Professors Communicate Through Song, Dance

By Darci Kirby
Journalism junior

Two professors in the Department of Communication have been extending their talents from classrooms and office hours into coffee houses and dance theaters.

Bill Rawlins, who recently won the annual School of Liberal Arts Educational Excellence Award, and Mohan Dutta-Bergman say their hobbies are actually forms of communication.

Bill Rawlins and Acoustic Performance
Rawlins, a professor in Interpersonal Communication, recently performed "Tight Connection to my Heart" by Bob Dylan and "What’s Up" by Four Non Blondes at the Communication Department's performance hour.

Rawlins enjoys playing a guitar, keeping a beat and singing. He admits to bringing his love for music into the classroom. "I've always quoted rock lyrics and have even broken into song," he said.

Rawlins is the third person in the Department of Communication to receive the Liberal Arts teaching award. He was selected out of 11 nominees, one from each department in the school.

Rawlins believes he was selected for the award because he loves learning with students and teaching material that relates very closely to people's lives.

"A lot of teaching is building a community where people feel they belong," Rawlins said. "I like people to realize that we all have spirit and we've all got a reason to be who we are. Taking a risk like this as a teacher sort of says, 'Hey, you don't have to stay in boxes … and that's all about education."

Rawlins purchased a guitar after encouragement from his wife and before traveling to Sweden to teach a course. John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Joan Armatrading are Rawlins' main musical inspirations. "And my boys back home," he said of a group of old friends who play together whenever they reunite.

Rawlins explained that when he sings the same lyrics and plays the same chords as the original musician, he can feel a connection with them. "It's very visceral," he said. "I'm connecting with things that have been important to me all my life."

Last year, Rawlins incorporated Tom Waits lyrics into a seminar on theory of time. "Today is gray skies, tomorrow is fear, you'll have to wait till yesterday is here," the lyrics said. Rawlins explained these lines. "That's a theory of time — you go forward into the past," he said. "Today is going to be yesterday tomorrow."

Rawlins says he practices playing and singing every day. He performs once a month, and usually plays at the Coffee Roaster in West Lafayette and at the department's performance hours.

"I love being inside of songs. I just love it."

Mohan Dutta-Bergman and Modern Dance
Dutta-Bergman, assistant professor of Health Communication and Public Relations, has taught at Purdue for two years and has been training in modern dance since he was 3-years-old.

Dutta-Bergman, a former semi-professional performer, has been educated in ballet, tap, jazz, and classical Indian dance forms, but he focuses on third form performance, which relates socially relevant themes with the idea of raising political awareness.

He sees dance as a venue for communicating issues such as oppression and inequality to the public. "We talk about communicating in different ways, and dance becomes a means for me to communicate," Dutta-Bergman said. "My dance is my politics; it's a very political process for me."

He generally does not use props or costumes. "A part of third form performance of politically conscious dance is that you don't have props or you don’t have aesthetically pleasing costumes," he said. "The idea is that you could blockade a street corner and do the performance right there in whatever you’re wearing."

Dutta-Bergman, who creates his own choreography, practices about 25-45 minutes a week and performs solos three or four times a year.

Dutta-Bergman has performed in many areas, including India, Cincinnati, and West Lafayette; and within the broader Indian community and at their events. He has won 32 awards, an award of merit, and a blue ribbon all in choreography, and he has 44 awards in individual dance.

Dutta-Bergman is interested in teaching children sometime in the near future. "Third form kind of dance is something that is not widely available or widely circulated, so I think it's a dance form that needs to be sustained and to be taught."