The Arts at Bates
College Resources and Departments
Student Organizations
Dance
The Bates Dance Club aims to connect more Bates students, faculty, staff, and members of the Lewiston-Auburn community with the world of dance. Specifically, we want members of the Bates community to experience styles of dance not offered through the college. Our club gives students a way to maintain or discover a love
of dance in a way which is not dependent upon being a dance minor or a member of the Modern Dance Company. Based on input from Bates students and academic departments, we bring guest artists to campus to give workshops, performances, and lectures throughout the year. We also take advantage of performances going on in Lewiston, Portland, and Boston; and invite anyone interested to contribute to a student run/choreographed show put on during short term. Any and all levels of
experience are welcome; the club environment is very laid back and friendly; we are always looking for people who like to dance!
Our Officers are:
Co-Presidents: Gina Petracca '10 (gpetracc@bates.edu) and Kate Reilly '10 (kreilly@bates.edu)
Vice President: Marlee Weinberg '10 (mweinber@bates.edu)
Treasurer: Meg Cadden '11 (mcadden@bates.edu)
Secretary: Erin Pinover (epinover@bates.edu)
Publicity Manager: Lindsay Reuter (lreuter@bates.edu)
Bates Step Club
Our Officers are:
President: Victoria Lowe '12
Co-captains: Victoria Lowe '12 and Ashley Booker '12
Treasurer: Kira Gavin '12
Ballroom Society
Our Officers are:
Club President: Erin Faulder
Team Captain: Anna Meader
Treasurer: George MacDonald
Theater and Performance
The Bates College juggling club exists for one reason: to provide a venue for students and community members to gather to juggle together, share knowledge, and have some good old fashion fun. Any one is welcome. All are encouraged to attend.
Robinson Players
The goal of the Robinson Players is to provide a venue for the performance arts at Bates in addition to that provided by the Theater Department.
Our main function is to fund and support student theater productions at Bates College - we do between six and ten shows a year. Our membership is open to all Bates students - regardless of major, prior theater experience, or theatrical interest. Our ranks include actors, directors, designers, dancers, techies, musicians, and artists. In addition to productions, we also host regular parties, run theater trips off campus, engage in artistic outreach programs with the Lewiston-Auburn community, and hold theater workshops on all manner of topics.
Strange Bedfellows
We are the one and only improvisational comedy group at Bates. They perform both short-form as well as long-form improv and continually explore and experiment with different types of long-form improv structures such as the Harold, the Ascat, and the BAT, a show that is performed entirely in the dark! The Bedfellows perform weekly at different venues all over campus as well as at venues in Lewiston such as The Blake Street Towers retirement home. They also perform at other colleges such as Skidmore College for the annual National College Comedy Festival that Skidmore hosts every year. The Bedfellows bring professional improv and sketch comedy groups to Bates, who in the past, have included The Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company and The Late Night Players. The Bates community always eagerly anticipates the annual Bedfellow Holiday Show because it is the last show of first semester and it is the only scripted show that the Bedfellows write and rehearse prior to performing. The main goal of The Strange Bedfellows is to bring laughter to the Bates community and the surrounding areas of Lewiston and Auburn using the increasingly popular art form of improvisational comedy as a tool and a medium. Auditions for The Strange Bedfellows are held once a year at the beginning of every fall semester and are open to everyone.
Music
Bates Musicians Union
The BMU aims to bring together musicians into a single collective. Through sponsoring concerts, parties, and other campus-wide events, we hope to increase awareness of, excitement for, and participation in the many music-related opportunities which Bates offers. The union organizes the schedules of concerts and band practices and gives musicians a unified voice before Bates as a whole.
Deansmen
The Deansmen is a 11 voice all-male a cappella group that has provided quality
entertainment to the Bates College community and beyond since 1957. Our most recent
albums include "A Century Half Full" (2007), "Schlage" (2004), and "Vocal Syllogism"
(2001). The group performs for all ages and occasions, and we guarrantee to rock your
socks off.
