The Dartmouth 4/3/18

VOL. CLXXV NO.7

RAIN

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Brooks resigns as chair of the Committee on the Faculty

GOLDEN HOUR AT THE COLLEGE

HIGH 47 LOW 37

B y Abby Mihaly

The Dartmouth Staff

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

OPINION

ADELBERG: OUR DOMAIN PAGE 4

STANESCUBELLU: ETHICS OF DATA PAGE 4

ARTS

RAUNCHY “BLOCKERS” IS A FRESH TAKE ON VIRGINITY NARRATIVES PAGE 7

DUNCAN JONES’S “MUTE” IS CONVOLUTED, NEEDLESSLY REPUGNANT PAGE 7

DADA MASILO’S “GISELLE” IS NOT A “PRETTY BALLET” PAGE 8

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The sun sets after a long day at the College as students slowly settle in.

Thirty-five faculty hired last fall B y ruben gallardo The Dartmouth

Last fall, Dartmouth welcomed 35 new faculty members from a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

Some of the new professors include biology professor Magdalena Bezanilla, Geisel School of Medicine professor Diwakar Pattabiraman, sociology professor Katherine

Lin and English professor Nirvana Tanoukhi.

Dean of the faculty of arts and sciences Elizabeth Smith wrote in an email statement that the College is excited to welcome “these talented faculty, whose energy and diverse academic interests will inspire students and add to the intellectual vibrancy of the Dartmouth community.”

Ta n o u k h i ’s re s e a rch

focuses on the everyday life of literature. The teacherscholar model at Dartmouth incentivized her to accept a teaching position at the College because “teaching feeds [her] research,” she said.

Similarly, Lin said that the unique balance of the teacherscholar model interested her SEE FACULTY PAGE 5

New Hampshire House to debate bills on voting B y PETER CHARALAMBOUS The Dartmouth Staff

The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed House Bill 1264, which would modify the definitions of “resident” and “residence” and could potentially impact voting laws, on March 6.

Voting predominantly on party lines, Republican representatives spearheaded the 171-144 vote, while Democratic members railed against the bill, calling it a de facto “poll tax.” On March 12, HB 1264 was

Former chair of the Committee on the Faculty and government professor Stephen Brooks resigned from his position on the Committee on Feb. 8 in protest of recent actions

by College President Phil Hanlon, which Brooks said restrict his role as Chair and faculty governance at large.

In a memo to the Committee on Organization and Policy o n Ja n . 2 1 , B ro o k s expressed frustration with growing restrictions on faculty governance. He pointed to two recent actions by Hanlon that he said limit vital communication between faculty and upper-level College administrators.

According to the memo,

Hanlon prohibited any meetings between the Committee chair and executive vice president Rick Mills. Brooks also wrote that Hanlon strongly discouraged direct correspondence between Hanlon and the Committee, i n s te a d d i rec t i n g a ny communication with upper-level administration to the Dean of the Faculty.

“We cannot comment on a personnel matter,” College spokesperson Diana Lawrence wrote in an email statement.

The College website explains that the Committee has a “broad mandate to consider matters that affect the professional development and well-being of the faculty of the Arts and SEE BROOKS PAGE 3

A BAKER’S DOZEN FOR THE ROAD

introduced to the state Senate for debate.

HB 1264 attempts to redefine the terms “resident” and “residence” in New Hampshire law. Under current law, a resident is defined as having “demonstrated a current intent to designate [his or her] place of abode as his or her principal place of physical presence for the indefinite future to the exclusion of all others;” a residence is the principal place of physical presence. The new bill would SEE BILL PAGE 5

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Baker Lobby is many Dartmouth students’ second home.

PAGE 2

Program connects veteran experiences with Homer’s works

on the week’s assigned readings. He from Dartmouth” appealed to her. added that the veterans are also given “I had never been in a veterans’ the chance to compare the readings group before,” Ivatury said. “To have Classics professor Roberta Stewart’s with their own experiences. According an expert in the classics lead the group Homer-for-Veterans program, which to Franklin, the class helped create a seemed really worthwhile to me.” has veterans community for veterans to For the veterans book group at the read and feel a sense of belonging. Howe Library, veterans are typically “[The poems] discuss “ T h e c l a s s assigned two books to read from H o m e r , make you feel like started with everybody “The Iliad” or “The Odyssey” each r e c e n t l y you’re connected sitting back and waiting,” week. Through their analysis of the e x p a n d e d throughout Franklin said. “There epic poems, members of the group to the was a turning point after are able to find connections between human history.

University about a week when they themselves and Homer’s characters, of Vermont. There’s a comfort all realized that they had as well as within the class, according to I n 2 0 0 8 , in knowing that a lot in common with Eric Janisch, a veteran and a current S t e w a r t every generation each other, and suddenly program officer for co-curricular hosted a everybody was talking and programs for the Rockefeller Center. of young men and veteransopening up about their “We had a couple of Vietnam only reading women who have experiences.” veterans in addition to more recent g r o u p t o gone to war and David Carlson, veterans,” Janisch said. “It was e x a m i n e come back have all coordinator of student really enjoyable to hear about their Homer’s veteran services at the experiences and see how similar experienced the works in University of Vermont they were. It’s very rare to get to H a n ove r ’s same thing.” and for mer student have that kind of intergenerational H o w e veteran, helps facilitate the conversation.”

Library, with -CHAD RAIRIE, U.S. class. Carlson emphasized The book group affords veterans a the goal of MARINE CORPS that the class allows forum to evaluate Homer’s depiction providing veterans to know that of war and how it relates to their own VETERAN veterans “this is our burden, not just experiences without directly judging with a way any individual person’s.” themselves, Janisch said. to think and “We’re not “It’s hard to speak about their own experiences in always encouraged to judge yourself,” combat. share really emotional “When you are he said. “When Stewart said she thought of the and difficult things in able to look you are able to idea to share Homer’s work with our society,” Carlson at a character look at a character veterans after reading military blogs said. “I think that it’s objectively and objectively and while on sabbatical in Italy. As she important to recognize evaluate their evaluate their contemplated works such as Jonathan that when people go to situation, it gives Shay’s “Achilles in Vietnam” — a war then come home, situation, it gives you a reference to book that shows parallels between we have to be able to you a reference compare against the experiences of Greek heroes and listen to those stories to compare your own.” modern day soldiers — Stewart said and understand those According to against your she wanted to “actually sit down, open experiences.”

