Author Archives: Tangut Degfay

Arts and Leadership Series Starts Strong

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March 30, 2018

This post was originally published by Melody Jensen, Middlebury Institute of International Studies Newsletter

The Celebrating African Women’s Voices in Leadership event in the library on Thursday, March 1. Six students, Tangut Degfay MAIPD ’18, Francesca Aka MPA ’18, Ianthe Duncan-Poole MAIPD ‘19, Eunice Deha MAIPD ‘18, Shinae Meylor MAIPD ‘19, and Elizabeth Watiri MAIPD ‘18 read from the works of six African authors. (Credit: Stephen Keith )

The Institute’s first-ever Intercultural Arts and Leadership Series kicked off at the end of February with a week-long celebration of Africa, followed by a week dedicated to movement and dance. The spring series is hosted by Tangut Degfay MAIPD ’18, who applied for and received funding from the Ron and Jessica Leibowitz Fund for Innovation. Featuring six arts modalities — music, theatre, dance, film, sculpture, and writing — the series involves teaching and performance residencies by diverse international artists throughout the term.

The project is assisted by a team of students including Kaitlin Emmons MPA ’19, and Airon Whitt MBA/MAIPD ’19 as part of a course entitled Intercultural Arts and Social Change, taught by Visiting Professor Andrea Olsen.

The series has three goals: to bring the arts more robustly into the academic curriculum of the Institute, to connect Middlebury Institute students with innovative artists and educators from the Middlebury network, and to connect the Institute and Monterey area communities through the arts.

The first event of the jam-packed week was Ethio-Jazz vocalist and TED senior fellow Meklit Hadero and her band, who packed Irvine Auditorium and received a standing ovation for their dynamic performance. (Credit: Stephen Keith )

According to Degfay, “the idea of the first week was to highlight distinct African nations, while featuring interdisciplinary and individual perspectives on the role of the arts in global projects.” To support this intent, participants in the winter term course International Development and Social Change, Rwanda (DPMI Rwanda) were asked before their trip to be aware of the arts and share their views on return. Several student organizations on campus collaborated to host events, including the African Nations, Model United Nations, and Peace Corps Clubs.

The first event of the jam-packed week was Ethio-Jazz vocalist and TED senior fellow Meklit Hadero and her band, who packed Irvine Auditorium and received a standing ovation for their dynamic performance. Meklit was introduced by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson, who affirmed the importance of the arts in intercultural dialogue at the Institute. Tuesday, the DPMI Rwanda panel, hosted by Emmons, shared insights from four participants about the deep values and important challenges of engaging intercultural dialogue on site.

Another full-house audience attended the staged readings of six African authors by six Institute students at the library. The culmination of many people’s efforts, the project was directed by Cheryl Faraone, professor of Theatre at Middlebury College, who guided an intense three-day rehearsal period with the six participants for Celebrating African Women’s Voices in Leadership: Degfay, Francesca Aka MPA ’18, Ianthe Duncan-Poole MAIPD ‘19, Eunice Deha MAIPD ‘18, Shinae Meylor MAIPD ‘19, and Elizabeth Watiri MAIPD ‘18.

Celebrating African Women’s Voices in Leadership team: Francesca Aka MPA ’18, Eunice Deha MAIPD ‘18, Shinae Meylor MAIPD ‘19, Tangut Degfay MAIPD ’18, Elizabeth Watiri MAIPD ‘18, and Ianthe Duncan-Poole MAIPD ‘19. (Credit: Stephen Keith )

The week-long celebration of Africa and the arts involved over 370 participants and attendees from the campus and region. When reflecting on the success of the week, Olsen said: “After Meklit’s dynamic performance, the Women’s Voices participants exclaimed that she had set the bar high for the whole week and series—not competitively but to encourage the very best from each person as part of a larger whole. It shows the power and mystery of how the arts connect us in ways that are not obvious, but that are clearly felt and impactful.”

It was such an empowering feeling to see the whole school talking about common themes and wanting to talk even more.

