On Nov. 19, Robinson Hall opened Anne Belk R. Theater to students, faculty and the Charlotte community for the Fall 2009 Dance Composition hosted by student dancers.
Opening the show was a dance that integrated digital media called Whispering to Ophiuchus. At first I thought the touch of digital media was a great addition, but later I found it to be a disappointment. The reason was because the moving background provided by the digital media was a distraction throughout the performance. The moving images took most audience members’ attention away from the performing dancers. The use of the digital was tasteful idea, but I felt that it took away the dancer’s spotlight and it wasn’t a way to start the evening.
The main focus of the show was a dedication to the famous Mexican artist, Frieda Kahlo. Throughout the show, famous paintings by Kahlo were displayed and the dancers emulated the paintings through their interesting costume design, unique makeup (depicting Kahlo’s signature ‘uni-brow’ look) and especially expressing the drama of the painting through the movement of their bodies.
Some of the artist’s famous paintings displayed that evening were: Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait with velvet dress, The Wounded Deer, Dream, Memory (The Heart) and Girl with Death Mask. Along with the dancers expressing Kahlo’s paintings, Latin music with strong Spanish guitar rightfully set the mood that moved their bodies.
The Frieda Kahlo portion of the performance was indeed a pleasure to watch. The other smaller performances were also a great addition to the entire showcase. Other notable performances of the evening were called The Winter Dance, Burning Consumption, Pax and The Ripple affect.
It was my first time viewing a classical and contemporary dance showcase. Overall, the show exceeded my expectations. The athleticism and emotion the dancers displayed blew me away. Each dancer had such poise and unique dance skills to express the theme of the evening.
411fit.com: the skinny on funding
Tabetha Trogdon UTimes Guest Writer
This past Tuesday, David Wood, one of the original developers of UNC Charlotte’s 411fit website, candidly submitted to an interview to give students the skinny on 411fit, which is being launched this week by students in the public health department.
411fit is an online tracking tool that allows users to input the details of their daily food intake and exercise to manage health and fitness goals. Wood, a current university staff member and his business partner, Alumni, John Brown, created the site in 2003, eventually choosing to donate a free license to use the software to UNCC two years ago. The donation benefits both students and developers: Students are provided with a free, wellness promoting service and an addition to the prestige of their alma mater; and developers can take advantage of research funding only found in a university setting.
When asked about the future of the site, Wood answered, “It definitely has potential to get big. ”The USDA’s myfoodpyramid.gov and the Daily Plate on Lance Armstrong’s livestrong.com are just two examples of already successful online diet and fitness tracking sites like 411fit - the Daily Plate alone boasts of over 830,000 users. But with such successful competition, how does 411fit plan to compete?
Wood and others are focusing their efforts on making 411fit more like the social networking site, Facebook. After crunching the numbers, the evidence is becoming clear, longevity on the site and, therefore, weight loss is tied to relationship links like being able to add friends. Yet, does the “add a friend” feature really translate into new members or just more dedicated existing users when there is virtually no marketing for the site?
If having only 10,000 members with no budget for marketing makes 411fit seem like a small fish in a big pond, then perhaps we should look at things from a different angle. Are individual users the ticket to success? Although hopeful about getting more individual users registered, Wood seemed both more interested in and sure of the site’s future role in developing streamlined programs for corporate entities.
411fit is currently networking with local businesses, health departments, the county, the state, universities, and even UNCC to create tailored programs that address each institution’s specific worksite wellness initiatives. The market is strong for programs dealing with worksite wellness because of the hot political climate surrounding healthcare and its costs. For now 411fit does not charge for the service of creating such programs, but if ever a private, corporate entity becomes interested in having its own program based on 411fit, the website would be commercialized in order to accept payment for services which it cannot do while hosted at the university.
In fact no matter how successful 411fit becomes, UNCC students may be fronting the bill for bandwidth, hardware, web hosting, and support until the site is commercialized, and it is presumably an expensive bill. While Wood did not have any exact figures, he did agree that ultimately the cost was being subsidized by student fees “in as much as student fees contribute to anything and everything that goes on, on campus.”
So, why does it matter to you, the student? If joining the website won’t really get at the heart of how 411fit is projected to become successful, what can you do to make sure your money is going to work for you? First of all do register for the site, you might be able to contribute valuable suggestions, or you might even be able to meet some of your own health and fitness goals. Second, get interested in how your money gets spent and let the school know what you agree with and what you don’t. Again, 411fit, if it is successful, is going to help our campus compete with other, more prestigious universities. One lucky student might even find a job helping developers create iPhone and Blackberry applications of the website.
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