U. S . M a r i n e [Homer] and share that experience While the class is own.”

Corps veteran with a veteran.” currently available only and 2016 Howe She aimed to “take the experience to veterans, Franklin -ERIC JANISCH, Library reading of a liberal arts classroom and give it said he hopes to start group member PROGRAM OFFICER to the community,” she added. a class that will also C h a d R a i r i e, “The idea of the book groups is include individuals who AT THE ROCKEFELLER Homer’s poems that veterans can become authoritative have not served in the CENTER enable veterans to sources about world literature,” Stewart military. By including link themselves to said. “I think world literature gives us non-veterans in the soldiers from the words to cope with experiences.” course, more people can eighth century At the University of Vermont, understand the political B.C. Reading classics professor John Franklin began and emotional impact on the men and group members found solace in the teaching a course on “The Odyssey” women who have served, he said. idea that they are not alone in dealing this past fall. This term, he is teaching According to Rebecca Ivatury, with the aftermath of being in combat “The Iliad” instead. Franklin said a former trauma nurse in Iraq and or in a war zone, he added. that each week, the class starts with member of the 2017 book group at “[The poems] make you feel five to 10 minutes of lecturing before the Howe Library, the opportunity to like you’re connected throughout the veterans begin a group discussion “read a classic with a classics professor human history,” Rairie said. “There’s a comfort in knowing that every generation of young men and women who have gone to war and come back CORRECTIONS have all experienced the same thing.”

We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, Stewart said she wants to continue please email editor@thedartmouth.com expanding the program. Since the . origin of Homer-for-Veterans 10 Correction Appended (April 3, 2018): years ago, Stewart has traveled to A previous version of the March 28 article “The Invisible: Menstrual numerous locations to present the Taboos in the 21st Century” did not specify that Nanji’s comments about idea, with the program continuing Kenyan girls were in reference to a specific study and were not meant to gain public attention for its as a generalization of the entire country. This story has been updated to success among veterans, according reflect this correction. to Stewart.

B y Berit Svenson The Dartmouth Staff

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Q&A with anthropology professor Zaneta Thayer B y alice zhang The Dartmouth

Zaneta M. Thayer ’08 returned to Dartmouth in 2016 after eight years to teach as an assistant professor in Dartmouth’s anthropology department. After graduation, Thayer pursued a Ph.D. in biological anthropology as a presidential fellow at Northwestern University and worked as an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, Denver from 2014-2016. At Dartmouth, Thayer conducts research in biological anthropology. Her studies examine how early life and prenatal environmental experiences influence biology and health across one’s lifespan.

What drew you to anthropology?

ZT.: I actually applied to Dartmouth because I thought I wanted to study anthropology and go to New Zealand, and I knew the foreign study program went there. So I double majored in anthropology and biology, in part because I was interested in biological anthropology … and so I could have more classes on evolutionary theory and human physiology. That ended up being really beneficial. I did my undergraduate thesis on the adaptiveness of the human chin — something completely different than what I do my research on now.

Where were you before returning to Dartmouth, and what was the process like coming back?

ZT: When I came to Dartmouth, Hanover was the biggest town I had ever lived in; my [home] town didn’t even have stoplights.

When I went to Chicago [after college], it was a completely different experience. It was a fun place to be in my twenties, but it also made me appreciate Dartmouth a lot. Northwestern is a really great research institution, but as a graduate school, despite the fact that there was an amazing faculty, the undergraduates had no access to them. The undergraduates mostly had access to the graduate students, who then had access to the faculty. So it made me appreciate even more the fact that, as an undergraduate, I was able to work with a faculty member directly on my senior

thesis and write articles with him.

Can you tell me more about your research?

ZT: I’m a biological anthropologist. Within biological anthropology, I am a human biologist, so I’m really interested in trying to understand how the environment influences patterns of human biology and health. The environment could entail aspects of the ecological environment — how does living in a desert or a really high altitude impact your human biology? The environment also includes the social environment — how could experiences of poverty or discrimination influence patterns of biology and health? That’s basically where my focus has been. A lot of my research has focused on trying to understand how early life and prenatal environmental experiences influence biology and health across the life course.

I work in New Zealand still, basically working with a big birth cohort. A bunch of pregnant women were recruited, and now we’re following their kids as they grow and develop to try and understand how early environments influence their health. The other project I’m working on is about native health in the U.S. and trying to understand how experiences in early life and across the life course influence biology and health in adulthood.

What are some of the major differences between being a student and a faculty member?

ZT: One is just experiencing the region. When I was a student at Dartmouth, my life was basically on campus, and now my husband and I live in downtown Norwich, so I am only a mile and a half away. It only takes me an hour to walk to my office from home, but there are no undergraduates over there, aside from people who go on runs. One of my colleagues describes the bridge as kryptonite for undergraduates. It’s kind of funny to just be able to explore different spaces. I have a car so I can actually drive around and see more of the region ... I feel like I did a little bit of that in college, trying to go on hikes and things, but I’ve been able to really experience the region in a more SEE Q&A PAGE 3

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

many opportunities as I can to relieve stress effectively, which is often through exercise. That’s what I really try and squeeze in, even if I’m really stressed out with work.

COURTESY OF ZANETA THAYER

Zaneta Thayer returns to the college to teach in the anthropology department.

FROM Q&A PAGE 2

in-depth way.

Has Dartmouth changed from the time [during which] you were an undergraduate to now?

ZT: In terms of our department, we’ve had some big changes.

When I was an undergrad here, there was only one biological anthropologist, and now there are three of us. From a very selfish perspective of thinking that anthropology is the best thing ever, I think it’s pretty great. I like to think that it’s

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

great for our students because they get to experience biological anthropology from some very different perspectives.

What else do you enjoy doing around Dartmouth?

