friday, november 21. 2003
news
the university daily karl san 3A
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Dance Company opens season tonight
By Alex Hoffman
ahoffman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An artistic response to war and the emotions it creates will headline the University Dance Company's fall concert.
The dance company at the University of Kansas presents its concert at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow at the Lied Center.
The centerpiece of the program is Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli, a 35-minute work that the dance company will perform as a result of a grant from the National College Choreography Initiative. The University was one of 35 colleges in the nation to receive the grant.
Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly finished composing Missa Brevis in 1944 as the Russian Army closed in on Budapest in World War II.
Kodaly hid in a church basement as the Russians surrounded the Hungarian capital.
Kodaly's musical rendering of war touched José Limón, one of the most prominent figures of contemporary dance in the 20th century. He visited Poland in 1957 while it was being rebuilt from the war, and seeing the country inspired him to adapt choreography to Kodaly's musical score.
Beau Hancock, LaGrange, Texas, senior and one of 24 dancers performing in Missa Brevis, was he struck by Limón's ability to express a wide range of emotion in this work. The tragic sense of loss associated with the aftermath of war gradually turns into a message of hope by its conclusion.
"These people's lives were destroyed, yet they still went on," Hancock said. "To be able to capture that spirit is amazing."
Sarah Stackhouse, a former principal
dancer with Limón's company from 1958 to 1969, has come to the University to recreate the choreography of the original performance, which took place in April 1958.
"She's quite perceptive, and she knows the piece intrinsically," said Patrick Suzeau, associate professor of dance and soloist in Missa Brevis.
John Paul Johnson, director of choral activities, will conduct the University's Chamber Singers in a live performance of Kodaly's score for vocal soloists, chorus and organ that accompanies the dancers. It brings back memories for Johnson, a Kodaly expert who has taught in Warsaw, Poland, on four separate occasions.
He knows the area well that Limón visited and got to know some of the survivors. Johnson said he didn't want to leave during one of his more prolonged stops in Warsaw.
"When we're done with it and I put
that score away, it's going to be like saying goodbye to a good friend again," Johnson said.
Missa Brenis will fill the second half of the program. The first half begins with Whimsical Suite, choreographed by Jerel Hilding, associate professor of dance, with music from composer Dimitri Shostakovich.
The Suzeau-choreographed *Etude* follows. Powerhouse, a high-energy piece choreographed by dance professor Willie Lenoir, will be performed before intermission. The big band era provides the musical setting for this work.
Hancock dances in each of the four pieces, each of which presents its own technical and physical demands. But he said each piece was a valuable learning experience in its own way.
"It's worth every second," he said.
—Edited by Shane Mettlen
Ellie Goudie-Averill, Tepper school, danced to Missa Brevis in a rehearsal Wednesday night.
Brown recluse spiders prevalent on campus
By Robert Perkins
rperkins@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The odds are that brown recluse spiders are in the building you're sitting in right now.
Like the rest of Lawrence and the surrounding area, the campus is home to many of the poisonous spiders, according to Jamel Sandidge.
"The academic buildings are all infested, some more heavily than others," said Sandidge, a doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology who studies spiders and their behavior.
Sandidge said that buildings with animals such as Mallot Hall, Haworth Hall, Dyche Hall and Snow Hall were probably the worst. While he hadn't heard about any in the residence halls, he said he was sure he would find them if he looked.
Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations, said that while she knew there were some brown recluses on campus, they weren't swarming any buildings.
She said she had checked the sticky traps that have sat for the past three weeks in the in the basement of the University Relations building and there were only five spiders trapped in them.
Though the exact number of brown recluse spiders on campus is difficult to determine because of their elusive nature, students have noticed their presence.
Brad Weiss, Wamego senior,
said he has seen brown recluses at
the computer center where he
works, but that doesn't worry him
too much.
"I've lived in Kansas my whole life, and they're pretty common around here." he said.
This is part of the reason that
he has chosen to work with brown recluses for his dissertation. He is attempting to understand why recluses can live in houses in such large numbers, as well as why they would want to live in one area instead of another.
Recently, Sandidge published an article in Nature magazine based research he conducted that showed pesticides actually help brown recluse spiders to survive.
Previously, it was believed that to get rid of the spiders, infested buildings should be sprayed with insecticides or fumigated.
"Normally, when you are trying to kill the spider you kill the prey too," said Sam Kumar, Lawrence Pest Control
It was thought that even if these tactics did not kill the spiders, it would kill their prey and drive the spiders away.
Source: Dermatology Online Journal employee
Sandidge's research, conducted in 71 Kansas homes as well as in a laboratory, showed that brown recluses more often preferred dead prey to live prey.
So instead of making buildings uninhabitable to the spiders, exterminators were actually making the buildings more attractive to them.
Because of this, Ozark Integrated Pest Service, which handles pest control for the University of Kansas, uses sticky traps instead of pesticides against brown recluses.
— Edited by Jonathan Reeder
There can be up to 5 million spiders in a 10,000 square-meter area.
Here are some tips to protect you from getting a painful bite.
■ Keep your home well- vacuumed. Many spiders, brown recluses in particular, like to hide in corners or cracks.
Use sticky traps to catch any spiders you missed by vacuuming. Be sure to avoid the kind with gooey glue, which spiders can escape from, or traps that have a lip that the spiders have to climb over. The Recluse Community Project recommends Catchmaster brand traps.
■ When going through old boxes or rarely-used drawers, wear gloves.
If you are bitter and can positively identify the spider that bit you as a brown recluse, be sure to see a doctor for treatment.
Source: *Recluce Community Project*
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