####Rites of Holi

On March 30 and 31, Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi was performed in the Red Theater. Award-winning American pianist Vijay Iyer led New York’s 15-piece International Contemporary Ensemble through a chamber suite, alongside a 35-minute film with footage from eight days and nights of Holi festivities in the town of Mathura, India. The three-piece “musical dialogue” included jazz, North Indian classical Hindustani and South Indian classical Carnatic music.

Rodrigo Luque, Class of 2020, commented on the connection between the film and the music.

"The music was going along with the video but in a not overly explicit way," said Luque. "Just enough to accompany and emphasize certain things and intensify certain emotions."

####Appreciation Day

On March 29 and 30 members of Student Interest Group ADvocacy hosted Appreciation Day, a two-day event held every semester to thank the university’s contract staff for the work they do all year-round. In addition to pizza and donuts being served, Studio XY also provided free treatments to the over 600 contract staff members who attended. There was also a photo booth with props for staff members to take pictures with their friends. Students and staff members celebrated and performed throughout the afternoon by singing and dancing.

Evangeline Louise Gerodias, class of 2020, wrote, “I personally think that Appreciation Day was a huge success because we were able to celebrate over 600 contract staff who attended the event.”

Gerodias, who was part of the planning team, wrote of future events that, “Appreciation Day is not just about a small group of students in the form of a committee coming together to show their appreciation to our contract staff. It is more effective when as much of the student body is involved as possible.”

####I AM Exhibition

March 28 marked the opening of the exhibition, I AM, in The Cube. The art show is organized by ADvocacy’s Labor Camp Initiative. The exhibit is comprised of art pieces created by women who live at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Labor Camp in Abu Dhabi. The exhibit will run until the end of this week.

Members of Advocacy engaged in a two-month development process with the women at the camp to create body maps, which are mixed media pieces of art depicting stories of the self. These body maps trace the individual’s outline on a large piece of paper, which is then filled with artistic interpretations of the person’s life. The aim of the exhibit is to show the nonverbal and verbal dimensions of the women’s personal stories.

“Among other meanings, art means self-expression to me. I believe I am is about expressing oneself and sharing those expressions with others. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the opening, and especially to the women at Mohammed Bin Zayed Labor Camp for welcoming us into their community every week,” said Sara Pan Algarra, Class of 2020, a member of the ADvocacy Labor Camp Initiative.