ZT: I like hiking, rock climbing and touring breweries. Vermont has lots of great beer, and I go to bar trivia with friends. I’m also on a volleyball league; I try and stay active. I think the interesting thing about being somebody who studies the effects of stress on health is that, ironically, it’s a lot of stress being a researcher in general, so I try and take as

What is an aspiration you have?

ZT: What I like about the research area I’ve come into is the fact that I’m able to straddle these personal, academic, esoteric interests in things like evolution biology with an interest in public health and reducing health disparities. In my research, I’m interested in trying to understand how stress influences health, which is really important for health disparities, and I’m really interested in thinking about why evolution has shaped our stress response systems the way it has. So I think that a challenge I want to continue to work on in my career is doing research that’s interesting to academics but also has a real world relevance. As academics, we’re often accused, and rightfully so, of spending our time on projects that maybe don’t have a lot of applied relevance.

So trying to straddle those two things is something that I’m always trying to do, and hope to do better throughout my career.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Citing restrictions, Committee on Faculty chair resigns

to understand why [he] was taking this action, and so [he] sought to Sciences” and to advise the fully outline [his] concerns” in a President and other upper-level detailed memo. administrators on these matters.

In his memo, Brooks expressed Chair of the Committee on the hope that his resignation would Organization and allow for a “clean Po l i c y L i n d s ey “It’s no secret that slate,” if Hanlon’s Whaley, who is actions were communication also a classics directed at him as a n d l i n g u i s t i c s between an individual for p ro f e s s o r, his “contentious explained in an faculty and the negotiations” email statement administration has o v e r f a c u l t y that these compensation. not always been matters include “My hope is that c o m p e n s a t i o n , as effective and as this resignation service and would enable open as it could support for u s t o d eve l o p t e a c h i n g a n d be.” a mu c h m o r e research. o p e n , h e a l t hy H i s t o r y and productive p r o f e s s o r U d i -HISTORY PROFESSOR relationship Greenberg, who is UDI GREENBERG b e t w e e n serving as the chair faculty and the of the Committee administrators on the Faculty b e c a u s e t h at ’s for the spring everyone interest ter m, said the in the end,” Committee serves Greenberg said. as an advocate for Whaley, Lipson the faculty, connecting faculty and and Greenberg all agreed that the administration.

B ro o k s ’s d e d i c a t i o n t o t h e Former chair of the Committee committee will be missed. and chemistry professor Jane “Brooks invested an admirable Lipson also emphasized in an email amount of time on issues related statement the importance of “trust to faculty life and the [Committee and open communication” between on the Faculty] was very effective the chairs of faculty committees under his leadership,” Whaley and members of the upper- wrote in his email. “He embodies level administration. She wrote what being a tenured faculty that “a clear understanding of member means — someone who institutional resources, constraints, is invested in the College and acts and budget planning is essential” to promote its mission.” for the Committee chair.

Lipson called his “tireless” Greenberg said faculty members efforts “unprecedented,” writing have felt a disconnect with upper- that Brooks “worked imaginatively level governance in recent years. and tirelessly on behalf of his “ I t ’ s n o s e c r e t t h a t faculty colleagues on issues of communication between faculty great importance. … The Arts and and the administration has not Sciences faculty owe him a strong always been as effective and as vote of thanks and appreciation.” open as it could be,” he said.

In her email statement, Lipson H e a d d e d t h a t B r o o k s ’s specifically highlighted Brooks’s resignation was “a sign things work on faculty compensation, are not working as smoothly as one of his largest efforts as possible.” chair of the Committee. When However, Hanlon has expressed the College fell behind peer regret over Brooks’s resignation institutions with regard to faculty and emphasized his commitment salaries, Brooks advocated for to open communication between higher compensation, according all members of his administration, to Greenberg. according to Greenberg. This Greenberg said Hanlon has includes all members of the faculty, responded to Brooks’s resignation including the Committee on the and corresponding memo by Faculty, as well as Hanlon himself, meeting with several faculty he said. members serving on committees, In an email statement discussing including the Committee on the his resignation, Brooks wrote Faculty, and will meet with the that he “wanted the people entirety of the Committee later receiving [his] resignation letter this term.

FROM BROOKS PAGE 1

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STAFF COLUMNIST SOFIA STANESCU-BELLU ’20

STAFF COLUMNIST STEVEN ADELBERG ’21

Ethics of Data

Our Domain

Facebook’s recent scandals have irrevocably damaged users’ trust.

Data breaches are not a novelty. They’ve existed ever since humans first started recording data and are an inherent risk of storing information. However, the rise of the digital age has made data breaches much easier to execute. Theoretically, an individual on the opposite side of the world could infiltrate any company’s database, siphon the data of millions of people with some nifty lines of code and sell it, all through a few clicks. Since 2005, there have been over 8,000 data breaches made public, with over ten billion records breached. The recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal at first seems like it should be just another unfortunate statistic, but its implications are foreboding for the future of digital privacy.

One of the first lectures I attended in the first computer science class I took at the College exposed me to a notion that has resonated with me as I continue to pursue the computer science major. Perhaps the greatest asset of studying computer science at Dartmouth, a liberal arts institution, is the ability to not only write good code but also to understand the ethical implications of that code and be cognizant of its impact on the world. Mark Zuckerberg either did not consider or did not care about the ethical impact and implications of Facebook allowing user data to be readily accessible, and now that approach has come back to haunt him.

Specifically, the Cambridge Analytica scandal did not involve a “breach” of user data but was instead a gross abuse of personal data shared with third-party applications on Facebook. People willingly shared their information with an app that Cambridge Analytica created, but were manipulated into allowing said app to extract data from any unwitting friends of the user. There was no malicious hacker sitting behind a computer, gleefully executing scripts. In this case, the “hacker” was Alexander Nix: the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, an Eton College graduate, a former financial analyst and the mastermind who engineered the mass extraction of data.

