Aisha Kibwana

NEWS 11/12/09 6:00pm

Hope is Precious

By Aisha Kibwana

Precious, a movie adapted from Sapphire's novel Push, is a story of undying hope and painful sacrifice. It takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster and sucks them, phenomenally, into intense swings of the pain, anguish and joy of the characters. Set in Harlem in the late 1980s, Precious revolves around 16-year-old Claireece Precious Jones (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), an obese, illiterate girl whose sole activities revolve around her struggle for emancipation from the abuse that surrounds her.

NEWS 3/19/09 7:00pm

New Brown RAs chosen

By Aisha Kibwana

After months of deliberation, Brown College selected Jenny and Joe Rozelle (Hanszen '00 and Wiess '99) as its Resident Associates for the 2009-'10 academic year, Brown College senior and Head of the RA Search Committee Larissa Charnsangavej said. "This is something we have talked about for a long time," Jenny Rozelle said. "We had long decided that if we moved back to Houston, we would want to be RAs."

NEWS 11/20/08 6:00pm

RDT's Muscle Memories more or less memorable

By Aisha Kibwana

Fans of modern dance and ballet will take pleasure Rice Dance Theatre's fall show, Muscle Memories. The show features performances by Rice faculty and students and a guest performance by students from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and is choreographed by Rice's Assistant Director for Dance Leslie Scates.Although the majority of the dances fuse modern and ballet, the show includes a traditional Egyptian Bedouin tribal dance performed by Rice's Mediterranean Dance instructor, Kristina Koutsoudas. Other notaperformances include "Nineteen," an energetic dance choreographed by Sid Richardson College junior Emily Jacob and performed by Brown College senior Jennie Wilburn, Baker College sophomore Hilary Koo and math graduate student Taylor Coon, and "Moments, Momentum," choreographed by Wiess College junior Dina Yangirova and performed by Sid sophomore Nazima Zakhidova, Wiess freshman Shuyi Li, Baker senior Alice Chi, Wiess senior Margaret McKinnon and Baker senior McKenzie Smith. Although the performances are almost all modern and ballet, they are very diverse rhythmically and musically, ranging from jazzy and sassy to slow and classy.

NEWS 9/25/08 7:00pm

Wiess One-Acts start theater season right

By Aisha Kibwana

Just in time for Families Weekend, Rice's college theater season opens this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with Wiess College Tabletop Theater's annual Freshman One-Acts, produced by Wiess College senior Roque Sanchez and presented entirely by Wiessmen.