The Acts for Texas Revue 2009:
Acts audition in the spring and compete for a spot on Texas Revue. In the past, the show has included a variety of talents including dancing, music, and skits from individual performers, organizations, and student groups. From social to service, from cultural to professional, the diverse energy that brings students together shines on stage during Texas Revue. Below are the acts for 2009 in the order they will be performing:1. Longhorn Singers
The University of Texas Longhorn Singers is a popular mixed group both on campus and throughout the state, providing fast-moving entertainment in a wide variety of genres ranging from musicals to current pop. They are comprised of 33 members coming from almost every college on the UT campus. Tonight they will be performing two songs: the first from The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd entitled "Feeling Good." It has since been covered by popular artists such as Muse, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Michael Buble. They will then jump right into "Footloose" from the hit 1984 movie Footloose starring Kevin Bacon. So sit back, relax, and get ready to feel good!
2. Magown
Magown is a name that many will get to know well in the coming years. Magown began playing his classical guitar in 2002 but had slowly corrupted his classical music background into the more mainstream styles by the year 2004. After realizing that he had the ability to sing well, he began writing songs in May 2004. Complementing his voice with the full sound of the classical guitar, Magown has entrenched himself firmly between the genres of alternative and soft pop rock, leading him toward a genre which he likes to call "fusion." Hailing from Bellaire, Texas, Magown has been at the University of Texas for six semesters and plans to graduate with a doctorate in rock.
3. Mohini Dance Team
Mohini Dance Team is an all girl dance group that strives to preserve Bollywood (the film industry of India) classics and choreography while adding a contemporary spin. They are a group of 12 girls dedicated to helping preserve their cultural traditions, but at the same time trying to add a modern twist. Their act involves a compilation of song and dance pieces throughout American and Indian music history beginning in the 50s and finishing in the present. Some of the pieces are distinctly American and Indian, while others are a fusion of the two unique styles.
4. Au Travers
One warm Sunday afternoon, a man and his accordion caught sight of a woman and her violin across a crowded room of strings, wood and brass. The two instruments were drawn together, performing amidst blades of grass, empty auditoriums and sub-temperature dormitory rooms. The union of strings and keys is a new venture on the part of Clara Brill and Tamir Kalifa seeking to blend traditional orchestral and eastern music with contemporary sounds and technology. The group is a side project of the twelve-piece orchestra, Mother Falcon, of which Brill and Kalifa are members.
5. Mezcla Dance Company
Mezcla Dance Company is a competitive dance team that dedicates no less than 6 hours every week to perfecting and improving style and technique in Salsa dancing. Mezcla is possible as a result of everyone's intense passion for Salsa. Mezcla in Spanish means "mix." The name was derived from the idea that everyone in the group comes from a different background and is heading towards different careers and futures. Every member of Mezcla Dance Co. abides by two principles: To have fun so that dancing may stay with them for the rest of their life and to be competitive so that they may achieve goals that they never thought possible. There are four couples this year: Mayela Calderon and Rudy Lopez, Inez Escandon and Jonathan Fuhrman, Alina Belousova and Rudy Gonzales, Kim Harrington and Andre Esteva. This is Mezcla's third time competing in Texas Revue and they can't wait to show off their new moves. They will be performing to La Malanga by Eddie Palmieri, which is a high powered song with fast rhythms and many instruments filled with musical cues that inspire a variety of styling and tricks. They look forward to audiences of all ages because Salsa appeals to a variety of people and makes everyone want to get up and dance!
6. Undergraduate Business Council
The Undergraduate Business Council, in partnership with the Student Engineering Council, proudly presents their Texas Revue Musical for 2009...West Campus Story! As in the beloved American musical West Side Story, West Campus Story is about the journey of two people that fall for one another despite intense animosity between their factions. Instead of a feud between the Sharks and the Jets in New York City, this musical's conflict lies between students from the McCombs School of Business and the Cockrell School of Engineering. In this fictional world, that contains its own "Resolution 8" which prohibits inner-school dating, the students manage to find peace, friendship, and - most importantly - love. Please, sit back and enjoy as some of the University's finest accountants, bankers, entrepreneurs and engineers dance and sing their way into your heart.
7. Texas Raas
The Garba Raas Team at The University of Texas at Austin started in 2004 when a group of students discovered a growing desire among South Asian students to form an organized Indian dance team. Raas depicts a traditional Indian folk dance, "Garba/Raas," from the state of Gujarat. During the festival of Navratri, people all over the world come together to celebrate by dancing garba/raas in bright, colorful outfits. Over the years, Texas Raas has grown into a nationally competitive dance team with 8 males and 8 females dancing with sticks and pots to traditional Indian folk music. They have competed all over the country in places such as Washington D.C., Hollywood, San Francisco and Dallas. In 2007-2008, the group was ranked 2nd in the nation, competing with more than 20 Garba Raas teams from various universities. This year Raas is performing a dance that highlights a famous childhood story of the Hindu God Krishna. The child, Krishna, was very mischievous and often played pranks on the young girls and mothers of his village. His favorite mischievous act was to steal and eat butter from the homes of the housewives. Follow along with Texas Raas and watch as the story unfolds. Will Krishna's mother scold him for stealing butter yet again or will her immense love for him cause her to forgive him?