Facebook deserves more than a slap on the wrist for this infraction — privacy, which

should be a basic human right, was forgone in favor of money derived from a revenue strategy that did not take users’ rights into account. How can people now trust that the information they share on Facebook is safe? People’s liked photos, the pages they follow, their entire friends lists — things people once thought were completely under their own control — were compromised and used against them to build psychological profiles, find weak spots and manipulate them. Facebook knew about the loophole that allowed Cambridge Analytica to obtain this information for two years and did nothing about it. No apology from Mark Zuckerberg can erase the negligence that led to this situation.

For me, this begs the question: what is happening to the data I have stored on other applications? Where is my Google Chrome browsing history going? Where are my Siri questions stored? Some might say that by using these websites and applications, people are renouncing control over personal data. It may be impossible to truly regulate what happens to personal data and how it is analyzed or used. It should be accepted that there may very well be breaches where privacy is compromised. But why should this be the norm? As technology advances and data becomes more accessible for both good and malicious intentions, data also becomes easier to protect. With greater transparency and restrictions on who obtains access to sensitive user information on behalf of the companies users entrust it to, users could be comfortable sharing details about their lives and using these applications.

If the U.S. had something similar to Europe’s soon-to-be-implemented General Data Protection and Regulation law, which gives consumers greater inghits into and control over how their data is used, maybe Facebook would have been more stringent and diligent in policing the flow of data on their website. But looking at counterfactuals is pointless. There is no going back from this scandal. Trust has been broken and the shape of the web will be irrevocably altered.

Whether that is for the better or for worse remains to be seen.

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ISSUE

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

LAYOUT: Abby Mihaly

SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth

College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

Eminent domain should be banned before abuse skyrockets.

Homeownership is an essential pillar of agenda of infrastructure and border walls the American Dream. Epitomizing security, is implemented. In Texas alone, nearly stability and success, the American home 5,000 private properties lie along the path is a safe haven and anchor for many in a of the proposed border wall. Some experts volatile world. It certainly was for Dr. Eloisa estimate that only 20 percent of landowners Tamez, a Lipan Apache who treasured her would accept the terms and compensation 250-year-old ancestral home near the Texas- put forth by the government. These parcels Mexican border. In 2008, the Department of property are not blank rectangles on a of Homeland Security decided that the land map: these are homes, family farms –– the was in the way of border wall construction building blocks of Texan communities. and initiated a messy seven-year legal These potential future abuses of eminent process against Tamez to expropriate her domain stem from a $21 billion border ancestral land. She fought in the courts, project — just imagine the flood of abuses but alas, Homeland Security successfully that would spring from a $1.5 trillion nationalized her property in 2013. In infrastructure package with private-sector 2011, Texas farm manager Julia Crawford buy-in. As a developer, Trump repeatedly suffered the same ordeal at the hands attempted to use eminent domain against of TransCanada, Inc. After she rejected homeowners to further his business interests. several offers from the oil company, as her After the controversial 2005 Supreme Court family had done for generations, the multi- case Kelo v. City of New London expanded national corporation took her to court. She eminent domain to the promotion of private crowdfunded her legal defense fund, raising development, Trump stood with the Court thousands of dollars in a wave of popular and supported eminent domain as a force support. Regardless, the courts seized the for good. President Trump already paved ranch and handed it to TransCanada in the way for more eminent domain by service of their Keystone XL Pipeline. This greenlighting the Keystone XL Pipeline is not justice — this is theft. This ruinous — what is to stop him from using eminent practice of legalized theft is as invasive as domain to help other big corporations turn it is on the rise. This is eminent domain. stolen American homes into more lucrative Eminent domain is an archaic institution company projects? that has no place in a modern society based Congress is. There is the potential on property rights. Derived from dominium for a broad, latent, bipartisan coalition eminens — Latin for ‘supreme lordship’ — in Congress aligned against eminent the idea was first promoted in 1625 by Dutch domain. This conjectural coalition is jurist Hugo Grotius composed of antito justify the power Trump Democrats who “This erosion of the of the feudal state to want to block Trump’s seize the property of property rights that proposed border wall, subjects for the public are foundational to our “Middle America” interest. Eminent Congressmen who domain spread far globalized system is must answer to and wide as a seemingly bad economics, worse their land-owning natural extension of constituents, Freedom the supreme lordship social contract theory Caucus Republicans of the feudal state; and a fundamental who champion lords held dominion failure to recognize that property rights and ove r wh e t h e r a n d progressives like Rep. how their lands could society has moved from Maxine Waters (Dbe inherited, gifted, feudalist stagnation to CA) who represent the bought or sold. Fastpoor and marginalized market-driven growth.” forward a few hundred Americans that years — feudalism is eminent domain hurts gone, but eminent domain is not. Democracy most. This coalition has already been and capitalism have swept the globe, mobilized once in 2012 to overturn the Kelo bringing the blessings of liberty and wealth decision via a bill that passed the House. to billions by trusting the original ownership The alliance of corporate and bureaucratic of property and political authority with interests is strong in the courts and the the people rather than the state. Eminent executive branch. Voters can demand that domain subverts this basic trust, dangerously their representatives restore the individual and fallaciously asserting that the ultimate liberties and democratic norms they are owner of property in a globalized economy sworn to defend. The people can push them can somehow be the nation-state. This into action once again to pass a sweeping erosion of the property rights that are ban of eminent domain, a prohibition foundational to our globalized system is against eminent domain for border wall bad economics, worse social contract theory construction or an amendment to Trump’s and a fundamental failure to recognize that coming infrastructure package preventing society has moved from feudalist stagnation any private project from using eminent to market-driven growth. domain. It is only a matter of time before This basic contradiction between the Trump administration creates thousands eminent domain and modern society will more Dr. Tamezes or countless more Julia only become more glaring if the Trump Crawfords. The time for justice is now.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

Various departments receive new faculty

COURTESY OF KATHERINE LIN AND MAGDALENA BEZANILLA

The College hired 35 new faculty in a variety of departments.

FROM FACULTY PAGE 1

because she wanted teaching to remain a significant part of her life.

“I think interacting with students is a lot of fun,” Lin said. “It gives me an edge. It keeps [me] a little fresh.”

For Bezanilla, the research interests of biology professors at the College influenced her decision to join the biology department. As a cell biologist, Bezanilla said her research looks at how the molecules inside a plant cell shape and divide it.

