Weill Hall, Cornell’s new 263,000-square-foot life sciences building, is a temple to scientific achievement. Inside the gleaming white aluminum structure is lab after lab filled with mass spectrometers, confocal microscopes, and other high-tech equipment. On any given day, researchers inside could be hard at work developing a SARS vaccine, studying protein signals, or mapping the human genome.
But on April 8, performer and choreographer Jonathan Wong ’08 filled “Great White Weill” not with molecular biology research, but with dance. His exhibition, “Same Dance Four Times,” began with a dozen break and interpretive dancers moving around the spacious atrium without music. Mixing moves from traditional, street, and social dance styles, he purposely blurred the divisions between genres. After twisting and turning in an array of formations, the performers were joined by the all-male a capella group Last Call, who accompanied them with a funky arrangement of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s 1978 hit “September.” The gathering crowd, initially dumfounded by the lively scene, slowly came around to the act and was smiling, tapping their feet, and even joining in the line-dance finale.
Wong is a past winner of the Cornell Council for the Arts’ Undergraduate Artist Award, given to students who excel in more than one field. Also a singer-songwriter, he took a two-week break from recording his debut album in Hong Kong to arrange the routine; during his time on campus, he was profiled by the Daily Sun.
While live performance art in Weill Hall may have seemed out of place to passers-by—and some eyebrows were raised—Wong’s piece was an interesting amalgamation of dance styles that was ultimately fun and entertaining. Even to an observer with two left feet, his message was clear: that art, especially dance, is a shared and connective experience.