The Dartmouth - An Overview: Hidden gems of the Hopkins Center for the Arts

The Hopkins Center for the Arts offers opportunities ranging from student workshops to music, dance and theater programming

Julia Robitaille
September 7, 2021
Original Article

The arts at Dartmouth expand beyond the scope of a traditional high school curriculum. For those incoming members of the Class of 2025 and those in the Class of 2024 who may be experiencing their first in-person term in Hanover this fall, the Hopkins Center for the Arts — or as it’s colloquially known, “the Hop” — serves as the campus hub for all things arts-related, hosting a wide variety of performances over the course of a typical term and offering students of every skill level the chance to get involved in music, dance, theater and other artistic endeavors.

…

Live Performances: Film, Music, Theater & Dance 

Several dance and musical performances, varying from small chamber works to larger ensembles, are currently on the docket for this fall. On Oct. 30, Mali Obomsawin ’18 will be performing with the Coast Jazz Orchestra, a Hop-sponsored student ensemble, for a show titled ‘Sweet Tooth,’ which showcases themes of love, indigenous identity and the blood politics of colonized land. 

The Ragamala Dance Company, a mother-daughter-run Indian-American dance company, will perform “Fires of Varanasi” on Sept. 17-18. The show has been developed over the past few years while the artists were in residency, according to Hop curator of academic programming Samantha Lazar.

This fall, the Ragamala Dance Company will be paired with religion professor Sara Swenson in a Hop initiative titled Big Move. This program, which began last spring, matches choreographers from visiting dance companies with scholars and professors from a discipline that is seemingly unrelated to dance. Professor Swenson will work closely with the Dance Company throughout the term, blending the rituals of dance and religion together to demonstrate the intersection of the arts and humanities — a project which will culminate in a joint workshop and conversation, according to the Hop website.