Before teaching her first course, Biology 12, “Cell Structure and Function,” this term, Bezanilla said she focused on setting up her lab when she arrived in the fall.

“I wanted to have more colleagues interested in cell biology,” Bezanilla said. “This place is fabulous for that and has made a lot of investment in that area. I think that was the main attraction for me.”

At Geisel, new professors commonly focus on setting up their research lab before moving onto teaching courses, according to Pattabiraman. He said his lab focuses on understanding the mechanisms of tumor progression and metastasis using breast cancer as a model. Although he has not taught any courses yet, he has had the opportunity to work with graduate students through his lab, Pattabiraman added.

“I really like for students [who] work with me to understand both sides of the story,” Pattabiraman said. “I think it’s really important to understand the science … but at the same time keeping in mind that the work we do is ultimately supposed to be used for the clinical application.”

Pattabiraman said he has received support from faculty members who are part of a mentorship committee; newer young faculty members are given the chance to pick their

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

own mentors from this established cohort.

In the sociology department, junior faculty have a writing group that meets once a week that allows them to discuss their research and give each other feedback on their papers, according to Lin. “We rotate who shares a piece,” she said. “It’s nice to have a deadline … [for which] you have to produce a two-pager on something.”

In addition to the financial resources provided by the College to help her relocate to Hanover, Lin said she took advantage of established social networks at the College to help ease her transition to the town. She used a Facebook group for people associated with the College to learn more about the housing market in the area, Lin said.

Bezanilla added that she received help from her colleagues during her transition in identifying resources for her kids.

“I found the department to be very welcoming,” Bezanilla said.

“I think that has been very helpful.

I feel like people help me navigate bureaucracy.”

Tanoukhi said she enjoys the ethnic and international diversity of the Dartmouth community, which aids her research on the motivation of people living in a globalized society to continue engaging with literary texts.

Pattabiraman said he looks forward to continuing his research, interacting with students on a more regular basis and eventually collaborating with other researchers.

Now that she is more settled down, Lin said she hopes to continue working on her research and is “looking forward to meeting more students.”

“Some of the most rewarding experiences that I’ve had here have been interactions with students,” she added.

Similarly, Bezanilla hopes to work with more undergraduate and graduate students in her lab, she said.

Two bills on voting to be debated FROM BILL PAGE 1

strike the phrase “for the indefinite future” from these definitions, which would affect out-of-state students, members of the military serving in New Hampshire, medical personnel, visiting professors and others who currently qualify to vote as individuals domiciled in New Hampshire.

HB 1264 is nearly the same law as HB 372, which the New Hampshire Senate passed in January. However, the Senate Election Law and Internal Affairs Committee added an amendment with a statement of purpose to that bill stating that voters must be New Hampshire residents. Following the addition of this statement, the bill encountered increased opposition and is facing legislative delays. Republican Rep. David Bates sponsored HB 372, but a group of four Republican representatives, not including Bates, have sponsored HB 1264, which does not contain a similar statement of purpose at the moment.

The two bills continue an ongoing debate in New Hampshire regarding non-permanent residents’ right to vote in the state. New Hampshire legislators passed SB 3 last June, complicating same-day voter registration for college students in New Hampshire. In September, the New Hampshire superior court upheld the law but blocked a portion of the law that levied fines against voters who could not provide proper documentation on election day.

Supporters of HB 1264 claim the bill corrects New Hampshire law to account for a court case, Newburger v. Peterson, which ruled that the standard created by the terminology “for the indefinite future” is unconstitutional. However, New Hampshire’s current voting standard already accounts for the Newburger decision by stating that individuals domiciled in New Hampshire have the right to vote in the state, said Gilles Bissonnette, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.

Bissonnette has testified in the New Hampshire Legislature against HB 1264, arguing that the law misunderstands current New Hampshire law and would effectively create a de facto “poll tax.”

Bissonnette claimed that the bills may impose financial constraints on voting. For example, in order to prove residency, students would have to either register a vehicle in New Hampshire — which can cost up to $100 — or obtain a New Hampshire driver’s license, which costs around $50. Under the proposed law, a person who fails to obtain proper registration or license documentation after voting would be committing a misdemeanor, Bissonnette said.

He noted that certain groups such as college students, professors, military members and hospital residents would be particularly impacted by the bills.

“Our chief concern is that those costs are really going to deter people from exercising their right to vote in the state where they live,” Bissonnette said. “Money shouldn’t be a determinative factor in deciding whether to exercise to vote where you live. That’s why we have restrictions against poll taxes in this country.”

Hanover town clerk Betsy McClain stated that she believes that with HB 1264, some people may be persuaded not to vote because of the inconvenience of registering a vehicle in the state or getting a New Hampshire driver’s license.

She noted that the inconvenience of traveling to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Newport as well as its business hours can deter students from registering.

During past elections during which similar restrictions were in place, McClain said she witnessed students deciding not to vote after entering a polling station and realizing the requirements.

McClain estimated that of the 11,000 active voters registered in the Town of Hanover, around 25 percent are registered with Hinman boxes.

In a swing state like New Hampshire, elections are often decided by a few thousand votes.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton’s popular-vote victory over President Donald Trump in New Hampshire was determined by 2,736 votes. Similarly, Governor Chris Sununu won his election by a margin of 15,451 votes and Senator Maggie Hassan won by 1,017 votes.

Deputy New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, whose office oversees elections, has supported the bill on the basis that it could help increase confidence in the electoral process.

“All voters are supposed to be equal under the law, and that’s all that [HB 1264 and HB 372] are attempting to do,” Scanlan said.

Citing a growing nationwide concern about voter fraud, similar definitions of residency enforced in neighboring states and a decreasing confidence in elections, Scanlan noted the importance of taking steps to address voting fraud concerns and strengthen electoral integrity.

While he noted that instances of voter fraud have been prosecuted in the past, Scanlon said that data on instances of voter fraud are still being collected and are expected to be released over the summer.

“What lies in the balance is confidence in our elections,” Scanlan said. “Confidence by itself does a lot to drive voter turnout. It is important to us that we get it right.”

