BDA Travels to Dijon

Reflections from the WEIMART

On the night of November 26, the Bureau des arts piled into a bus and travelled to Dijon for the Weekend inter-campus musique et art (WEIMART), an intercampus event focused on the arts. For the weekend, we were tasked with forging bonds across campus communities to create an arts show centered around Ancient Greek Myths.

Arriving in the morning, Menton students found themselves confronted with a full day of art. With just a few hours of rest, artists in the fields of visual arts, music, dance, film, theater, oration, photography, and fashion all planned and executed a depiction of an Ancient Greek Myth in a six-hour time period with a plan to present it in a showcase the following day.

The musicians of the WEIMART, representing Menton with Eliana Seroussi, Sienna Bertamini, Lena Westlund, Saoirse Aherne, and me, chose to depict the myth of Orpheus through a concert accompanied by an oral exposition written and performed by Azra Ersevik. The setlist included “Wonderwall,” “Mystery of Love,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Highway to Hell,” “Always Remember Us This Way,” and “Hey You.” On the subject of complementing her oral performance with the music, Ersevik says “During the WEIMART, I was a storyteller. I told the myths of Eurydice and Orpheus during musical breaks. The experience was very interesting and rich since it was new to me. It was a good opportunity to meet new people, new ideas…and I hope to be able to attend a new WEIMART and see our excellent Mentonese Ummah at work again.”

Though the performance came together nicely, it was not without obstacles. There were about 25 musicians ranging from Latin Percussionists to Classical Cellists that needed to coordinate their own experience and playing styles to produce a finished show. Nevertheless, we succeeded in creating a memorable performance.

Other notable performances included the dancers, who managed to learn and choreograph an entire routine in the short time period provided. Or the filmmakers, represented by Menton 2A Lilinaz Hakimi who wrote, shot, edited, and produced a short movie during the one day period. Personally, I was taken aback by the ability of students involved in the other disciplines to create such cohesive works of art with one another. But after engaging in conversation with the other artists, it seems that we had all managed to impress one another!

The most important aspect of the WEIMART is that, unlike its competitive sibling, the WEIC, is its collaborative nature. 1A Sienna Bertamini, one of Menton’s many talented singers, reflected that “creating art together is a way to connect with people that supersedes any other kind of communication. When I share ideas, work with other singers, and practice harmonies, it shows that, simply, anything is possible.” On the stage floor, many musicians shared techniques. While students from Poitiers introduced me to Latin style precision, 1A Saoirse Aherne learned the basics of Gypsy Jazz from Pablo, a Parisian guitarist.

It is not only the talent of Sciences Po’s artists, but the feat of coordination and collaboration that was so special about the WEIMART. Oftentimes, we find it difficult to coordinate projects with our closest friends or in our course triplettes; it is special for a group of strangers to create such breathtaking artwork.

Of course, we cannot pretend that the WEIMART was merely a spontaneous outburst of artistic creativity. Students worked tirelessly to create this event, facing a constantly changing situation due to the cancellation of the WEIC and a COVID outbreak on the Nancy campus. It went so smoothly thanks to the efforts in part by the Dijon BDAS, as well as the respective BDAs of the campuses in attendance: Le Havre, Menton, Poitiers, Paris, and Nancy. On our own campus, 2As Salim Outinari and Seroussi facilitated the planning and logistics of the event.

- Cameron Sterling