Big Man on Campus - Moravian College

photo by John Kish iV
out&about
Dance with Your Ears
HAPPENING . . .
February 1 – March 11
Edouard Matthiew Pannetier
PAyNE GAllEry • An exhibit of never-
before- displayed drawings and paintings by
the French-Cambodian surrealist, known as
“Peccadet” to artist friends like Picasso.
February 21
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
Foy CoNCErt HAll • A remarkable
evening of music with one
of today’s leading bel canto
tenors.
A Kulu Mele
dancer teaches
Moravians the
right moves.
Good dancing starts with good listening, says Dorothy Wilkie, artistic
director and choreographer of Kulu Mele African American Dance
Ensemble. “Beginners have to learn to listen to the drum,” she explains.
“Each rhythm has its own call, and that tells you when to start, change,
and stop.” The ensemble, whose name means “voice of our ancestors,”
visited the Moravian campus in December 2006 for a program of dances
and rhythms from Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, and the U.S. Students and
faculty members had an opportunity to move to the beat of African
drumming during a pre-concert workshop. The steps may be different,
but music and dance play similar roles in African and American culture,
says Wilkie. “They play music for many reasons—for the birth of a baby,
for a celebration, for a naming ceremony. Here we have music at baby
showers, parties, and weddings.”
March 15 – April 15
The Design of Dissent
PAyNE GAllEry • renowned graphic designer
Milton Glaser and illustrator Mirko Ilic present
an exhibit of socially- and politically-driven
graphics.
Medieval Is Good for You
How did the Reformation alter the represen-
tation of women? What narrative strate-
gies did Chaucer use in the Canterbury
Tales? How were dreams interpreted in the
Carolingian period? <strong>Man</strong>y such questions
were answered—or at least thoroughly dis-
cussed—at the Undergraduate Conference in
Medieval and Early Modern Studies, hosted
by Moravian College on Saturday, December
2, 2006. The conference featured 28 research
presentations by students from Moravian
and several other colleges and universities.
The 220 attendees, representing 25 schools,
also witnessed performances and demon-
strations (including two Moravian music
majors who constructed a 15th-century
trumpet). Other events included a plenary
speech by Arthurian literature specialist Kel-
ley Wickham-Crowley, associate professor of
English at Georgetown University in Wash-
ington, D.C., and a performance of Sephardic
Blow your own horn: Moravian students Christopher
A. Lucca ’09 and Sean Mason ’08 demonstrate the
15-th century trumpet they created for Moravian’s
Conference in Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
music by members of the Baltimore Consort
and Quartetto Brio.
Vespers in Televisionland
Taking a close look at these periods
in history does more than solve historical
enigmas or offer glimpses into a bygone
mindset, says John Black, assistant profes-
sor of English at Moravian and one of the
conference organizers (with Sandy Bardsley,
assistant professor of history). It teaches
you to think outside your own particular
box. “One of the main appeals of this field
is its interdisciplinary aspect,” says Black.
“You can’t approach it with blinders on.”
While it’s possible to view the Middle Ages
strictly from, say, an art history perspective,
real understanding only comes from bring-
ing together information from history, art,
literature, religion, music, and other fields.
And professors or students who learn to do
that will find it’s a skill that’s sorely needed
in today’s world. “Our modern worldview is
utterly fragmented,” Black says. “We’re so
drawn and torn and pushed and shoved and
rushed and frantic that there’s hardly time
for synthesis, for seeing how you or anyone
else fits into the big picture.”
A Moravian College tradition gained its widest audience yet when thirteen NBC-tV affiliates around the
country broadcast The Music of Vespers from Bethlehem . . . the Christmas City on Christmas day 2006.
the program featured a repertoire of sacred and spiritual songs from a wide variety of cultures performed
by the Moravian Choir, under the direction of Paula ring Zerkle, and by the Women’s Chorus, under the
direction of Eduardo Azzati. Selections included an Australian aboriginal chant, the words of John Milton
and Walt Whitman, and music composed by Moravian students. Also featured were Vespers standards
like the hymns Morning Star and Jesus, Call Thou Me (Jesu, rufe mich). While nearly 6,000 members of
the Moravian College community attend the Vespers services every year in Bethlehem, the broadcasts
allowed viewers as far away as Michigan and oklahoma to enjoy them. or, in the case of former Choir
soloist Susan Mcleish ’75, to enjoy them again. “Imagine my surprise,” says Mcleish, who lives outside
of Atlanta, Georgia, “when I arose at 5:00 a.m. to make Moravian sugar cake, turned on the tV in hopes of
finding something holidayish, and found the Moravian Vespers being broadcast!”
MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2007 WINTER 2007 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE
photo by John Kish iV