EDITOR’S NOTE: For preview coverage of the 50th Utah Arts Festival, which runs June 18-21, The Utah Review is presenting individual or group profiles of artists, performers, entertainers and some newcomers to the event. The curtain raiser highlights the history of the Festival which is marking its golden anniversary. BANDALOOP, among the most prominent pioneers of vertical dance, returns to UAF for the fourth time, having appeared in 2005. 2013 and 2018. Once again, the Oakland-based arts company will perform on the 240-foot-high curving glass façade of the City Library, as part of a June tour in four cities featuring a work with ecological roots that will resonate with collective concerns about the Great Salt Lake’s ecological crisis, as the dance artists perform FLOCK while integrating company repertoire pieces including Downstream and its new creation, life || lines, all with an original score featuring music by four composers. Salt Lake Acting Company will appear for the second time at the festival, offering a sample from its upcoming summer show, The Gaslight Zone. Make-and-take opportunities will be among the most extensive in history, with Make Salt Lake as well as Secondhand Salamander which is bringing back the classic Mad Hatter project, and, of course, the Kids’ Art Yard. Urban Arts is offering its largest live graffiti mural installation featuring eight artists in four Festival campus locations, while a row of several other artists will be demonstrating their creative process in real time. Holdman Studios, based in Lehi with an international portfolio of commissions to create stained glass in religious and civic buildings, including a recent update to the Utah State Capitol rotunda, is offering an unprecedented series of free workshops for participants to create their own stained glass artwork. The City Library auditorium will be the home to the 23rd edition of the international Fear No Film program, with 84 short films on a slate of 15 programs, the second largest in the event’s history. Of course, dance, who wears the empress jewels in performing arts, will be represented by Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Sock Opera Dance, and, of course, the ever-popular 1520 Arts, which will feature Trash Panda Drum Group and competitions featuring Sol Tribe as part of the Salt Open Styles Battle along with the Red Bull Dance Your Style battle and a collaboration with Utah Valley University’s ESPRIT in Rep Your Set Choreo Competition, with choreographers who specialize variously in hip hop, contemporary, salsa, reggaeton, afro, popping. Headliners this year include Digable Planets, well known among jazz musicians as well as hip hop artists (June 18); Yola, six-time Grammy-nominated artist, songwriter, and actor (June 19); Austin-based musician Alejandro Rose-Garcia, better known as Shakey Graves, who has been cited for creating new musical experiences tailored to each fan, ranging from Bandcamp-exclusive releases to hosting interactive scavenger hunts while on tour (June 20) and Rubblebucket, a band well known for its hybrid genre blend of psychedelia and electronic dance music (June 21). For tickets and more information, see the Utah Arts Festival website.
CROWDSOURCED COMEDY (JUNE 18, 7:30 p.m., JUNE 19, 6:30 p.m., The Round)
One explanation about why the art of improvisational comedy matters just as much for students, teachers and corporate professionals as it does for aspiring comedians comes from Nick Cutelli of North Texas Performing Arts. He explained, “By learning to trust our instincts and go with the flow we become more resilient and better equipped to navigate life’s challenges with grace and confidence. Improv also encourages us to think outside the box. It expands our creativity and especially our problem solving skills. It helps us to explore new ideas and perspectives, and to approach problems with the sense of playfulness, confidence and curiosity.”
At this year’s Festival, the team of Crowdsourced Comedy, a Utah comedy troupe which has been active for more than 11 years and is owned by Black women and members of the queer community, will be giving two demonstrations this weekend at The Round Stage.
In an interview with The Utah Review, Craig Sorensen said their enterprise has thrived because of their emphasis on contemporary, professional, family-friendly humor. In addition to private and public event entertainment, Crowdsourced Comedy offers team-building workshops and classes in beginning and advanced improv, stand-up comedy and how to overcome social anxiety. Their shows include monthly themed offerings along with showcases by students who have taken one or more of their classes.
For those who are skeptical or believe there is no way that they could imagine doing improv, Sorensen said the first thing they do is to make everyone feel comfortable in a space they can trust and feel safe. The art of improv emerges from a fundamental lesson that every artist and creative producer eventually confronts In their process. Do not fear the idea of failure because of the fear of being judged or ridicule that comes from a foreboding sense of never feeling perfect enough which only ends up holding us back from what we can actually achieve.
Sorensen said that they use the same approach in all of their programs, workshops and events. “If you don’t have joy and laughter behind it, it becomes really hard to get people to collaborate because what matters the most is we’re trying and making moments together as a community,” he explained.
Class numbers have risen substantially since the pandemic. Sorensen said they serve more than 300 students a year as well as produce weekly events. “Everyone who felt disconnected on an unprecedented level during that time has been craving for new ways to interact with people,” he added.
If you’re good at improv you’re gonna be good at life : )
Best,
Professor Nick Cutelli