Author: Liam Otten

Photo by David KilperRoberto Jaime Deseda (left), a student in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, chats with Leslie J. Laskey, professor emeritus of architecture, while two students relax in the “Laskey Landscape,” a large construction made of wood and metal located in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Dula Foundation Central Courtyard.

Provocative questions of activism, justified violence and making a difference lie at the heart of “underground,” an ambitious evening-length multimedia dance piece by acclaimed choreographer David Dorfman Sept. 25 and 26.

Courtesy ImageBeginning Friday, Sept. 18, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “Metabolic City,” an exhibition surveying work by 1960s avant-garde artists and architects.

Fairytales do come true — sort of. Just ask Sleeping Beauty, whose 900 years of enchanted rest finally come to an end in a modern-day sleep disorder clinic, far from the land of far far away. Welcome to Sleeping Beauty Wakes, an artfully twisted take on the classic children’s story, by theatrical power-pop trio GrooveLily. In October these acclaimed indie troubadours will return to St. Louis for a pair of performances as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS Series.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum presents “Chance Aesthetics,” a major loan exhibition investigating the use of chance as a key compositional principle in modern art. The exhibit opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 and remains on view through Jan. 4, 2010.

Fiction writer Lydia Millet will read from her work at 8 p.m. Sept. 17 in Duncker Hall, Room 201, Hurst Lounge to open the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences’ fall Reading Series. Millet is the author of six novels, beginning with the subversive coming-of-age tale “Omnivores,” which centers on a young woman whose megalomaniac […]

On Sept. 12, the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will explore the role of ethnicity in contemporary dance with “Dancing Who I Am,” a panel discussion and informal concert featuring faculty performers and leading critics and choreographers from around the country.

Fiction writer Lydia Millet will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, for Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences Millet is the author of six novels, beginning with the subversive coming-of-age tale Omnivores (1996), which centers on a young woman whose megalomaniac father turns their home into an armed camp after seceding from the United States. Her third novel, My Happy Life (2002), won the 2003 PEN-USA Award for Fiction. Her latest book is the forthcoming story collection Love in Infant Monkeys.

Gary NoelDavid Dorfman Dance”Does what you do make a difference?” “Is violence ever justified?” “When can activism become terrorism, or vice versa?” Such provocative questions lie at the heart of underground, an ambitious evening-length multimedia dance piece by acclaimed choreographer David Dorfman. On Sept. 25 and 26 Dorfman — a Washington University alumnus — will return to Edison Theatre with his company, David Dorfman Dance, to launch the 2009-10 OVATIONS Series.

Around the world dance is often quite literally the physical embodiment of cultural identity and practice. Yet for individual dancers, the power of such traditions can give rise to certain expectations and even stereotypes based on perceived identity. On Sept. 12 the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will explore the role of ethnicity in contemporary dance with “Dancing Who I Am,” a panel discussion and informal concert featuring faculty members as well as leading critics and choreographers from around the country. The event comes as part of the semester-long series “Ethnic Profiling: A Challenge to Democracy,” organized by the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values. Also as part of the series, the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies will screen Ancestor Eyes, an award-winning Native American short film, Sept. 13.