Dance is a form of expression. Having the ability to not only tell a story, but create is a form of art. In a two-day performance presented on Dec. 7 and 8, Research in Choreography students were able to showcase their creativity through the movement of auditioned dancers.

Brendan Jones / equinox staff

Prior to the performance, all 17 choreographers came to the stage for some well-deserved recognition. According to choreography student and junior Jordan Pierce, over the course of 12 weeks, student choreographers spent around 230 hours auditioning dancers, casting, teaching and observing fellow choreographers. The choreographers prided themselves on the fact that they were able to make use of all the dancers who auditioned.

Each dance showcased a style of contemporary motion. Through the students’ expressions and movement, the pieces conveyed messages from heartbreak to hope. First-year Emma Johnson commented on how the portrayal of emotions came across as an audience member. “You could definitely feel the dancers emotions,” she said, and continued to credit the choreographers for their work. “You could feel that the choreographers did a lot of hard work and put time and effort into a lot of them.”

Sophomore Alayna Massie, who performed in the showcase, explained what went into creating the intricate dances. “We’ve been rehearsing since September, three days a week.” Massie also expressed that she is no stranger to dance, having been a dancer for 12 years. Although she has declared her major in chemistry rather than dance, she has still found time to be involved with the KSC dance department.

While the Mabel Brown Room, located in the Lloyd P. Young Student Center, was filled with excited friends and family of the performers, some audience members were just interested in seeing what the dance department had been working on this semester. Johnson explained her reason for coming to see the showcase and said, “I came here just to get out of the dorm and see what was going on. It was something to do.” Although her intention for coming was just a way to get out for the night, Johnson expressed her eminent enjoyment of the show. “I thought it was really good. I think it’s awesome that they did this. I think it’s good they did a two-night thing, because I couldn’t come last night, but I think it’s good that they gave multiple options for a lot of people to come. I’m just very happy that they had a really good turnout, because it seems like all of these students put a lot of effort for it. I’m glad they had a good audience.”

While the choreographers and dancers received a great amount of recognition for the success of the performances, people often forget to give credit to those who help-out backstage. First-year Kiara Byron, who operated the light board on Thursday and Friday, explained the difficulties of working backstage. She said, “What’s most difficult about it is the stress when something goes wrong because you have to find a way to fix it in a very fast way. If you don’t do it fast, the audience catches on to the fact you did something wrong. It’s all about the audience. You’re trying to make the experience best for the audience.”

The 2017 Choreography Showcase was a successful two-day event for the dance department, filling the Mabel Brown Room both nights.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

It is hard to imagine the countless hours that go into making a music video. While the audience only sees a video that is a few minutes long, producers spend days, weeks, even months trying to make their idea a reality. For this reason, we should celebrate all of the hard work put in by these visual composers.

Alexanderia Saurman / Managing Executive Editor

On Thursday, Nov. 10, film producers and students alike gathered in the L.P. Young Student Center’s Mabel Brown Room to witness what some of the Keene State College film major students have been working on this semester. The night showcased 10 videos showing a diverse spectrum of creativity.

To promote the event, a band composed of KSC students, Afterimage, played outside the L.P. Young Student Center encouraging passersby to come to Music Video Night.

One of the band’s members, sophomore Casey Daron, who also co-hosted Music Video Night with Nick St. Amour of the band Gray Haven, explained why the event was specifically important to Afterimage.

“I’m a film major, and our band made a music video that we’re presenting tonight,” Daron said.

As well as the band, several other films majors’ works were presented during the event. From first-year student’s Production 1 pieces to veteran video creates, Music Video Night highlighted all different levels of video production. The event also showcased both well-known and local music.

Junior Rachel Blumberg, who created a video for local band Gray Haven, commented on what went into making her video. “It was preplanning and then I have a production company called Rachini Productions.” Blumberg continued to explain that while she had the help of her company, she also hired people to assist her through the film process. “I brought on some production assistants.” Blumberg also commented that she would be using parts of the video for a future project. “I’m making a documentary about music videos right now so that footage will be scene in that,” Blumberg said.

In addition to creating a video of Gray Haven’s song “ruokplz,” Blumberg is also the band’s manager as well as co-coordinator of Music Video Night, along with sophomore Alex Miller Thibault.

Blumberg stated that this was not her first time helping put together this event.