While formal data on fraud in New Hampshire for the 2016 presidential election has not yet been released, McClain noted that she is unaware of any instance of voter fraud in Hanover. However, she said that there have been concerns that voters could theoretically be on two voter rolls in separate states under the current system. Voter registration in two states is legal as long as two votes are not cast in the same election.

“Being registered in two places doesn’t mean you cast two ballots,” McClain said. “In my opinion, there is a clean distinction between the two. One is abject voter fraud — you cannot vote twice — and the other, where you might register twice, is just sloppy housekeeping in terms of not removing yourself from where you were previously registered.”

Opponents of the bill also include Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

“From the New Hampshire State House to the Oval Office, we have seen repeated attempts

by Republican leaders to suppress the student vote in the Granite State,” Shaheen wrote in an email statement. “These attacks, rooted in baseless claims of voter fraud, threaten our democratic process in New Hampshire. The truth is, voter fraud is extremely rare. These politicians should respond to the concerns of young voters rather than try to purge them from the voter rolls. We should be working together to increase — not decrease — voter participation in our elections.”

Sununu expressed concern about the current iterations of the bills.

Sununu’s spokesperson Benjamin Vihstadt ’16 wrote in an email statement that Sununu “has serious concerns with both HB 372 and HB 1264 and does not support either bill in their current form.”

“The Governor’s position has not changed,” he wrote.

As the newest version of this debate continues in the state legislature, discussion of the bill is growing on Dartmouth’s campus.

On March 28, Jason Kander, the founder of Let America Vote and voting rights advocate spoke at Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, according to College Democrats president Jennifer West ’20. “[Dartmouth College Democrats’] stance is that any bill that makes it harder for New Hampshire college students to vote is a bad bill,” West said.

College Republicans president Abraham Herrera offered an opposing view of the bills.

“I think [the status quo] is unfair, actually, to [New Hampshire residents] because it crowds out their voice by allowing students to come here every four years and change the political landscape of what New Hampshire is,” Herrera said.

PAGE 6

DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

NEW LIFE, NEW BEGINNINGS

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

NEELUFAR RAJA ’21

8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Discussion: “Breakfast with the Arts,” with the studio art department, Nearburg Gallery, Black Family Visual Arts Center

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Lunch: Mittagstisch German Lunch Table, with German speakers, Class of 1953 Commons

4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Showcase of Classics 10 or Religion 19, “Ancient Magic and Religion” student projects, Bartlett 201

TOMORROW

3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Panel: “Women in Engineering: Career Perspectives,” with the Thayer School of Engineering, Spanos Auditorium, Cummings Hall

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Culture, Understanding & Survival,” presented by Montgomery Fellow Yo-Yo Ma, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts

5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Panel: “Improving Healthcare Quality while Preventing Ethical Conflicts,” with The Dartmouth Institute, Oopik Auditorium, Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center

ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents.

The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Duncan Jones’s “Mute” is convoluted, needlessly repugnant

By SEBASTIAN WURZRAINER The Dartmouth Staff

There is a scene in the middle of Duncan Jones’ newest film “Mute” that is so ugly, so needlessly perverse and repugnant, that I couldn’t help but wonder if it was some sort of endurance test for the audience. I wouldn’t have been shocked if the film’s end credits had been replaced by a video-game-like graphic reading, “Congratulations! You managed to watch this dumpster fire without puking! You win a prize!”

Amidst my efforts not to lose that prize, I spent a substantial amount of time wondering: How much misery should spectators put up with while watching a film? To be clear, I’m not referring to the amount of onscreen misery we can bear to observe before our mirror neurons make it impossible to watch further. Rather, I was curious how distasteful a film can be before any justification is rendered irrelevant. At moments like these, I tend to think of “A Clockwork Orange,” which I suspect most sentient beings with a pulse would concur is brutally unpleasant to watch. Yet many, myself included, also agree that the film’s meditation on criminal rehabilitation both

justifies and necessitates this sordid quality. Of course, the end doesn’t always justify the means for every viewer, but the majority of filmgoers probably appreciate that some amount of discomfort on their part is permissible when the subject matter calls for it.

The point I’m trying to make is this: I have full confidence that Jones thinks that the subject matter of “Mute” (currently available on Netflix) justifies its ugly heart.

After all, this story is a longtime passion project of his, a visual and thematic ode to both the sci-fi masterpiece “Blade Runner” and Jones’s own father, the legendary David Bowie. The problem is that one must be able to comprehend a story before one can pass judgment on the necessity of its more extreme proclivities. Sadly, Jones has managed to completely lose sight of this story over the course of years in development hell.

Alexander Skarsgård plays Leo, a mute bartender in 2035 Berlin — which, as already been alluded to, looks shockingly like the 2019 Los Angeles depicted in “Blade Runner.” Leo happens to be dating Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh), a character who edges dangerously deep into manic pixie dream girl territory largely because Leo is,

by contrast, such a wet rag. She eventually disappears, and Leo takes it upon himself to find her, putting him at odds with Paul Rudd’s foul-mouthed, spitfire surgeon, Cactus Bill, and Duck (Justin Theroux), Bill’s pedophilic partner. You read that correctly … pedophilia. I’ll get back to that in a second.

Suffice to say, the plot instantly manages to become a convoluted mess. Screenwriting textbooks encourage writers to start plot threads at the right moment within the film’s internal chronology. You don’t want to force the audience to trudge through needless backstory, but you also don’t want them to feel like they’ve arrived late to the party. The script for “Mute” consistently makes both mistakes, resulting in a film that drags even as you’re trying to get caught up.

By the time you finally learn what happened to Naadirah, the film has so thoroughly jumped the shark that you’ve actually forgotten this story was initially about finding her.

When I finished watching “Mute,” I read a plot synopsis to figure out if the reason I didn’t know what was going on was: A) It makes no sense, B) I’m an idiot, C) The film’s structure is secretly brilliant or D) I absolutely did not care. I have come

to the conclusion that the answer is A, although D is equally true in its own way.

