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Isaac Henderson
Issue date: 9/29/06 Section: Campus News
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This year's President's Gala, dubbed "A Celebration, 75 Years of the Arts at ULM," highlights events and music from each decade of the university's past.
On Sept. 26, audience members filled the Emy Lou Biedenharn Recital Hall for an event which many believe has become one of the area's premier events.
"It's just another example that shows the quality of faculty and students at ULM," James Cofer, ULM president said. "This is a perfect example of what happens when the community and the university come together."
As a fundraiser that benefits the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the event provides scholarships for students majoring in the arts and provides supports students affected by the hurricanes last year.
"A lot of effort went into this," said Laura Wolf, a Bossier City theater sophomore. "It's a strong showing that the community has for the arts here, and we need that."
Wolf says she feels this year's Gala was one of the university's best. In addition, she is honored to help out.
"It was a blast," she said. "This was for the most part a faculty show, and to have them want students to be a part of it is pretty special."
Wolf is one of a variety of students and faculty who performed a variety of Broadway hits. They are part of the Divison of Music and the Division of Theater and Dance's newly-formed program for the opera and music theater progam.
One of the first numbers of the night featured "Puttin' on the Ritz," a popular song written and published by Irving Berlin in 1929. The song title is known to be derive from the slang expression "Putting on the Ritz" which meant to dress very fashionably.
Katherine Putnam, Oak Grove piano performance sophomore, was a part of this number. She said many of her numbers involved dancing and singing, which was challeging at the start.
"We are all a group of non-dancers," Putnam said, "and we were all made out dancers."
Putnam mentioned that she was referring to the role Robin Stephens, the new director of dance, played in the President's Gala.
Since August, Stephens has been a part of ULM after serving as a dance instructor and choreographer at Coastal Carolina University. In addition, she has performed on Broadway and was in the original cast of "42nd Street," a musical about the career of up-and coming chorus girl Peggy Sawyer, who hails from Pennsylvnia and arrives to New York seeking a Broadway career.
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