’s 20,” said Eagling in the press release.

Eagling has also done work in other areas of entertainment, such as choreographing a video for the rock band Queen and for Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” He has done other ballets such as “Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus” and “Beauty and the Beast,” both as part of the Royal Ballet Company.

According to a bulletin for the Performing Arts Series, Su Cong, who won an Academy Award, a Grammy and a Golden Globe for his work on the Bertolucci film, will perform the ballet to music. Mu Sheng and Wei-Ya Hao, along with David Byrne, will produce additional music scores.

Wang Lin Yi, chief designer at Beijing’s Central Opera Ballet Theatre, designed over 160 costumes for the 42 dancers.

The Hong Kong Ballet was founded in 1979 and has gradually gained international fame. “The Last Emperor” brought the company to its international level of recognition, according to Cultural Affairs.

Tickets for the Nov. 5 performance are $8 for Appalachian State students, $14 for Appalachian State faculty and staff, $16 for the general public and $6 for children age 12 and under.

For more information or to order tickets over the phone, call 828-262-4046, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., or 800-841-ARTS.

Josh Brown - The Appalachian

A group performs during Saturday’s step show in Farthing
Auditorium.

Step show creates unity among groups

Carrie Baker - Greeks Beat

Saturday night was one of energy and tradition for Appalachian State University’s National Pan Hellenic (NPHC) Greeks. Traditionally African American sororities and fraternities displayed pride in their organizations’ heritages during the Step Show in Farthing Auditorium.

“Black Greek organizations have been at Appalachian since the 1980s, and the Step Shows are a big tradition,” said Andrea Stevenson, president of NPHC. The Step Shows are a traditional African American dance where the hands, feet and body are used to make sound and create a beat, said
Stevenson.

The show was performed in four acts. The Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority opened the show with their theme “So Pretty.” AKA student members as well as alumni performed the energetic number, motivating audience members out of their seats and into the aisles.

“Audience participation is important to a step show,” said Stevenson. “We want people to get into the show.” Audience members were encouraged to do what moved them, sing, dance, chant or shout.

Next, the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity gave a lively show. They opened with a trumpet performance by member and past step master Keith Sims. “This is my sixth show,” said Sims. “The show brings members together and creates lots of brotherhood.”

This sense of unity is extremely important to the Step Show, he said. “Every sorority and fraternity has steps that are passed down from alumni members. You make new things and take old things and combine them for the show,” said Stevenson.

In addition to the two Appalachian State step teams, two outside groups joined the show. The first was the Delta Zeta Theta sorority from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The eight-member team chose a “police” theme for their group.

The Dudley High School step team from Greensboro performed the finale. Their group “Umoja” stepped to a 70s theme, incorporating music and television shows from that decade. “We saw them stepping at the [North Carolina A & T State University] homecoming and invited them to perform at our show,” said Stevenson.

Both Stevenson and Sims agreed the underlying idea of the show was unity. “This is a good thing for the multi-cultural community and for the entire ASU community,” said Stevenson.