None of this is much helped by the acting. Everyone on screen is trying their hardest, but they look as lost as Naadirah. Oddly enough, Rudd is the only performer in the film who manages to transcend the chaos around him — surprising given that Skarsgård and Theroux were both headliners on HBO dramas, while Rudd’s current claim to fame is starring as Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Yet Cactus Bill is undeniably the most compelling character, a broken man whose sole desire is to return to America with his daughter.

The film does have one other praiseworthy aspect — a single shot that managed to make a distinct positive impression. A gangster in a bar threatens Leo by pointing out that he has a group of intimidating henchmen. Said henchmen slowly turn their heads toward the camera, the lower half of their faces smeared with black paint full of potential symbolic meaning. It’s a genuinely creative couple of seconds that ever so briefly speaks volumes about the complex, multifaceted future society that Jones developed over

the course of years while trying to get this project off the ground.

Yet the plot is a shambles in no small part because it’s constantly trying to drag itself out of a mire of detours and minutiae.

And this is ultimately why Duck’s pedophilia is both so unnerving and so emblematic of the film’s fatal flaw. Perhaps there is a legitimately compelling film about Duck where his horrific tendencies are appropriately explored à la “A Clockwork Orange.” Moreover, I wouldn’t be shocked if that hypothetical film actually exists in Jones’s head alongside countless others set in the universe of “Mute.” But as it is, the film is so overstuffed that everything ultimately feels like window dressing. As a result, Duck’s pedophilia isn’t framed as the repulsive vice it should be but rather as a character quirk that ultimately has very little bearing on the plot.

At the end of the day, the film is visual soup, a cacophony of creative ideas constantly competing with each other, drowning any semblance of a plot. A good filmmaker has become lost in a labyrinth of his own imagination, hiding the true creative spark of his vision.

Raunchy “Blockers” is a fresh take on teenage virginity narratives

By JORDAN MCDONALD The Dartmouth Staff

“Pitch Perfect” screenwriter Kay Cannon made a splash at the South by Southwest Film Festival when she became the first female director to premiere an R-rated comedy with her film “Blockers.”

With the teen comedy — Cannon’s directorial debut — hitting theaters Friday, the Hopkins Center for the Arts hosted an advance screening of the film over the weekend, giving Dartmouth the opportunity to view the teen drama a week before it hits theaters. “Blockers” strikes a balance between social commentary, raunchiness and dry humor, managing to get laughs out of diverse audience while posing some important questions about gender, sex, youth and family.

“Blockers” follows childhood best friends Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), Sam (Gideon Adlon) and their overprotective parents on the night of their senior prom. Embracing the cliché of prom night romance, the group of girls commit to a sex pact in which they all agree to lose their virginity on the night of the dance. But when Julie’s mother Lisa (Leslie Mann) uncovers their plans, she teams up with the fathers

of her daughters’ friends to stop their daughters, sex and dating is the teenage trio. discouraged and heavily regulated.

The trailers for “Blockers” The father who threatens his made me initially apprehensive daughter’s date with a shotgun has to see the film. Although dubbed become something of a caricature a “feminist take” on teenage of American fatherhood. Kayla’s sexuality in film, the trailers father (John Cena) plays the recalled many of the tropes that role of the overprotective father have troubled representations of in “Blockers” when he throws teenage girls on screen. Playing up her date through a wall in her the hysteria and hotel room. angst of parents T h a n k f u l l y, concerned with “‘Blockers’ his actions “ p r o t e c t i n g ” reveals the comic do not go their daughter’s unchecked, irrationality of v i r g i n i t y, t h e as Kayla p r e - r e l e a s e double standards, rightfully clips seemed to allowing its reminds her re i n s c r i b e t h e father that she m i s o g y n i s t i c characters to see the can make her o b s e s s i o n error of their ways own choices with female and protect on their own terms.” sexual virtue herself. Where a n d c h a s t i t y. t e e n a g e Thankfully, the boys are film does not engage with these concerned, it is rare that their ideas uncritically — instead, on-screen guardians attempt to “Blockers” reveals the comic control their sexual or romantic irrationality of double standards, lives — unless, of course, the boys allowing its characters to see the in question are not heterosexual. error of their ways on their own Re f r e s h i n g l y, “ B l o c k e r s ” terms. challenges these paradigms by In on-screen treatments of teen offering alternatives for the ways sex, the fathers of teenage girls are that parents can relate to their typically cartoonish guard dogs children, especially where fathers of their daughters’ sexuality. For and their daughters are concerned.

In “Blockers,” the often sexist and homophobic underpinnings of our cultural interest in virginity unfold over the course of the plot. For Sam, a closeted lesbian, the desire to join her friends in the virginity pact reveals the heteronormative expectations set out for her.

There is little room for her samesex attractions to be validated in a virginity narrative that traditionally follows heterosexual partners. Desperate to retain the bonds of her friendship, Sam vows to have sex with a guy. Bound for college in a few months, she wants to lose her virginity to her high school sweetheart while senior year is still in swing. The distinct personalities of the trio help to ground the story as their prom night turns into an unimaginable mess.

Convinced that Julie’s romantic life will only meet disastrous ends, Lisa determines to prevent her from ruining her life. By virtue of being a woman, in Lisa’s eyes, her daughter can only by used or abandoned in a sexual relationship.

But Kayla’s mother Marcie (Sarayu Blue) will have none of this. Calling Lisa out for her double standard, Marcie emphasizes the importance of raising their daughters in opposition to the world’s misogyny.

Over the course of the night, as the perspectives of each character are offered and everyone’s respective plans are foiled, it becomes clear that “Blockers” is less a teen movie than a film about how we relate to the young people in our lives.

With crude humor and nudity, the actions of adults become comic fodder for the film’s story.

Whether they are overprotective, over-sharers or simply absent from their children’s lives, the parents in “Blockers” are the true subjects of the film’s interest. The movie indulges in the genre’s obligatory scenes of adults in teenage settings, unable to blend in. In over their head and too prideful to quit, the adults in the film find themselves wholly embarrassed by their actions by the end of the night. Sure, the children stumble too, but they ultimately make the right decisions without parental interference.