8. Hum A Capella
Hum A Capella blends timbres and cultures to put a unique spin on both Hindi and English songs. From its six-member inception, Hum has evolved into a group of highly dynamic vocalists who arrange all of their songs themselves. This year's 13 "Hummers", Abin Abraham, Sheryl Abraham, Niraj Arjan, Vikas Brahmbhatt, Joel Immaraj, Brice Johnson, Pragnya Maruwada, Avni Modi, Neelam Pai, Alpana Prabhudesai, Ronak Shah, Seema Vashi, and Chantilly Wijayasinha, come from various musical backgrounds and their distinctive collaboration and appreciation for a cappella music keeps them constantly moving forward.
9. Michael Hung
Michael Hung has been playing guitar for nearly 8 years now. In high school he was fortunate enough to find a guitar instructor who introduced him to music theory and compositional methods. Hung has been writing music and expressing himself through lyrics and poetry ever since. Along with his acoustic/vocal pieces, he has also experimented with electronic soundtrack scores. In the past years he has also experimented and taught himself piano and is currently taking lessons in the classical Chinese Zither instrument, the Guzheng. Hung now considers music and writing to be parts of who he is and he believes it is the only way to get girls without having to work out at the gym.
10. Filipino Students Association
Filipino Students Association (FSA) is celebrating its 20th year as an organization here on the UT campus. As unique and diverse individuals, they thrive in cultural awareness through various events whether it is their Filipino Cultural Night, intramural sports or community service throughout Austin. Cultural and modern dance is also a part of the Filipino American heritage and they love to share that. Every spring semester FSA competes in a weekend conference called Goodphil. Here, other FSAs from different collegiate schools in Texas come together for friendly competition and camaraderie. In addition to numerous sporting events, there is also a modern dance competition. In their modern dance, FSA has more than 30 talented members that are ready to take the stage and perform a hip-hop number. Individually, they are dancers from FSA, but together, they are an incomparable family within a family. Students do not have to be Filipino (or know how to dance) to participate in FSA and they welcome anyone who wants to join.
11. The Pajamas
The Pajamas are a folk inspired acoustic duo with a mission to melt your face. They have performed many times at iconic Austin venues such as Stubb's, Momo's and Waterloo Icehouse, but their craft was formed and perfected right here on campus. After an impromptu introduction by mutual friends turned into a spontaneous, ten hour marathon of a jam session, Peter Shults and Jonathan Chan became fast friends, both on and off the stage. Whenever The Pajamas perform, they incorporate improvisation, poignant songwriting and high energy showmanship to try and engage the audience. There's a place - a sort of musical nirvana - where you can close your eyes and the music will take over your mind and body, and you can't help but move your feet. That is the reason they play the music they do and the feeling they want to share with the audience every time they perform.
12. Samuel Yang
This act is a pair of glow sticks tied to shoelace, though the real story behind Yang's talent lies in his hard work and dedication. He picked up the art through a friend his freshman year and eventually learned on his own. Through self-teaching in the confines of the Jester dormitory he developed a few videos and gained a national audience. Yang likes to display his talent because it shows how much a person can learn in just four years at UT. Yang is an engineering student finishing his last semester of school and searching for a job like his peers, however through glow stringing he has learned that even when there seems to be no progress or hope of achieving something, anything is possible through perseverance and discipline.
13. B tsk
"B tsk" is a 4 member band: on drums, Shaun Kim; bass, Daniel Ha; guitar, Christopher (CJ) Hong; and vocals, Don Choi. Though they are individuals with their own ideas of musical style, B tsk is essentially a work-in-progress of the fusion of Eastern and Western styles, another "East meets West" narrative, a clash and creation of culture within the language of music. For Texas Revue, B tsk wanted to share a glimpse of that unique blend of musical style, arranging the traditional Korean percussion music known as "Sam-ul-no-ri" with the pop and rock music of the West. Austin has its own well renowned Korean percussion group called Da-ool, who regularly perform around Texas and were main-covered by SXSW's newsletters. With the help of Da-ool and a few friends, B tsk will entertain audiences with musical artistry, cultural uniqueness and crowd-involving antics. However, this musicale is not merely 'unique' and 'culturally' interesting; it's a show that gets the audience pumped. Look forward to a fun, eye-catching, and musically captivating show!
14. Mother Falcon
Mother Falcon can be best described as a small symphony with an epic sound. Instead of playing straight Bach and Brahms, Mother Falcon fuses classical and modern sounds to create fresh, Baroque pop gems. Mother Falcon showcases its sprawling orchestral sounds while tag-team vocalists Nick Gregg and Claire Puckett create harmonizing melodies you can't help but be hooked by.
The Texas Revue committee would like to thank each and every person who participated in Texas Revue auditions this year. Each act had tremendous artistic and technical ability and it was not easy to narrow it down to a suitable length of time. That being said, we have put together what we collectively feel is a great variety of some of the awesome talent available on campus. Regardless of whether or not you're in the show, we look forward to seeing you at the shows April 16 and 18!