Mirrored Interiors: Films by Cecilia Aldarondo

Mirrored Interiors is an exhibition featuring four films by the award-winning filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo. The exhibition consists of five screenings presented over three weeks, starting with a special one-time-only Williamstown debut of Aldarondo’s newest film You Were My First Boyfriend (2023) at Images Cinema on Wednesday, April 5, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a conversation between film curator and writer Sally Berger and the artist. A reception at WCMA will precede the screening at 5 p.m.

In this high school reunion movie turned inside out, Aldarondo embarks on a fantastical quest to reconcile her tortured teen years. She “goes back” in more ways than one, tracking down old foes and friends while also reenacting visceral memories of youthful humiliation and desire. Oscillating between present and past, hallucination and reality, You Were My First Boyfriend is a hybrid documentary that explores the power of adolescent fantasy, the subtle violence of cultural assimilation, and the fun house mirror of time’s passage.

Landfall (2020) and the film short Picket Line (2017) will be shown together on Tuesday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 18; Memories of a Penitent Heart (2016) will screen on Friday, April 14, and Friday, April 21. These screenings will be at WCMA starting at 4 p.m. All screenings are free and open to the public.

Mirrored Interiors

Dance We Must book release event

Join us at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 6, to celebrate the release of a new book, Dance We Must: The Art and Costumes of Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn 1906-1940, with a reception, brief dance performance, and panel discussion moderated by Sandra Burton, Lipp Family Director of Dance and Senior Lecturer in Dance at Williams, and featuring Kevin Murphy and Caroline Hamilton, co-curators of the exhibition and co-editors of the book, and book contributors Erica Dankmeyer, Artist-in-Residence in Dance at Williams, and Munjulika R. Tarah, Assistant Professor of Dance at Williams.

This book serves to document a collaborative exhibition, Dance We Must: Treasures from Jacob’s Pillow, 1906-1940, organized by staff from WCMA and Jacob’s Pillow and installed at WCMA in 2018. The exhibition focused on the material culture created by and for Jacob’s Pillow founder Ted Shawn and pioneering modern dancer Ruth St. Denis. Many of the objects featured in the show had not been examined for decades and were cataloged for the first time.

Copies of the book, which was made possible by generous support from the Coby Foundation, will be available for purchase.

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Participate with us!

We have an exciting opportunity to participate in an upcoming WCMA program!

On Thursday, April 27, join us in the museum for an after-hours viewing of Across Shared Waters from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Then, at 5:30 p.m., Lama Tashi Norbu, an artist featured in the show, will work with one participant from our community to design a tattoo for them based on Tibetan astrology, create their personal buddhist mantra, and then during a live performance, he will chant the mantra for the participant as he tattoos the design on their body in the museum to empower their lives for eons. Local musicians will improvise alongside the artist.

Would you like to submit your name for a chance to be the lucky member of the community who receives the tattoo? Follow this link to apply to be the participant in this performance by 5 p.m. April 12. You can also use the form to indicate that you would like to perform music at the event.

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