— Tangut Degfay MAIPD ’18

This weave of conversations and interactions drove the success. “The focus on Africa was exciting to say the least,” says Degfay. “It was such an empowering feeling to see the whole school talking about common themes and wanting to talk even more. I think we have set the foundation for future conversations at the Institute.”

Last week Middlebury graduate Cameron McKinney and his Kizuna dance company were in residence in Monterey with public performances, movement workshops and a lecture-demonstration on “Dances born from Revolution: How Japanese Butoh Ideologies Can Influence Streetdance.”

The series continues throughout the semester with more arts projects including building a NEST sculpture with Jayson Fann, an international water dance film project with Scotty Hardwig, and African Soundscapes with Damascus Kafumbe, an ethnomusicologist at Middlebury College.

To learn more about the series and the upcoming events and see photographs of the projects, visit http://go.miis.edu/arts18

Cameron McKinney ’14 Returns to Middlebury Classrooms with his Dance Company

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February 24, 2018
This post was originally published by Sarah Ray, Middlebury College Newsroom

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – “There’s something that’s actually really incredible about creating movement in your own body and then allowing that movement to live in someone else’s” says dancer and choreographer Cameron McKinney ’4, “because as soon as you give it away, it’s already different because no two bodies are the same.”

McKinney recently spent a week at Middlebury in residence with his dance company Kizuna, which he founded in 2014. In a weeklong “takeover,” Kizuna members taught all courses in the dance department’s curriculum. Kizuna, a Japanese word meaning bonds or connections between people, reflects McKinney’s interest in Japanese language and culture. He is currently developing a movement style that blends Japanese influences with aspects of capoeira, street dance, and contemporary floor work.

Cameron McKinney ’14 returned to Middlebury with his dance company Kizuna to teach classes and perform.

In the few short years since he graduated from Middlebury—where he first began dancing—McKinney has set to work filling a niche in the dance world that he felt was missing. And he’s been successful. He was recently named a participant in the Alvin Ailey Foundation’s New Directions Choreography Lab, was chosen as one of ten emerging choreographers for Doug Varone’s DEVICES choreographic mentorship program in 2015, and is on faculty at Gibney Dance Center. He has also taught on faculty at the Joffrey Dance School, the Southern Vermont Dance Festival, and Williamsburg Movement and Arts Center.

McKinney and his company capped of their weeklong residency with a performance at the Mahaney Center’s dance theatre.

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Cameron brings Kizuna Dance to the MIIS campus from March 5th – 10th, 2018. Cited in the Huffington Post as “one of the best performances of 2017”!

  • Tuesday, March 6 Performance of full repertory at the Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove 7-8:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce.
  • Thursday, March 8: Dances born from Revolution: How Japanese Butoh Ideologies Can Influence Streetdance, lecture-demonstration. 7-8:30 p.m. Irvine Auditorium, 499 Pierce Street, Monterey.
  • Friday, March 9: Movement Workshop, 11 a.m.– 12:15 p.m. at Carmel Barre, 465 Pacific Street ($12 fee for non-Institute participants)
  • Saturday, March 10: Berkeley performance and Middlebury alumni events, 8:00 p.m. Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, 2704 Alcatraz Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705. Tickets: $15/$12. Limited seating: reserve here: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/14336

Learn more about Kizuna Dance
Kizuna Dance Marketing Kit 2017. PDF

New Intercultural Arts Series Launches Feb. 26 with Meklit Hadero

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February 24, 2018

This post was origionally published by Jason Warburg, Middlebury Institute News

Meklit Hadero will kick off the Middlebury Institute’s new Intercultural Arts and Leadership Series with a free performance on February 26 in the Irvine Auditorium. (Credit: Ryan Lash )

Renowned Ethio-jazz artist, TED Senior Fellow, and “cultural instigator” Meklit Hadero will perform at the Middlebury Institute next Monday, headlining the kickoff event in a new intercultural arts and leadership initiative. The performance, at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 26 in the Irvine Auditorium at 499 Pierce Street in Monterey, is free and open to the public.

