Category: Arts & Culture

by Kat Schneider–

Students who belong to the Filipino American Student Association, or FASA, come together to put on a show that has been running longer than any of the current members have been alive.

“We have a story to tell – a story to tell about where we come from and a story that gives us great pride to be here on campus,” said AJ Campanilla, a senior BIT major who both directed and performed in this year’s Culture Show.

FASA and Virginia Tech alumna Kimberly Cenzon describes the annual event as a showcase of the Filipino culture through traditional dances, songs, a fashion show that incorporates traditional Filipino clothing and a script that encompasses a different theme each year. According to the event’s official Facebook page, “The 30th Annual Culture Show: Isang Kapamilya, Isang Pag-ibig: One Family, One Love” highlights the true meaning of friendship, family and love throughout the production. The theme is shown in different scenes interwoven with the performances to form a play.

Thirty years ago, the show came from humble beginnings. Cenzon explains that it started as a small showcase that included a couple of dances. The show was held in a much smaller room on campus rather than the Burruss Hall auditorium where it has been the past decade or so.

“Just looking back at the past shows, the whole Culture Show culture itself has changed to be more light-hearted and comedic than serious and simply showcasing the culture through dance,” said Campanilla. He believes that it is this change that has enabled the show to continue on for thirty years, something not many cultural groups can say they have done.

The growth of the performance mirrors the growth of the club itself. Just in the past four years, participation in Culture Show has increased from about 80 students to over 110 students. Members of FASA can be performers in the various acts or work behind the scenes on committees such as Costuming, Technical and Stage Design.

“I think Culture Show continues on the same way the Filipino culture does – it gets passed down and eventually becomes tradition,” said Campanilla.

According to its official website, FASA at Virginia Tech was founded in 1988 to develop relationships between Filipinos on campus with other students, faculty and staff through cultural, educational and social activities. While most of the members are Filipino, the club welcomes members from all races and backgrounds. The only requirement is a willingness to explore the Filipino culture and its people.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to the passion and love for the organization and for our culture that keeps the show continuing every year,” said Cenzon.

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Piled Up: It takes bolts of various fabrics to make and repair costumes for the show. Most costumes are reused from previous culture shows. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Fancy Footwork: The most challenging dance performed is the national dance of the Philippines: Tinikling. The dance involves participants jumping over and under bamboo sticks as well as in between as they are opened and closed to the beat. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Sing Out: FASA’s own acapella group performs at Culture Show, singing songs in both English and Tagalog. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Authentic Costumes: The freshmen in FASA are responsible for performing the traditional dance of the native Igorot people. Costumes are meant to be as accurate as possible while being inexpensive to make. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – All Hands On Deck: Because Culture Show is entirely student-run, many students work behind the scenes as well as perform on stage. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Modern Culture: The show also features modern dancing to demonstrate Filipino dancing of today. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Sketch It: People of all talents can participate in Culture Show. Artists draw the backdrops for the scenes. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 14 – Final Prep: AJ Campanilla teaches the curtain call dance at the final rehearsal, which lasted five hours. Photo: Kat Schneider

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 17 – Showtime!: FASA members perform the folk dance Pasikat na Baso with glasses for the final performance in Burruss Hall. Photo: Kat Schneider

Virginia Tech is a school that consists of a variety of cultures and there is never a better time to learn about other cultures than when you’re in college. One of the opportunities to do so is on Wednesday night at Sycamore Deli who also hosts a variety of events throughout the school year. Located in downtown Blacksburg, Sycamore Deli turns down the lights and turns up the music for Salsa Night.

Those that don’t know how to dance can come early and get lessons from a group called Salsa Tech. Sebastian Andrade, who helps lead Salsa Tech talked about the importance of being familiar with different cultures and what Salsa Tech.

“The main mission for Salsa Tech is to promote the Latin-American culture. We want to take it out there for people to have it,” he said. Andrade also noted the importance of sharing the history behind dancing and festive celebrations with those that may not be familiar with it.

The idea of bringing together different cultures has even been visible from Virginia Tech. In 2015 Virginia Tech announced a new commitment to increasing diversity and bringing in more student from different backgrounds.

This idea of creating awareness about different cultures goes hand-in-hand with the local businesses who need more business during the week. Shift manager Michelle Berry thinks Salsa Night has been a hit for the past few years.

“I’ve been working Salsa Night for three and half years now. You see people that come their first time and don’t know anything and now they’re on the stage dancing,” she said.

Salsa Night shows no sign of slowing down especially as the student population continues to grow. For Andrade, his love of salsa dancing is in his veins and comes from his family.

by Whitney Turner–

Native at Virginia Tech, the American Indian and Indigenous community organization on campus, hosted its first powwow April 1.

Students and community members gathered on the lawn of the Graduate Life Center to watch local tribes share their history and culture. The event featured Native American singing, dancing and drumming. As well as vendors selling Native arts and crafts, jewelry and other handmade items.

As an organization with only 21 members, Native’s powwow was significant in calling attention to their community and presence on campus.

The Collegiate Times recently reported that Virginia Tech’s incoming class of 2021 is historically diverse. Chrissy Shammas, Native at Virginia Tech member, hopes that an increase in diversity will strengthen the university’s sense of community.

“I know there are a lot of people who don’t come from as diverse backgrounds and I think it’s important to educate them on other people’s histories and other people’s cultures because that creates an environment of understanding and respect for each other,” said Shammas. “So I’m hoping with a more diverse student population we can have kind of more education.”

Native was recently gifted a room in Squires Student Center to serve as the American Indian and Indigenous Community Center on campus. With their own space, they are looking forward to growing as an organization and programming more cultural events.

“We’re definitely already thinking about the next powwow next spring,” said Shammas. “And we’ll hopefully be bringing more speakers and more tribal council meetings to the university.”

