Thursday, March23,2000
Page 9
Editor: Sarah Baker
(402)472-1756
African
dance
at Lied
By Josh Krauter
Staff writer
Lincoln audiences will have a rare
chance to see an authentic African
dance and music performance tonight
at the Lied Center, 301N. 12th St.
The Ballet d’Afrique Noire’s “The
Mandinka Epic” tells die story, in song
and dance, of the Mandinka people
and the Mali Empire of West Africa
from the 12th to 15th centuries.
The performance is based on oral
stories passed down through the gen
erations.
“The show is based on the history
of the people and the history of their
tribes,” said Charles Bethea, executive
director of the Lied Center for the
Performing Arts. “Like any folk tale or
folk idiom, it’s a blending of what
they’re doing now and what has hap
pened before.”
Those folk tales and idioms were a
big part of the Mandinka culture. The
Mandinka’s storytellers, called griots,
were famous for passing down the leg
ends and history of the Mali Empire,
the cultural and financial center of
12th-to 15th-century Africa.
One legend even has the Mali
Empire landing on American shores
several years before Columbus.
The ballet’s theme is the
Mandinka’s struggle for power and the
building of their civilization once they
had that power.
In addition to stories and history,
the music of the Mandinka was impor
tant to the culture. The Ballet acknowl
edges all of these cultural elements in
its 30-member troupe, which features
dancers, singers, musicians and tribal
instruments, including many types of
drums and a 21-string harp-lute. Jean
Pierre Leurs directs the performance.
All songs are sung in the
Mandinka people’s native language.
Much of the music and dancing are
traditional and are based on the histor
ical period featured.
Bethea said the performance will
be a visual and musical treat.
. . • ., e: Courtesy Photo
DANCERS FROM THE BALLET D’AFRIQUE NOIRE will perform tonight at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The performance Is a tribute to to an Important
period In African history that spans from the twelfth to to fifteenth centuries.
“It’s going to have a lot of energy, a
lot of culture and it will be a visual as
well as a musical experience,” he said.
Bethea said the stage show will be
lavish, but more so because of the per
formers than the stage setup.
“It’s mostly about the performers,
the costumes and the lighting,” he
said.
Bethea said the Lied Center hasn’t
had many authentic African produc
tions.
“The (Ballet’s) agent came to me
and said, ‘We have this really authen
tic, high quality, drumming, dancing
and singing group.’ I thought it would
be good to do, since we haven’t done
many African shows.”
^ Its going to have a lot of energy; a
lot of culture and it will be a visual as
well as a musical experience ”
Bethea said many truly authentic
African productions haven’t been
available to Western audiences, let
alone to Nebraska.
Though the performance is in
another language and deals with the
history of another culture, Bethea said
Lincoln audiences will have much to
, Charles Bethea
executive director of the Lied Center
appreciate and learn from the show.
“I think they’re going to be beauti
fully entertained and get a taste of*
(African) culture, a sense of what
another culture is like,” he said. “I
hope that if international music and
dance appeals to you, you’ll give it a
shot.”
j^Balfetd'Afrique Noire
~ "The Mandika Epic"
'■ WHERE: Lied Center for
the Performing Arts, 12 & R
streets
WHEN: tonight at 8
COST: $32, $28, $24, half
0 price for students
IJ ^ THE SKINNY: Music, dance
f and history of West Africa
iMmi come together in ballet.
“The Mandinka Epic” kicks off at
8 p.m. Pre-performance talks in the
Lied’s Steinhart Room begin 55 and
30 minutes before the show.
‘Mission to Mars’ grounded by weak plot
By Mike Callahan Jr.
StaffWriter
Some couples dance and some go to
Mars. Some just wasted twelve bucks.
The potential was there for
acclaimed director Brian De Palma’s
latest work, “Mission to Mars,” but
despite the foundation of a plethora of
Hollywood hot shots, the film never
quite gets off the ground.
Set in the very near future, 2020, a
NASA crew blasts off to make history
by touching down on the red planet.
The mission is led by astronaut
Luke Graham (Don Cheadle). He is
leading the mission only because his
best friend, Jim McConnell (Gary
Sinise), is still mourning and accepting
the death of his wife, Maggie, a fellow
astronaut (Kim Delaney).
Following a successful landing, a
phenomenal dust storm emerges,
wreaking havoc upon the crew. So
NASA is forced to schedule a recovery
mission.
In comes the recovery crew, includ
ing an ambitious Jim McConnell to be
put to the test, utility youngster Phil
(Jerry O’Connell), Woody Blake (Tim
Robbins) and his wife Terri (Connie
Nelson). These two love bunnies would
be the smoochiest couple in the history
of NASA, but realistically they never
would be put on the same mission.
Possibly the lamest of the lame
occurs when Jim is watching a tape of
his deceased wife on the way to Mars.
She’s at a party with a roomful of
astronauts hanging out together, and she
stands up as the party goes into com
plete silence and gives a disgustingly
philosophical and deep spiel about life.
Give me a break; nobody does that. In
real life she would have been drunk,
shooting eight-ball or dishing out
seductive looks to her husband.
Of course the recovery mission has
some life-threatening moments of its
own. De Palma loves suspense, but it
just doesn’t get you like his past work.
The cast is wonderful, but unfortu
nately you could have thrown Frank
Stallone into one of these roles, and it
wouldn’t have made any difference.
This was Robbins’ worst role since
“Cadillac Man.” O’Connell had the
only role that was the least bit appeal
ing.
Unfortunately, “Mars” screenwrit
•-Mission to Mars
STARS: Jerry O'Connell,
Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise,
Don Cheadle
DIRECTOR: Brian De Palma
RATING: PG (mild violence)
GRADE: D+
FIVE WORDS: Mission to
wasting your money.
ers Jim Thomas, John Thomas and
Graham Tost did a beautiful job of writ
ing the most generic and uneducated
sci-fi blah I’ve seen. Not much home
work was done.
The closest you get to any skilled
acting opportunity was a challenging
array of facial expressions through
those helmet visors. Just kidding.
Despite a lack of dialogue, sub
stance and acting opportunity, “Mars”
is visually stunning at times. From the
impressive dust storm to a lovely
sequence where Woody and Terri have
an intimate dance in zero gravity,
“Mars” tends to yank you back in just
when you’re about to write it off com
pletely.
Maybe Hollywood just is running
Courtesy Photo
DR. TERRI FISHER (center), played by actor Connie Nielsen, aims to fire a
life-line wire for a fellow crew member In the movie “Mission to Mars.”
out of ideas in the sci-fi genre, but I
think it all boils down to the script on
this one. In the film “Contact,” the
female lead works her entire life and the
entire film in order to make contact
with another life form, making it bitter
sweet in the end.
In “Mars” it’s almost too easy, mak
ing it anti-climatic" There’s another life
form, and the astronauts meet up with it.
Big deal - they gave that away in the
previews.
It’s a given that the film will make
truckloads of cash, but a rental of
“Contact,” or the granddaddy of them
all, “2001: A Space Odyssey” would be
much more fulfilling. Hell, just rent
“Space Balls” and go home happy.