-
Greetings from Hollywood
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts ’06 takes us on a tour of his favorite LA hotspots The first thing you notice about Jordan Vogt-Roberts ’06 is the beard. Dark and full and hanging down his chest, it’s the beard of a well-groomed castaway or a member of ZZ Top. Vogt-Roberts calls it his “playoff beard,” its first…
-
Speaking English: The Amazing Artiste of WWE
Sometimes life is a stage. Sometimes it’s a WWE wrestling ring. Sporting a waxed moustache and an overcoat thrown over wrestling tights, Aiden English struts his lean and muscular frame down a runway alongside his tag team partner Simon Gotch, a strongman throwback you might find pressing barbells at a carnival. The arena music erupts…
-
Nairobi Beat
“I’ve never been in a place with so much innovation and creativity and determination,” says Creative Arts Therapies master’s student Sarah Moore about her thesis work in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. “People are incredibly inventive. The sense of community, the rhythm, and vibrancy of life is so strong.” Moore’s thesis work focused on…
-
Achieving Balance
Creative Arts Therapies alumnae use the body-mind connection to teach and heal. “You know how when you dance in your living room, you feel good?” asks Julie Brannen MA ’13, CERT ’13. “We start there.” That’s the five-second “elevator speech” she gives when she talks about her work. Brannen is a dance/ movement therapist, teacher,…
-
Practical Magic
From the pottery wheel to the dinner table, Jessica Egan’s ’12 ceramics fuse beauty and function. IN CHICAGO’S LOGAN SQUARE neighborhood, Jessica Egan ’12 can be found throwing on a pottery wheel behind a north-facing window, which (on a good day) floods the room with natural light. Behind her, three hanging shelves display neatly stacked…
-
A New Narrative: Artists Exploring Blackness
Three Columbia College Chicago alumni discuss how they explore contemporary black life through their visual art. There is no one true definition of blackness in America today. As the country continues to diversify and change at a rapid pace, so too does our understanding of what it means to be black. Artists in particular continue…
-
Shea Coulee, Slay Queen
Chicago drag queen Shea Coulee ’11 sashays onto RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine. SHEA COULEE ’11 enters the RuPaul’s Drag Race work room in bedazzled sunglasses, a feathered coat, and turquoise platform heels. She turns to the camera with a sneer and delivers a promise for the season: “I didn’t come to play, I came…
-
Eduardo Vilaro, Dance Director
Ballet Hispanico Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro MA ’99 combines Latino tradition with contemporary choreography. IN EDUARDO VILARO’S MA ’99 Danzón, the Ballet Hispanico dancers’ long lines and pointed toes demonstrate flawless balletic technique; their expressive, crisp movements are a hallmark of modern dance. But their salsa-esque stylings borrowed from danzón, Cuba’s national dance, epitomize Vilaro’s…
-
Questions for President Kwang-Wu Kim
DEMO: You’ve identified Columbia College Chicago’s alumni giving rate as a priority for the school. Can you share your thoughts on why alumni should support their alma mater? PRESIDENT KIM: It has a lot to do with alumni perceptions of the value and meaning of the education that they received here. What Columbia provides is…
