The Arts at MIT

At MIT, the arts are widely practiced, performed, and celebrated—in corridors and classrooms, on stage and in the studio. Hundreds of exhibitions, performances, and readings enliven MIT's campus annually, enhancing and enriching campus life while drawing visitors from throughout the region.

MIT students benefit from the guidance of scholars, practitioners, and mentors like Thomas DeFrantz who possess excellent credentials and an abiding love of art.

A choreographer, director, writer and critic, Defrantz is an associate professor of music and theater arts and holds the Class of 1948 Career Development Professorship. He teaches courses in African-American performance, dance, theater, and hip-hop, and is the founder of and faculty advisor for MIT's Dance Theater Ensemble. His creative work includes Monk's Mood: A Performance Meditation on Thelonious Monk, a solo performance piece that marries tap dance to digital technology and premiered at MIT in 1999.

Inset Cover Photos (top to bottom)

MIT Dance Theater Ensemble
Formed in 2002, the MIT Dance Theater Ensemble (DTE) is a co-curricular dance ensemble supported by the Theater Arts Program that explores intersections of text, gesture, theater and dance. The ensemble is based on no single dance technique, but embraces a range of movement idioms from modern and postmodern forms, including jazz, tap, and popular social dance styles.

In this photo, Anna Bergren '05 (foreground) and Audrey Snyder '03, perform in "The Cane Suite," choreographed by Thomas DeFrantz, during DTE's evening of dance in December 2002.

Gamelan Galak Tika
Founded at MIT in 1993, Gamelan Galak Tika is the only Balinese gamelan in the Boston area. The 30-member percussion orchestra learns the intricate interlocking patterns of its music in traditional aural fashion, performing from memory on tuned gongs, metallophones, hand drums, cymbals, and bamboo flutes.

In this photo, Erin McCoy '95, Sachi Sato, Sean Mannion (foreground, left to right), Nathan Davis, and Mark Stewart (background, left to right) play on a small gamelan from Banyuwangi, Java.

Thomas Defrantz photo by Christopher Harting. Dance Theater Ensemble photo by Aaron D. Mihalik for The Tech. Gamelan Galak Tika photo by Bill Southworth.

The Arts at MIT

MIT attracts students who apply creative thinking and innovative problem-solving skills to diverse endeavors—from polymer science to poetry, from manufacturing to music. Between 60 and 70 percent of incoming freshmen come to MIT with strong interests and involvement in the arts. More than half of MIT's undergraduates enroll in arts courses each year, and some major or minor in arts-related subjects.

Many students pursue their artistic interests by joining one of nearly 50 music, theater, and dance groups. Others may form their own chamber music ensemble or hip-hop dance troupe, or, like pianist Sean Sutherland '00 continue private study of a musical instrument through MIT's Music and Theater Arts Section. Sutherland, who majored in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Music, was very active as a soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician. Since graduation, he has worked in intellectual property law while continuing to study piano privately.

Inset Photos (top to bottom)

Kelly Donovan and Dancers
Founded in 1997, Kelley Donovan and Dancers creates dance-based performances about transformation, healing, and spirituality. In this photo, they perform "No Such Thing as a True Story," a dance inspired by the famous Buddhist writer and practitioner Pema Chodron.

Dramashop
MIT Dramashop is a co-curricular student-run theater group that presents two major stage productions each year, as well as a set of student-written, student-directed one-act plays. Dramashop also runs and organizes a small Pickup Theater and the One Week Wonder, where students mount a production of a full-length play in just one week.

Pictured are Stacy Pruitt '99 and Rob Marcato in a scene from "The Illusion," by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by associate professor Janet Sonenberg.

Sean Sutherland photo by Christopher Harting. Kelley Donovan and Dancers photo by Randy Collura. Dramashop photo by Gábor Csányi.