“I’ve coordinated it two semesters already so this is my third semester.” Blumberg then elaborated on what went into coordinating Music Video Night. “First you got to get the room. Then you got to get the date.” Blumberg continued to express the importance of advertisement  “All the advising, making the word out, chalking up Appian [Way], which we did today. It’s all about advertising.”

The advertising for the event helped bring in many students that did not have a video that was being showcased.

Film major and sophomore Sarah Nickerson, was not presenting a video but came to the event to support the work of others. “I’m part of KSMP [Keene State Media Production] so I’m just supporting the people that put in Music Videos tonight.”

The night concluded with Blumberg’s creation of Gray Haven’s music video leaving the audience members impressed by the talent they saw coming out of the event.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

Bold. Showing the willingness to take risks. Brave. Having the ability to show the world all your imperfections. Beautiful. Embracing those imperfections because that’s what makes you, you. Georgia Fletcher has been providing the reference of her nude body to artists for over 30 years now as a figure model.

Fletcher began her modeling career as a source of income. She was already modeling for a figure drawing workshop when Associate Professor Peter Roos took over running the program. After working together for awhile, Roos asked Fletcher to come model for his classes at Keene State College.

Jacob Paquin / Photo Editor

“I was the person teaching figure painting and drawing, so I took over the workshop, and she was a regular model for that. She’d been modeling for the workshop before I got here, but it wasn’t being run through the school,” Roos explained. “So we started working together, and she’s been a regular model for all these years.”

As she continued to model, more and more people began contacting her and asked her to pose for them.

“It’s kind of like when a plant spreads its seeds,” Fletcher said, describing how people reached out to her.

However, as time went on, Fletcher’s purpose for modeling began to shift.

“I started to really have a relationship with the artists. I started to understand how important it is for them that I’m willing to do this work,” Fletcher expressed.

One of the aspects that Fletcher said she values most in her line of work is the relationship between the artist and the model. Describing it as a “sacred and honest relationship” in a piece she wrote for the online personal photography project “Growing Up Girl” by Lori Pedrick, Fletcher is able to appreciate the work the artist is doing and vise versa.

“There became this symbiotic relationship between me and the artists, and I really deeply valued being part of art and being involved in it in this way. I will never stop modeling no matter where I go.”

One of the relationships Fletcher made was with Liz Gallacher when she asked Fletcher to model for her senior project last year. Originally, Gallacher planned on portraying Fletcher as a victim in her project on rape culture. However, after their first photoshoot, Gallacher took the project in a different direction.

“I decided to put her in a more positive light and use her as a powerful figure rather than her being beaten down,” Gallacher explained.

Fletcher expressed her amazement of the final product.“The work that was generated from our working together was these huge pieces that were just bold and brave and fearless and completely invited everyone to look at the beauty that is the variety of how we view our bodies.”

Throughout the entirety of her adult life, Fletcher has continued to model, no matter what shape her body has been in. She feels it is important to the growth of an artist to continue to present the human figure honestly.

“My body had changed a lot. I did this through a pregnancy, I did this through being really in shape and then to now,” Fletcher continued. “I valued being able to participate in art because I think it’s a fundamental way we communicate as human beings.”

So after the past 30 years of contributing her figure to benefit the work of artists, how does it feel to be a figure model?

With a smile, Fletcher explained, “There’s a boldness about it that I embrace.”

Erin can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

On Thursday, Sept. 28, theater lovers alike gathered in the Redfern Arts Center to watch the American premiere of Moonfish Theatre’s, “Star of The Sea.” The play follows three characters, Máire Ní Dhúáin, Lord Merridith and Pius Mulvey, over the course of 30 years.

Photo by Ivan Singer Photography

The story begins prior to the Irish Potato famine, and the audience is able to watch these characters grow from childhood and follow their stories as they head to New York on a Famine ship. “Star of The Sea” is told through a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, which are done through special effects.

One of the signature elements the Moonfish Theatre uses to captivate its audiences is bilingual theatre. Using a combination of Irish and English, the performers showcase how the famine impacted the Irish language in a way that it never quite recovered from.

First-year Kacie Palmacci was one of the many people who attended the show and explained her thoughts on it being in both Irish and English.

“I thought it was great because you didn’t have to actually pay attention to the words as much. You had to pay attention more to the feeling of what was going on,” Palmacci said.

Although a large majority of the show was in Irish, translations and objects were projected on a screen that was also part of the set. By doing this, the audience was still able to follow along with what was happening in times of confusion.

