Carnival ah! all art under one tent

Dancing. Theatre. Spoken word. Live art. These were some of the activities students got to witness at this year's Carnival ah!

ACC's Arts and Humanities Departments featured many dancers, writers, actors, musicians and more of the various mediums from ACC students and faculty as well as from the general community at this week-long festival.

Carnival ah! was started by the Arts and Humanities Division last year as a way to bring the Austin community and the arts together with free performances, classes and discussions during the three-days event.

Theater productions of "B-Sides from the A-List: 6 Short Plays from the Theatre of the Absurd" and "In 2 the West" as well as art exhibits were shown inside the main campus building while the rest of festivities were located on the Rio Grande campus lawn.

Short films created by students, faculty and community were screened in the film tent while ACC dance classes performed on the outside stage.

"It was a lot of fun performing outside," said ACC Advance Jazz student Gabby Markwardt. "I love performing out in front of people."

The Spring 2010 edition of the Rio Review, ACC's literary magazine, was released on Thursday as part of the literary day during Carnival ah! which also included 2008 Texas Poet Laureate, Larry D. Thomas' craft talk titled "The Poet's Dilemma: A Beautiful Curse?"

Karissa Rodriguez

MODERN DANCE — Students from instructor Jose Bustamante's Modern 2 dance class rehearse a dance routine. Bustamante was one of several dance instructors who taught their classes on a stage in front of the Rio Grande campus and gave attendees a first-hand view on how dance classes are instructed.

Karissa Rodriguez

PORTRAITS — A Carnival ah! attendee has his portrait drawn by an ACC art instructor.  Attendees had their portraits drawn from noon to 5 p.m. on April 22 during the festivities.

Adrienne Sparks

WARMING UP — Dance students warm-up before performing for Carnival ah! at Rio Grande Campus April 21, 2010.

Hanlly Sam

FOLK THIS — Ryan Manning, guitarist of the band Folk This, interprets one of their songs during Carnival ah!  The attending crowd was about six students but they were all enthusiastically listening to the songs and jokes from the lead singer Josh McGlasson.