{"id":248,"date":"2017-05-15T15:05:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/?p=248"},"modified":"2018-08-15T23:44:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T23:44:51","slug":"i-live-for-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/2017\/05\/15\/i-live-for-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"I Live for the Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Akash Majumdar, ’19
\n<\/strong>Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community<\/em><\/p>\n

I live for the stage. Every time the curtains rise, I experience a surge of adrenaline combined with the desire to resonate with my audience.<\/p>\n

While preparing to make the journey from Kolkata, India to Vanderbilt, I rummaged through Vanderbilt\u2019s 500+ student organizations, trying to gauge my potential involvement with the performing arts. I wasn\u2019t coming here just to navigate my way through Calc I and Gen Chem; I was coming in thirst of a new stage. I wasn\u2019t disappointed.<\/p>\n

\"I
I live for the stage. Every time the curtains rise, I experience a surge of adrenaline combined with the desire to resonate with my audience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midway through my first week at Vanderbilt, I found myself sitting in Neely Auditorium at 6 PM, waiting to audition for an original devised Vanderbilt University Theatre (VUT) production called City of Songs. My faculty VUceptor, Dr Christin Essin, had mentioned the audition a few times in passing, and I decided to follow through with it. Two weeks later, I was sitting at the Panera Bread on 21st Ave S with the cast of City of Songs, planning out our plot and character arcs. After 6 weeks of rehearsals, we put on City of Songs to great reception.<\/p>\n

Towards the beginning of September of the same semester, I decided to expand my horizons my getting involved in dance. I was a long way from home, but I found a piece of Vanderbilt that made me feel closer to home. I auditioned for the Vanderbilt BhangraDores, and was fortunate enough to be selected onto the team. Through the year, I learnt a completely new dance style, associated myself with the cultural aspects of the tradition, and found a family on campus through the medium of performing arts. In addition, I was able to travel, compete and represent Vanderbilt on the national Bhangra competition circuit.<\/p>\n

At the end of my first semester, I realized the lack of singing in my life. I had been learning Hindustani Classical vocals for 12 years, and wanted a platform to start performing it again. I was skeptical of the prospect of bringing such a specific art form to campus, but Vanderbilt, yet again, surprised me with how open and accepting it was. I restarted an organization, Vandy Taal, that had previously existed on campus, with a revamped, fresh new mission. It would remain an a cappella team, but it would bring a new flavor to its performances by reaching into the roots of traditional Indian music. Today, a year of late night practices and community building later, we are travelling to Pittsburgh for our first national competition.<\/p>\n

To allow Taal greater exposure on campus, and increased opportunities to collaborate with other performing arts group on campus, I applied for Taal to become a part of Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community (VPAC). As I presented Taal to VPAC\u2019s executive board, I realized that there was potential for me to affect a greater community of performers. In that presentation, I learned that more than 30 organizations like VUT and the BhangraDores were a part of VPAC, and that the executive board for VPAC created new, creative performance opportunities for all its members on a regular basis. This motivated me to apply for a board position, and fortunately, I was selected to serve as Seasonal Showcase Co-Chair.<\/p>\n

As Seasonal Showcase Co-Chair, I had the unique opportunity to organize showcases that allowed VPAC organizations exposure to the wider Vanderbilt community, whether it be through a beginning of the year showcase like Spotlight, or lunchtime performances through monthly Main Attractions. This aligned with my career goals, as in the future, I would like to create a music production company that provides a barrier-free platform for musical expression.<\/p>\n

As a member of VPAC, I was able to interact with hundreds of peers and learn about their passions for the performing arts. Whether it was as a singer, dancer or an actor, I was able to share my enthusiasm for the performing arts with others like me. As a VPAC executive board member, I was able to play a part in providing them with a stage. Having first-hand experience of the rush that is associated with the rising of curtains, I was glad to make my contribution. I was glad to perform alongside fervently passionate artists in my community.<\/p>\n

I was glad to make Vanderbilt my stage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Akash Majumdar, ’19 Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community I live for the stage. Every time the curtains rise, I experience a surge of adrenaline combined with the desire to resonate with my audience. While preparing to make the journey from Kolkata, India to Vanderbilt, I rummaged through Vanderbilt\u2019s 500+ student organizations, trying to gauge my potential…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6650,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,21],"tags":[32,43,27],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-self-discovery","tag-mvov17","tag-vpac","tag-vu2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/commons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}