“I thought the Foley artists were super effective at portraying the story,” Palmacci stated.

Another student who had a similar positive response to the show was first-year Alyssa Taylor. “I liked the acting and the special effects. You can kind of tell what’s outside, what’s inside and what’s a flashback,” Taylor elaborated. “I don’t watch a lot of plays, but it was unlike any other play I’ve seen. I’ve never had to read subtitles for a play before, so I thought that was pretty cool.”

After the last scene came to a close, the cast was met with a standing ovation from the audience.

However the show is not where this story ends. Leading up to the performance on Thursday, the Redfern Arts Center had various events throughout the week giving information about the play.

In the Main Lobby, the Redfern Arts Center had an exhibit

called “An Gorta Mór: A Journey through the Great Hunger of Ireland and Star of the Sea,” that was on display through Friday, Sept. 28.

After the show, audience members had the option to stay after for a Question and Answer discussion with the cast of “Star of The Sea,” and on Sept. 29, a Tech Talk was held with the Moonfish Technical Team discussing some of the special effects that went into creating the show.

The group’s next stop is the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Oct. 3 and 4.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

When you are living in a country that was built on the idea of equality for all, it seems bizarre that we are still having a hard time figuring out what that means over 240 years later. Since America declared its independence back in 1776, there has been a continuous problem with ensuring that women get the same opportunities as men. One of the most vocalized issues in modern days is the gender pay gap.

One of the most widely-known statistic about the pay gap is that women are paid only 76 cents for every dollar a man makes according to Payscale’s most recent data. While the 24 cent difference doesn’t really seem like the end of the world, it can add up to a substantial amount of money that you are not earning just because of your gender.

According to Payscale, the reason for this substantial pay gap is due to what they are calling the “opportunity gap.” Their research claims that at the beginning of their career, men and women tend to work similar level jobs. However, men are more likely to move up the ranks more quickly than women.

Photo Illustration by Alexandria Saurman / Managing Executive Editor

In fact, by the age of 60, women are more than 15 percent more likely to be working on the same level they started at than men. People in higher positions are known to make more money than those beneath them. With that in mind, it is clear to see how the lack of equal opportunities for women is affecting the pay gap.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has been a known advocate for equal pay in Hollywood. In 2015 when Lawrence found out that she was paid significantly less than her male co-star in the movie American Hustle, she published an essay for Lenny Letter Newsletter titled, “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?”

More recently, BBC released an interview talking to Lawrence about her new movie “Mother!” During the interview, Lawrence was asked if she still believes Hollywood treats women unfairly.

“It think there is still a lot of unfairness. We are making changes, the gap is very slowly closing. But there is still work to be done,” Lawrence expressed.

And good news ladies, she isn’t wrong. The Census Bureau reported that women are slowly but surely closing up the pay gap, and saw the biggest income growth since 2007.

But that’s not all. Financier Steven Rattner reported that the female-male earnings ratio reached an all time high last year of 80.5 percent. which essentially means the average man earned $51,640 last year, while the average women earned $41,554.

However, this isn’t the case for all women. When the data is broken down by race, it shows that it is only White and Asian women that are thriving.

Annual wages for Hispanic women have shown no improvement, and African American women’s income has shown a decline according to the Census Bureau.

While the pay gap is closing, it is important that we keep pushing to insure that everyone, no matter what gender or race, is earning what they deserve.

We live in a country that is supposed function on the principle of equality, not just for some people, but for all.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

The city of Keene has decided to try and decrease its carbon footprint by installing 1,155 street lights with energy-efficient bulbs.

Streetlights all throughout the city currently contain high pressure sodium bulbs that are not as cost-effective or environmentally wise.

The project is being referred to as the LED Conversion Project and is expected to be complete around the end of October.

While having the more eco-friendly lights shine throughout Keene seems ideal, it comes with a hefty price tag.

SEAN KIZILTAN

The cost of the project is estimated to be around $261,982, which brings us to the question, “Is decreasing the city’s environmental impact really worth the cost?”

While the cost of installation is far from cheap, the money Keene will save in the long run is definitely worth the price.

The public works department released a statement claiming that the company Eversource has offered the town a $100,000 rebate to go towards the completion of the LED Conversion project.

With the money Keene will be saving on energy, the city will have enough to pay off the installation of the new bulbs within three years as stated by the Public Works Department.

