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Page 16 Spelman Spotlight
AUC Dance Students
Move In Graceful Fun
By Carolyn Robinson
Feature Reporter
The Dance Department of
Spelmen College presented
“Choreo - Case”, a lecture and
dance demosntration by the
various dance classes, Friday,
December 4, at Read Hall.
Ms. Zyznar and Ms. White,
physical education instructors,
put together the program to
illustrate what the classes have
learned throughout the
semester and to introduce the
elements of dance. Ms. White’s
students from her Ballet III and
IV class began the demonstration
with a basic warmup routine
using the ballet bars, then they
did movement exercises across
the floor. Although the session
was just for warm-up, the
dancers were very serious and
concentrated on every move
ment. Ms. Zyznar explains, "A
professional or a serious student
in training begins everyday with
a technique class. He can choose
from a wide variety of dance
forms — Ballet, Modern, Jazz,
Tap, and Ethnic. Class is a time to
learn, to make mistakes, to
correct them and to continue
dancing.”
Ms. White's Jazz class
delivered a lively and upbeat
performance. The movementsof
the dancers were very relaxed
and sensual. Following the Jazz
class, Modern I Intermediate’s
brought the pace down to a
more moderate level. Ms. Zyz
nar, who instructed this group,
placed a lot of stress on move
ment combinations. The
beginners started out with the
basic elements of dance. They
performed the first element of
dance, which is space and the
second element, which is time.
The dancers showed the
relationship of time in different
speed levels, such as regular, fast,
and slow - motion. Daphne
Goodson, a student in the
Modern I Beginner’s class, feels
the class is more than just a dance
class. She states, "My class
challenges me intellectually and
has helped me gain confidence
and more coordination. Though
the music is hard to get into, I
strongly suggest others to get
into a dance class.”
Ms. Zyznar also lectured on
the ways in which a
choreographer works. She ex
plained the different influences
that may inspire a
choreographer to create a
dance: the people they see and
work with, day to day ex
periences, feelings, moods, ac
tually almost anything. Three
student choreographers gave
sneak previews of the dances
they are working on for the
spring concert. Valerie Johnson,
a sophomore Spelman student,
choreographed a jazzy dance to
Micheal Jackson’s, "Working
Day and Night. She was inspired
by an experience that she had as
a younger girl, when she and her
friends chased the little boys all
day. Melody Ruffins’ dance was
quite different from the others.
The Spelman senior
choreographer’s, intentions
were to show the different type
of people in the world, interac
ting, in everyday human ex
periences. The final
choreographer, a Morris Brown
College student, was inspired by
the kids he observed playing in
the streets on a hot summer day
in Harlem. Darryl Brown, a
sophomore from Miami, Florida,
chose to do his work to a very
alive tune, "Hot-Hot”, by Deb
bie Jacobs. He used a lot of
locomotion in his dance and
extremely sensual movements. A
student in Ms. Zyznar's ad
vanced Modern Dance class, Mr.
brown chose to set the dance at
such a fast, upbeat pace to reflect
on the strong vibrations he
received from the kids, and to
express the energy they possess
ed.
Mr. Zyznar, who originated
Spelman’s premier “Choreo -
Case” program, believes too
many people have the wrong
concept of dance. She hopes the
demonstrations and the lecture
will give students more
knowledge about this moving
form of art. She and her dancers
of the A.U.C. Dance Company
are looking forward to their
spring production next semester
and hopes “Choreo - Case” has
inspired the audience to attend
the program and see the finished
product of the hard dedicated
work, that takes place in the
classrooms and rehersals.
Saida A wad Musse:
Foreign Exchange Student
Spelman Exchange
Program Worthwhile
by Sebrina M. Bragdon
Because of its reputation of
academic excellence, Spelman
College attracts young women of
many diversified backgrounds,
cultures, and nationalities. In
addition to having students
representing almost every state
in the U.S., the college has
foreign exchange students from
the Caribbean Islands, the
hispanic nations, and Africa.
Saida Awad Musse is one of
Spelman’s foreign exchange
students. She is from Somalia, a
small country of East Africa about
the size of Texas, that is often
called the "Horn of Africa”
because of its position and shape
on the African continent.
Saida’s journey to Spelman
began when she chose to learn
to speak English so that she could
study abroad. She first came to
the United States in the summer
of 1980 and stayed with a
Somalian family in Washington,
D.C. After attending a small
college in Mississippi, she heard
about Spelman College and
decided to apply for enrollment.
Saida is currently enrolled as a
sophomore at Spelman majoring
in International Relations. She
plans to utilize her degree in this
field in obtaining a position as a
foreign service officer.
When asked why she chose
Spelman College to pursue her
educational and career objec
tives, she replied that her two
reasons for choosing Spelman
are “first, itisablackcollegeand
second, it is a women’s college.”
The fact that Spelman is situated
in a black, educational setting
also influenced her choice to
attend Spelman.
So far Saida says that Spelman
is all she expected it to be and
that she is very happy and
comfortable living on Spelman’s
campus.
She is also content living
within the A.U. Center, but she
quickly points out that there is a
great difference in the young
people of the Somalian society
and the Black - American society.
“The young people in Somalia
are much more conservative
than the young people here
because of the Muslum religion
that is practiced in Somalia,” she
replies.
Saida sees the students at
Spelman as being friendly but
also very competitive. She says,
“There is alot of competition
between girls - that is construc
tive.” She feels that Spelman
College allows young Black
women to compete in achieving
their goals without the bonds of
racial and sexual discrimination.
Although Saida is from a
different culture and of a
different nationality, she is a part
of the sisterhood at Spelman
College. In surveying her past
accomplishments and her future
aspirations, it is evident that
Saida Awad Musse has the
qualities of the ideal Spelman
Woman: she has a goal, a plan to
reach it, and the determination
to achieve it.
by Carla D. Johnson
Reporter
Dr. Howard Zinn, Chairman of
the Department of History and
Social Science, was the inspirator
behind the Spelman College
Exchange Program.
Dr. Zinn wanted the exchange
program to be implemented
between Spelman and in
stitutions in the north. The main
purpose of the exchange
program was to provide both the
Spelman student and the ex
change student from the par
ticipating institution with the
advantages of contacts and ex
periences which they could not
get at their home colleges. The
program was designed so that a
Spelman student selected for the
program would attend a
northern institution for one
semester or an entire year. In
return, students from par
ticipating institutions would
spend a semester or year at
Spelman. Bethel College, Illinois
Wesleyan, and North Central
colleges were the*first schools to
participate in the exchange
program when it began during
the 1960 - 1961 school year.
In 1981 the purpose,
qualifications and terms of the
exchange program are almost
the same as in 1960. Students
wishing to spend their junior
year on exchange must apply
during their sophomore year. All
Spelman candidates are inter
viewed by someone from the
Spelman administration and
faculty. No discrimination will be
made with regard to race or
color. Males, however, are en
couraged to exchange with
Morehouse College. All
Spelman students will be ex
pected to return to Spelman for
their senior year. Presently
Spelman has a formal exchange
program with the following
schools:
Mt. Holyoke College —
Massachusetts
Mills College — California
Crinell College — Iowa
Smith College — Massachusetts
Vassar College — New York
Wellesleyan College — Ohio
hange must be approved by the
chairman of the department in
which the student is majoring at
Spelman.
The exchange program is an
enriching and fulfilling portion
of the Spelman experience. All
sophomores who are interested
in the Exchange program are
invited to talk with last year’s
exchange students and Spelman
College administratorsaboutthe
exchange program.