“Blockers” is an exploration of what it means for parents to let go, apologize, fail, support and love their kids, using humor to articulate the difficult and overwhelming work of guiding another person into adulthood.

In the end, “Blockers” asserts that the kids are all right, but we could all do better by them.

PAGE 8

TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Dada Masilo’s “Giselle” is not a “pretty ballet ”

By ISABELLE BLANK The Dartmouth

Shortly after the curtains opened, South African instrumentals and the voices of Dada Masilo’s dancers overtook the first notes of Adolphe Adam’s original composition for “Giselle.” The dancers were splayed and widely stanced in silhouette against a gray-green William Kentridge illustration of South African marshland. This was not “Giselle” as we know it, but a new, lively and vibrating work.

Masilo’s interpretation of “Giselle,” which first premiered in May 2017 at Dansenshus, Oslo, is part of the South African choreographer and dancer’s galvanizing series of reinterpreted classic ballets. The Hopkins Center for the Arts presented the production’s U.S. premiere over the weekend.

Dancing the titular role, Masilo fuses African and classical dance styles in her barefoot ballet.

The story of Giselle revolves around a young peasant girl who falls in love with a man and dies of heartbreak after she discovers he is engaged to another woman. In the traditional ballet, ghostly women called Wilis, who dance men to death, summon Giselle from her grave. The Wilis lure Giselle’s lover, Albrecht, into their death dance one night, but Giselle saves him. Masilo says in the

playbill that she wants her Wilis to be terrifying and vicious. Out for revenge, her Wilis demand the blood of those who wronged them. Masilo’s Giselle does not save her lover, but instead triumphantly condemns him after one last kiss.

“Giselle,” as it is classically performed, is a ballet whose aesthetics center around whiteness. Giselle traditionally wears a blue and white frock, and the Wilis appear in the second act in gauzy white leotards and long tulle tutus with delicate white wings at their shoulder blades.

The traditional women of “Giselle” are pure and demure, ethereal wisps destroyed by stronger men.

Masilo’s Giselle, danced by Masilo herself, is strong, nuanced, sexy and bald. In the first act, Giselle wears not her traditional blue and white, but rather a beige corset and skirt over a white blouse which comes unclasped to reveal her bare chest. In the second-to-last scene of Act I, Giselle is forcibly stripped of her clothing by her community. Traditional ballet stories are inscribed with narrative violence against women, and Masilo highlights this fact. Early in the ballet, Giselle is whipped by her mother in a traditional South African ritual to “sweep away girls’ breasts at the age of puberty,” Masilo explained in a question and answer session following the performance. The nudity is not

COURTESY OF THE HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The Queen of the Wilis, danced by Llewllyn Mnguni, condemns Albrecht to death.

a shock technique, but a means to convey the three-dimensionality of Giselle’s character and lay bare the sometimes thin line between cultural tradition and abuse.

In the traditional ballet, the white ballerina yanks at her tightly plaited bun to illustrate Giselle’s descent into madness. Masilo, who acts as both choreographer and titular dancer, has no hair on which to pull. Instead of pantomiming stereotyped “feminine hysteria,” Masilo’s movements offer a visceral window into Giselle’s heartbreak.

Giselle’s nudity successfully provides the audience direct access to the character’s raw emotion. She dies after a series of jolting movements, huddled in naked silhouette on the stage floor.

Subverting the gender binary that is so prevalent in classical ballet, Masilo’s red-clad Wilis are played by both men and women. Masilo’s Myrtha, the queen of the Wilis, is a sangoma — a traditional South African healer — danced by a man in a blood-red bustled tutu. Casting both men and women as Wilis, Masilo said, was a statement that men can also experience heartbreak.

Masilo’s Wilis are androgynous agents of rightful revenge.

Giselle’s two suitors, Albrecht and Hilarion, are not given chauvinistic swords, but instead engage in body to body combat through mesmerizing weight-sharing choreography. In

contrast, the Wilis are equipped with whips which they use against the scorned men. They utter battle cries while aligned like soldiers in formation, rather than performing as passive ballerinas following the dictates of traditional choreography.

In her ballet, Masilo literally gives her dancers voice. The performers screech, yell and speak to each other coherently and incoherently. The choice to use voice in addition to movement brings Masilo’s ensemble dancers out of the background, creating an active on-stage community missing in many traditional ballets.

It’s part of an intentional effort by Masilo to widen the production’s spotlight beyond the title character.

Her supporting characters are not narrative props but emotive men and women with individuality who audibly joke and fight with one another.

Just a few notes of Adolphe Adam’s score make their way into the first act.

It’s in the second act, which weaves the original music with traditional African instrumentals, that Masilo’s choice to use a composer pays off.

South African sound artist Philip Miller overlays a hypnotic drumbeat and rattle over the original music to the Wilis’ dance. Only at the moment during which Giselle kisses the prince a final time do Adam’s original notes swell louder than the drumbeat.

Masilo’s choreography is strongest in

the second act, where her powerful choreographic language is fully unified with the score.

The most powerful narrative moment in “Giselle” occurs when Masilo departs from the classic ending.

After the bows, one audience member exclaimed, “Finally, something with a good ending — screw forgiving.”

Instead of saving Albrecht, Giselle leaves him sprawled dead on the stage floor. She waits for the other Wilis to exit in their victorious procession until she is left alone with her man.

Approaching Albrecht with her hands raised above her head, she plants her foot on his chest, steps over her ex-lover like a bug and walks triumphantly offstage. No prince-saving damsel is she.

Masilo’s “Giselle” is political, historic and a stunning work of simultaneous criticism and physical commentary on the original work. The interpretation manages to question and modernize classical ballet while remaining fun to watch. Masilo’s characters step out of the black-andwhite realm of ballet characters and into the emotional gray area of real, nuanced people. The choreography is infused with raw emotion, a unique blend of dance and theatrical styles and both Western and South African cultural traditions. Masilo’s “Giselle” is humorous, tragic and complex. It is not, as Masilo quips, a pretty ballet.

COURTESY OF THE HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Giselle, performed by choreographer Dada Masilo (center), dances with her friends in the opening act of the ballet.