As Virginia Tech steadily expands, diversity and cultural understanding will only continue to grow.

by Caitlyn Murray–

Blacksburg, Va. — When people think of Virginia Tech, they often think of the engineering and business schools, as those are two elite programs within Tech’s academics. Very rarely, however, does the School of Performing Arts within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences come to mind.

Offering performance and technical focuses, the School of Performing Arts houses theatre, music, and cinema students. According to the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts website, around 250 students are majors within the school while approximately 200 students pursue minors. While cinema is not yet a major on its own, many students tack the classes on as a minor or are pursuing a theatre degree with an emphasis in cinema.

Contrary to popular belief, cinema studies exceeds well beyond simply watching and analyzing films. While scholarship is included in the curriculum, production and real-world application is the backbone of the program. Each semester, over 70 student films are produced. Cinema students are expected to produce at least two short films a year. “One film, per student, per semester,” said Charles Dye, assistant professor of cinema production. “ This is a huge challenge to pull off, but worth it.”

Currently, around 40 films are in production this semester. In Dye’s Fiction Cinema Production course, students are expected to not only write and produce an original screenplay; they’re also taxed to work crew on three other projects as a director, cinematographer, and editor. This ensures that students are given the opportunity to try their hand at every role behind the lens.

Students must cast and crew each production on their own. This proves to be a challenge as the School of Performing Arts only has a handful of actors within the program. More often than not, performance students are in numerous films at once. While this is typically the case, anyone is welcome, and in fact is encouraged, to participate in these student-run projects. Multiple audition nights take place each semester in order to cast the right people for these student films.

In order to bring these short films to the screen, cinema students have access to top-of-the-line cameras, audio equipment and editing software. Gear is distributed by a checkout system, though equipment is limited and requires some flexibility among students’ shooting schedules.

In some cases, these projects reach beyond Blacksburg. Last year, senior Woody Chapman’s film, “Fading Felt,” made its rounds among film festivals in the summer of 2016 and ended up being an official selection of the Richmond International Film Festival.

“[While] our program is very, very young, I think we’re going to see a lot of success from our grads in the future,” Dye said. “May we all become the filmmakers of our dreams.”

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 29 – The Consultation: Student Miles Gheesling discusses his film’s production concerns to cinema professor, Charles Dye. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 29 – The Planning Stage: Dye’s Fiction Cinema Production class allocates equipment and crew for each student film prior to going into production. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg,Va., Feb. 29 – Round Table: Once students have come up with an original story idea, they must write out a script and pitch it to the class. From there, students hear peer feedback in order to tweak any loose ends. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 23 – The Set-Up: Sophomore Madison Hummel checks sound and sets up a shot before filming for her movie, “Social Media(nxiety).” “Crafting stories through art is a wonderful tool to make audiences laugh or move them to make changes in our world,” Hummel said. Photo: Caitlyn Murray.

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 23 – An Actor’s Life: “Social Media(nxiety)” stars Micah Untiedt (left) and Cassianne Mavromatis (right) run lines while the crew prepares the scene. Due to small crews, there’s typically a lot of downtime for actors. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 23 – Action: Actors Untiedt (left), Danny Purcell (center), and Mavromatis (right) film a scene where the dreamy pizza delivery boy intrudes on a girl’s night. Each actor is in at least two other films this semester. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 23 – Cut: Hummel ends the scene and gives the actors direction as cinematographer, Alexis Medina (left), adjusts the shot. The cast and crew filmed from 7 p.m. until 3 A.M. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 23 – Do it for the Shot: Often times, student filmmakers, including Medina, must go to extreme lengths in order to capture the right shot and sound while filming. Photo: Caitlyn Murray

by Caroline Cleary–

Studying abroad at Virginia Tech is a privilege that many students take advantage of. With more than 70 different programs to choose from, students have the opportunity to gain a Virginia Tech education from all over the world. Whether students are looking to leave for a whole semester or just two weeks, Virginia Tech can offer them exactly what they want. Virginia Tech offers programs during all four seasons, the summer and winter months being week long programs.

Studying abroad offers an interesting perspective into a subject studied at school. Being exposed to a different culture opens students eyes to a new way of thinking. Students are forced to grow as individuals as well as scholars by understanding the differences between the logic, values and people where they live.

According to a CNN interview with Michelle Obama she views studying abroad as having real value. She stated, “Especially for U.S. students, it’s very hard to stay in your comfort zone when you’re living in another country. When you’re struggling with a language, new foods, learning directions, being forced to make friends and do things that you wouldn’t normally do, that’s going to set you up for a lifetime of value… It’s going to make you a better human being.”

One popular study abroad location for Virginia Tech students is Switzerland. Pamplin Business School, as well as Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies, offers programs in Riva San Vitale. Many students also choose to participate in one of Tech’s most popular programs where you receive an international marketing minor in Lugano, Switzerland.

Virginia Tech marketing major, Maggie Price studied in Lugano this past spring. “It was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had as a Virginia Tech Student. I learned so much about myself, traveled all throughout Europe and made lifelong friends. If you are considering studying abroad I would definitely go for it, best decision I’ve ever made.”

Many students choose to study in the spring so they can still cheer on the Hokies at Lane stadium. However, Price says missing football weekends won’t even cross students minds when they’re abroad. Milestones are missed but the experiences gained do not compare.

Applications for summer and fall programs are currently available. Check out the Global Education Office’s website or visit them in person at 526 Prices Fork Road to get more information. The Global Education Office also employs peer advisors to help curious students choose the right program for them.

Ryan Dovel, a senior who studied in Riva San Vitale during the fall of 2016 currently works as a peer advisor. “I love my job. My experience abroad was so amazing and it’s awesome to be able to guide other students who are interested in traveling as well.”