Traveling Show

WEvery summer for more than 50 years, thousands of performers from around the world have converged in Scotland for the prestigious Edinburgh Arts Festival. Musicians, actors, dancers, filmmakers, street performers, and other artists form a community of talent with the goal of performing before and learning from an international audience.

Most of the talent gracing the stages are professional performers. UNLV is among a handful of universities, including Oxford and the University of Southern California, that send groups to the festival.

“The festival allows our students to demonstrate their talent and skill in an international venue where the audience observes what is produced and gives little thought to: ‘It is good – for a university group,’” says Jeff Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts. “In Edinburgh you present against the very best in the world, professional and amateur.”

This is the fourth year in a row that students from the Fine Arts College performed in Edinburgh. For three weeks in August, UNLV offered Dancescapes III and Dance Back the Cat, an original work choreographed by professor Margot Mink Colbert.

Mink Colbert, who has performed in Edinburgh once before, says that her goals for the trip included having the students perform in front of an international audience and learn what it is like to be on stage every day for three weeks. “There is a lot of dedication and stamina required,” Mink Colbert says.

But it wasn’t all work for the students. They also saw some of the more than 2,000 performances staged during the festival.

“It was an exciting experience to see work from all over the world, with all types of performing arts,” Mink Colbert says. “The students were exposed to a range of content that they could never see (in Las Vegas), or even in a much larger city. There is much more variety at Edinburgh, especially in terms of experimental and innovative work.”

And Mink Colbert would know. A choreographer, dancer, and teacher, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe, enjoying a career that spans the professional, independent, and academic circuits. She has choreographed more than 60 original ballets in styles ranging from classical to post- modern and including theatrical, site-specific, and video dance works.

Mink Colbert was trained in Russian ballet as a child, attended New York’s performing arts high school, and earned a bachelor of science degree in ballet and modern dance performance from the Juilliard School of Music.

“I saw this as a great opportunity to get my work to a different audience, and to see other performers’ works,” she says. “It’s the experimental work at Edinburgh that really interests me. Much of it is about content, not production. A lot of the work is interesting intrinsically, but doesn’t have a lot of splash.

“In addition, when performing for such a diverse crowd, one can make a lot of valuable contacts.”

The festival also is excellent exposure for UNLV. Not traditionally known for its fine arts program, the college showcases its best and brightest in Edinburgh, according to Koep.

“Our students gain a great deal of experience, and, in turn, demonstrate a lot of what the UNLV fine arts programs have to offer,” he says. “They have done a fantastic job representing the university.”

Dance Back the Cat is a lighthearted romp through the classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, says Mink Colbert. “It’s best described as taking four professional ballet dancers, one choreographer, a composer, an actress, and the Alice book, mixing well and achieving a celebration of the imagination.”

Mink Colbert, who collaborated with Danish flutist and composer Yael Acher on the piece, says it “presents a fresh depiction of some Wonderland characters.”

Dancescapes III is a collaboration of the UNLV dance faculty, with each member choreographing a five- to 10-minute piece in ballet, modern, or jazz dance styles. The production, seamed together in a 60-minute kinetic journey, follows Dancescapes I and II, which were performed and enthusiastically received at previous festivals. Participating faculty include Louis Kavouras, Cathy Allen, Carole Rae, Lonny Gordon, and Victoria Dale, with music by Beth Mehocic.

The film department’s contribution includes a collection of award-winning digital shorts written, directed, and produced by UNLV film students.

Last year, the film department presented Medio Tiempo, a 45-minute film written and directed by Francisco Menendez, associate professor and chair of the department. The film went on to win a 2001 award in the Second Annual Latino Filmmaker Showcase short-film competition before airing on the cable network Showtime in September 2001.

“What makes Edinburgh so attractive for the film students is that they can see live performance of the highest caliber at a relatively low cost,” Menendez says. “These kids have seen hundreds of movies, but most have never seen any professional work on stage. Edinburgh changes that overnight. In one month, our film students take in dozens of memorable shows, and this immediately is reflected in the films they shoot the following year.”

“Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Edinburgh Film Festival, the longest running film festival in the world, also takes place in late August. After a few weeks on the fringe of the performing arts scene, the film students get 10 days to witness the year’s best films from every corner of the world. This is complemented by master seminars with film professionals like cinematographer Darius Kondjhi, composer Angelo Badalementi, director Guillermo del Toro, and actor Sean Penn.”

This year eight film students will start earning their audiences with film showings in Edinburgh. They will be led by professional director and UNLV assistant professor David Schmoeller. “The students are lucky to have David as their guide,” Menendez adds. “David is the director of nine feature-length films and a film festival veteran. They will benefit greatly from his knowledge and experience.”

In past years, the theatre and music departments have also made the trip to Edinburgh. Last year, the theatre department presented Closer Than Ever.

The music department has presented works by the university’s acclaimed jazz studies program, which placed first in this year’s Reno Jazz Festival.

The university’s participation in the festival, of course, requires funding. Transportation was made possible through National Airlines, which has supported the project for the past three years.

“Oftentimes, fine arts are overlooked by the corporate community,” says Dik Shimizu, director of corporate communications for National Airlines. “We saw this as an opportunity to help students experience a part of life they might otherwise not have the opportunity to experience.”