Born in Ethiopia and based in Oakland, California, Meklit Hadero is a vocalist and composer who brings Ethio-jazz together with a singer-songwriter’s storytelling and strum. She is co-founder of the Nile Project, and her TED talk “The Unexpected Beauty of Everyday Sounds” has been watched by more than 1.2 million people. She has received musical commissions from Lincoln Center and has toured extensively across the United States, United Kingdom, and East Africa.

Hailed as “brilliant” by New York Magazine, and “stunning” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Hadero’s recent album When The People Move, The Music Moves Tooreached #4 on the iTunes World Music Charts and #1 on the North American Community + College Radio World Music charts. The Feb. 26 concert with Hadero and her five-member ensemble will be introduced by Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson and followed by a short conversation with Hadero about her work as a social change agent through the arts.

Hadero’s performance marks the launch of the Institute’s new Intercultural Arts and Leadership Project, supported by Middlebury’s Fund for Innovation.

As far as we know, this is the first arts series ever developed in the 62-year history of the Institute, featuring professional artists in music, theatre, dance, film, visual arts, and writing.

— Intercultural Arts and Leadership Project host Tangut Degfay ’18

“As far as we know, this is the first arts series ever developed in the 62-year history of the Institute, featuring professional artists in music, theatre, dance, film, visual arts, and writing,” said project host Tangut Degfay ’18. Middlebury College Professor of Dance Andrea Olsen adds: “It’s exciting to see the quality of the artists who have agreed to participate and the very positive response we’ve had from the campus community here in Monterey.” A visiting faculty member in Monterey this spring, Olsen is helping Degfay coordinate the project with support from an “arts team” from her spring course on Intercultural Arts and Social Change.

The project includes performances and events on the Institute’s downtown Monterey campus stretching from February 26 through May 4, spotlighting artists working on the fields of music, dance, writing, film, sculpture, and more. Hadero’s concert is part of Focus on Africa Week with multiple events. For additional information and the full series schedule, visit the Intercultural Arts and Leadership Spring Series website.

Student Tangut Degfay ’18 (right) is coordinating the Institute’s first Intercultural Arts and Leadership Spring series with support from Middlebury College Professor of Dance Andrea Olsen (left) and an “arts team” from her spring course on Intercultural Arts and Social Change.

Spotlight on Cameron McKinney

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This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post: The Best Dance Performances of 2017; Critical Round-Up
By Juan Michael Porter II, Contributor, Arts & Culture Writer

NICOLE TINTLE
Cameron McKinney and students at The Ailey School as part of the New Directions Choreogaphy Lab

November 2017. Cameron McKinney at The Ailey School.

Sylvia Waters, Charmaine Warren, Christine Dakin, Sarita Allen, Melanie Person, Lakey Evans-Peña, and David Parsons were all in the room to witness Cameron McKinney’s first showing of his work for Robert Battle’s New Directions Choreography Lab. Breaking away from his usual style – “Japanese culture through a hip-hop lens” – McKinney unveiled a party of concert house dancers celebrating across the globe from the favelas of Rio to the Boulevard Saint-Germain. It was radical, joyful, unpredictable, and- technically not something I should be writing about since this was a private showing. But it was also one of the best performances of 2017 so I’ll say it: Somebody somewhere should commission McKinney to codify and set this piece on their company.

CAMERON MCKINNEY, Middlebury College ’14 AND HIS COMPANY KIZUNA DANCE WILL BE IN RESIDENCE AT MIIS MARCH 6-10!
Bring your students or consider hosting an event!

  • Tuesday, March 6 Performance of full repertory at the Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove 7-8:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce.
  • Thursday, March 8: Dances born from Revolution: How Japanese Butoh Ideologies Can Influence Streetdance, lecture-demonstration. 7-8:30 p.m. Irvine Auditorium, 499 Pierce Street, Monterey.
  • Friday, March 9: Movement workshop. 11 a.m – 12:15 p.m. at Carmel Barre, 465 Pacific Street ($12 fee for non-Institute participants)
  • Saturday, March 10: Berkeley performance and Middlebury alumni events, 8:00 p.m. Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, 2704 Alcatraz Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705. Tickets: $15/$12. Limited seating: reserve here: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/14336

STAY TUNED!
Learn more about Cameron’s work here