Monday, September 29, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Play depicts pain of domestic violence
By Rachale Detweiler
rdetweiler@kansan.com
Kansas St Writer
When choreographer Donald Byrd says he leaves audience members thinking after a performance, believe him.
Byrd's New York-based dance troupe, The Group, portrayed a painful message of domestic violence Friday night at the Lied Center. About 200 people attended a performance of "The Beast," an hourlong piece produced and choreographed by Byrd.
His dancers shocked the audience with their sharp style and brutal jerking of limbs.
After each slap, punch and simulated spousal rape, dancers threw red paint against a white canvas hanging at the back of the stage.
The splattered paint was to remind the audience that domestic violence is a bloody business, Byrd said. After the fights, people clean off the bloody walls and pretend nothing happened.
"It made sense," said audience member Cristina Belts, a dancer from Mission who has worked with Byrd. "It's his work and the movements he shows. He has to shock — especially to reach this generation."
Byrd also used symbolism in choreography to represent abuse.
During one scene, a woman in white struggled with an apron. She wound it around her face, her throat and her body. She threw it down, only to walk back and slowly put it back around her waist.
Her husband walked behind
her, ignoring her overwhelm-
ing feelings of entrapment.
Later, the women hacked a banana to shreds with a knife she had hidden in her hair. Her abusive husband writhed in pain with each slash of the blade.
Audience members laughed at the scene.
"Laughter is the audience's way of dealing with an uncomfortable issue," said Elizabeth Baptiste, Women's Transitional Care Center coordinator who helped lead a post-performance discussion. "It was a nervous laughter."
Later, the woman used the same knife to kill her husband and end his constant battering.
Byrd said when the dancers performed in New York, some women cheered after the abuser was slain.
"That's horrifying," Byrd said. "But that's an impulse and an impulse to resist. People who make the decision to kill become what they hate the most. Even though she kills him, his brutality to her is always present."
When a woman killed her abuser,Byrd said, she often faced a longer jail sentence than a man would have faced after killing a woman he abused.
Baptiste said her center was filled with women whose lives reflected the violent portrayal of Byrd's work. For them, the violence is not art. It is life.
While performers took their final bow, people dressed in black silently walked on stage and mopped the red-splattered canvas, smearing and streaking the paint until it was gone.
Donald Byrd performs with a member of his dance troupe. The dancers performed "The Beast" at the Lied Center Driftvill. Contributed Art
Vegetarians encouraged to fortify bodies
ion."
College students often say they are vegetarians but do not learn how to get the nutrients they need, said Watkins Memorial Health Center staff members.
"I think a lot of students that are trying to eat vegetarian don't know what the meat substitutes are," said Ann Chapman, Watkins dietian. "If they get enough grains, fruits and vegetables, they might be OK. But I don't think they go at it in an educated fash
The food pyramid for vegetarians is similar to that of a meat-eater, Chapman said. The only difference is that daily meat servings need to be replaced by two servings of food with iron. Watkins has copies of the vegetarian food pyramid, which provides food supplement examples.
Iron, one nutrient commonly left out of vegetarian diets, can be supplemented by eating green leafy vegetables, fortified cereal and grain products, nuts, beans and even egg yolks.
By Sarah Chadwick
schodwick@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
If iron is left out, many health problems, including anemia, can arise.
"One big symptoms of anemia is fatigue," said Myra Strrother, Watkins physician. "Without iron, you'll get ill more often, have repeated upper-respiratory infections, have less shiny hair, and your skin will break out more. The ones that say they are vegetarian but are not working hard at it are the getting ill the most."
Vegetarians also often lack adequate calcium levels.
"If vegetarians do not consume dairy products, they would almost have to go to a calcium supplement to get the right amount of nutrients." Chapman said.
For example, one would have to consume 16 cups of cooked broccoli, 14 cups of pinto or red beans or five cups of tofu to equal nutrients found in dairy products on a daily basis.
Taking calcium supplements is fine, Chapman said, but she did not recommend people take iron supplements unless necessary.
"It's not a good idea to run right out and buy iron supplements if you decide to be a vegetarian," Chapma said. "You shouldn't take it unless you have had a blood test and were told you needed it."
Vietnamese club hopes to expand cultural diversity with literature
For information contact Chapman at 864-9570.
By Melissa Ngo Special to the Kansan
"The material will most likely be located at the Multicultural Resource Center," said KUUVA historian Phuong Dao, Garden City senior. "The whole process will probably take all of this semester. Hopefully the literature will be available beginning next semester."
"Since we live in a university environment, diversity is very important," said KUVSA president John Nguyen, Wichita senior. "We feel that the literature would be a good way of increasing awareness of the Vietnamese culture."
Presently the organization has old books and magazines donated by members.
Contemporary literature on Vietnamese culture written in Vietnamese and English soon may be available on campus.
Deborah Gerner, associate professor of political science, said that KUVSA's project would be good for the University.
The University of Kansas Vietnamese Student Association started raising funds this semester to buy new books and magazines written in Vietnamese. The University's East Asian Library has literature available in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean but none in Vietnamese.
"I think that it's wonderful that the Vietnamese Student Association is taking the initiative to share information about their country with the KU community," she said. "We all benefit from exposure to a wide variety of perspectives — whether political, economic or cultural."
KUVSA has planned other ways to increase awareness of the Vietnamese culture.
The club will celebrate Tet Trung Thu, a celebration of the full moon, Saturday in conjunction with Kansas State University's Vietnamese Student Association, Nguyen said.
Throughout the year, KUVSA and the KU Asian American Student Union will bring speakers to the University to discuss multicultural issues.
KUVSA in February will put on the annual Tet celebration, which will include the Dragon Dance, the distribution of Lucky Money and traditional Vietnamese cuisine, Dao said.
"Last year's Tet celebration was so successful that we ran out of food," Dao said.
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Date: Sunday, October 12, 1997 Time: 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. Place: Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
Sign-up at the Women's Center by October 8,1997 Registration Fee of $5.00 includes a special conference T-shirt
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