Not only will Keene be able to pay off the bulbs being put in within three years, but there will also be long-term positive impacts on the city.

Looking over the course of the next 20 years, Keene will save more than $1.5 million on energy, as well as decrease its carbon emission by more than 3,000 tons, according to the Public Works Department.

It’s difficult to debate that there isn’t a benefit to helping the environment.

No matter what your opinion is on global warming, most people can agree that you shouldn’t litter or dump waste into bodies of water. If the installation of LED lights is not only helping the earth, but is also going to save the town a lot of money, why not switch to the more eco-friendly ones?

The new lights will also increase visibility and improve safety. LEDs shine brighter than the current high pressure sodium lights Keene uses, the Public Works Department stated in their statement released on their Facebook page.

With the switch, the town will be better lit, especially at night.

The benefits of these lights seem endless.

However, there are some downsides to the energy saving lights. LEDs give off “blue light,”which can affect sleep patterns, worsen night glare and can disorient certain species of animals.

Last year the American Medical Association (AMA) released a statement advising towns to use lower temperature LED lights (less than 3000K) and to make sure they are shielded from resistance.

Going by the set of guidelines released by the AMA will hopefully decrease the health effects of blue light given off by LEDs.

Keene has decided that the benefits of the lights outweigh the possible negative health impacts and installation has already begun.

It is without a doubt in my mind that these energy effective lights will have a significantly positive impact on the city, assuming Keene has taken the AMA recommendations to heart.

Installation of the lights began on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and you can track their progress by going on the City of Keene Public Work Department’s Facebook page.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

Keene State College students are gearing up for their November production of the 1971 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, Company.

KSC held its call back auditions on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and the cast list has been decided. Rehearsals for the show began on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

While many people gather in the auditorium on opening night, ready to enjoy an evening of live entertainment, it is important to remember and recognize the countless hours that the actors and crew have put into creating the performance.

Graphic by to Sean Kiziltan / Art Director

Even before the cast list is sent out, these talented individuals work relentlessly in trying to perfect their audition pieces.

When approaching an audition, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with the show, as senior Erin Conti pointed out.

“I make sure I know the show pretty much inside and out,” Conti said. “I listen to the music for the characters I think I might fit, and then kind of tailor how I’m going to audition towards that character.”

Conti is taking on the role of April in the production, making this her debut appearance on the Dance and Theater Department’s stage.

Going into the audition for Company, students were asked to put together a monologue and a song. Senior Matthew McGinnis, who will be playing Paul, explained the strategy he uses to prepare for an audition,

“I typically learn the song first because with the song, you have to learn the actual music,” McGinnis said. “Then, you have to think about the text and the meaning and how to have intention while singing it. Then, it kind of sets you up to be in the same mindset for when you work on the monologue.”

McGinnis is a new face in the official Dance and Theater Department-run shows, but is no stranger to acting. He has been involved in the student-run theater organization, as well as taken part in shows all throughout middle school and high school.

Although being on stage acting is what many theatrical people live for, the audition process can be nerve-wracking.

Veteran actress senior Bridgette Lord spoke of a theater class that was offered at KSC last year by Assistant Professor Kirstin Riegler, that helped students learn audition technique.

“We did mock auditions of different kinds, so for musicals and plays, so we got to prepare different materials for it, ” Lord said.

Students would then get feedback and critiques from Riegler, taking away some of the anxieties of an audition.

“Especially after taking that, it’s a lot easier to prepare for [an audition],” Lord said.

Despite putting in all of the hard work of learning the songs and practicing the monologues, an actor doesn’t always find themselves in the role they wanted to be in.

“You’ll feel discouraged, but it’s always exciting because you’ll see someone else, like a friend [in that role] and then you’re excited for your friend to do it,” Lord said.

And as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a small role.

“There’s a reason that the composers and the lyricists write you to be on stage. You’re there for a specific reason,” Lord elaborated.

Countless hours go into the making of a show. From learning lines to learning music, being involved in theater is a big-time commitment.

“General rehearsing could be every single night, going in for two or three hours, but when it’s tech, it’s a lot longer,” Lord explained.

But the rehearsing doesn’t stop there.

“You learn stuff on your own too that’s outside of the rehearsal, like we never stop rehearsing,” Lord said.

Lord will also being joining Company’s cast as Amy, Paul’s fiance.

Company will be showing at the Redfern Arts Center’s Main Theater Nov. 15-17.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com