The Deansmen have performed for the Boston Celtics, George Bush, Sr., Rockapella, and many others in the greater Lewiston-Auburn area. Congratulations to our four new, talented singers: Charlie Emple, Alex Barton, Segundo Guerrero and Liam Zaaijer.
Our officers are:
President: Dan Rosenzweig '10 (drosenz2@bates.edu)
Music Director: Eddie Arsnow '10 (earsnow@bates.edu)
Business Manager: Tom Chapman '10 (tchapma2@bates.edu)
Crosstones
The CROSSTONES is Bates College first ever auditioning co-ed a cappella group. We are now entering our 12th year!
The Crosstones are known around campus for their fun and energetic performances filled with entertaining antics. Our repertoire is expansive, including songs by artists like the Counting Crows, George Michael, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Fiona Apple, Offspring, Gorillaz, and Toto to name a few. The Crosstones recently put the final touches on our awaited second album and released it in the fall of 2006. There will be a third LP released at the end of the 2008 academic year.
Gospel Choir
Manic Optimists
What do you get when you put 13 guys who love to sing alone with a piano? You’ll have to see for yourself to find out, but we’re pretty sure you’ll be manically optimistic about it! The Manic Optimists are Bates’ newest all-male a cappella group, performing a wide variety of current hits and classic favorites. We perform constantly throughout the year, at Bates, at other schools, and anywhere else they’ll have us, from the Boston Common to Sugarloaf ski resort and beyond! So what do you say? Do you have what it takes to be a ManOp? Audition this fall and find out!
Merrimanders
The Merimanders is Bates's only all female a cappella group. We sing a variety of music genres, performing on campus and in the surrounding communities.
Take Note
TakeNote is the newest co-ed a cappella group on campus. We have sang at events
off campus, such as FAB and we are planning out singing at nursing homes and other local venues next year. We also perform with the other a cappella groups, and in solo concerts on campus.
Our Officers are:
Co-presidents: Allegra Scharff (ascharff@bates.edu) and Pat Carroll
Music Director: Molly Mylius
Taiko Club
Media
Bates College Television Network (BCTV)
BCTV is a small, student operated, closed circuit television station transmitting on two channels of the college's video network. Now in our eight-year of operation, we have produced live sports shows, a late night format show, an investigative reporting program, phone-in panel discussions, and a weekly news show.
Cinematography Club
We are a student-run film production. Interested in writing, directing, camerawork, editing, producing? Always wanted to make a movie? Join the club.
WRBC 91.5 FM
WRBC is the radio station of Bates College, located in Lewiston, Maine and at 91.5 MHz on the FM dial. WRBC is currently ranked by the Princeton Review as the 19th best college radio station in the United States and Canada, making it the top college radio in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). It is estimated that one out of every six Bates students is involved in WRBC at some point.
Visual Arts
Anime Club
The club meets once a week on Sundays to watch episodes of Japanese anime series or movies. The meetings typically last for an hour to two hours and are a great way to learn about anime and take a study break. In the past, we've watched the now popular Kenshin series, Samurai X, and movies by director Hayao Miyazaki, among others.
Photography Club
By now you may have noticed that Bates has NO PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT. Well, don't fret; you can join the Photo Club! You get access to a darkroom, AMAZING discounts on photo paper & film (as cheap as $1.00 a roll!!), and a discount at a nearby camera shop. And ...you don't have to know anything about photography! We teach! Whether you're Ansel Adams incarnate or you've never seen a camera in your life (but want to), join the Bates Photography Club!
Public Art Club
Publishing
Seed
The Student
The Bates Student is the College's weekly newspaper and dates back to 1873. The Student is produced entirely by students who are responsible for its content, layout, editing, photography, advertising and distribution. We provide coverage of campus events, investigative reporting, feature pieces on students, professors, and clubs, opinion editorials, reviews of arts events, restaurant reviews, and coverage of Bates athletics.
Students interested in getting on-board may attend our informational meeting in the fall or contact one of our officers for more information.
Our Officers are:
Editor-in-Chief: Regina Tavani '10 (rtavani@bates.edu)
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Zoe Rosenthal '10 (zrosenth@bates.edu)
