“˜Point(s) of Contact’ celebrates students’ yearlong journey

Maddie Schwarz read about a cell called the tonic neuron that keeps a constant beat; sometimes it is even referred to as a metronome neuron because it sets the pace for the cells around it. Schwarz saw the neuron as a metaphor for tap dancing, and it eventually inspired a dance piece that she will perform today and Saturday.

Eight graduating students from the world arts and cultures/dance department will come together for “Point(s) of Contact,” a showcase including dance, musical composition and research presentation.

The showcase, a yearlong process, is part of the program’s Senior Honors Project. The students applied during spring of 2011 and have been working on their individual pieces as well as the overall production throughout the year.

For some, the process was too grueling, and they were forced to drop out. But for the remaining eight students, this has been a journey emblematic of the world arts and culture/dance department.

Schwarz, a fourth-year dance and neuroscience student, grew up doing dance competitions, specializing in tap and even dancing semi-professionally throughout high school. She said her other love for science inspired her to combine the two in her tap piece about neuronal rhythm patterns and the intersection of creativity and science.

Schwarz explained that cells are not unlike dancers. “Brain cells talk to each other in the same way that tap dancers do. Each has its own rhythm just like each dancer has (his or her) own style.”

After graduation, Schwarz said she will attend medical school and conduct neuroscience research while continuing to dance in her spare time.

“It has always been a tug-of-war between dance and science, but I don’t feel like I have to give one up just yet,” Schwarz said.

Tehya Baxter, a fourth-year dance student, said she will be performing an Irish dance piece. She grew up with classical training in tap, jazz and ballet and has been pursuing Irish dance since a friend introduced her to it at the age of 8.

She said that Irish dance uses a rigid technique that provides a creative metaphor for her piece.

“I’m working within an Irish vocabulary. … I want to give the art form something that maintains integrity and a technique that gives emotion,” Baxter said. “My piece is about a personal struggle and self-imposed limitations and trying to overcome them. Irish dance has a rigid technique, and so it is a good metaphor.”

After graduation, Baxter will attend UC San Diego, where she will work toward a master’s degree in education. She said she hopes to teach at an elementary school and audition to join an Irish dance troupe while also choreographing her own work.

Erica Rey, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student, will be performing a musical composition piece about the border between sanity and insanity.

“I will be using keyboard, vocals and a sound station to create a soundscape about that middle ground and the thin line that exists,” Rey said.

Rey also said she was once actively involved in musical theater and was even part of Grammy Award-winning singer Macy Gray’s youth orchestra as a featured vocalist. According to Rey, who attended Berklee College of Music’s intensive summer program throughout high school, she soon realized that she wanted to write her own music.

Though Rey said she does not have official plans after graduation, she knows that she will continue to pursue music and songwriting in addition to working in the areas of social justice and immigrant rights.

Baxter said the small size of the world arts and cultures/dance program at UCLA helped foster a family-like atmosphere in the group, which oversaw and ran all aspects of preparation for the performance.

“We’ve all grown up together in the department for the past four years, and we’ve become really close. We’re all equally invested in each other’s pieces as we are in our own and that has been the best part,” Baxter said.