Dance festival

The Mini Locally Grown Dance Festival continues Dec. 2-3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts’ Class of ’56 Dance Theatre. Tickets are $5, available at schwartztickets.com or at the Schwartz box office, 430 College Ave.

Presented by student choreographers and dance faculty in the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA), the program features nine dances ranging from abstract forms to personal narratives, individually and collectively expressing human resilience.

The festival is under the direction of senior lecturer Jumay Chu and assistant director Rosalie Purvis, a PMA graduate student.

Christmas Vespers

The annual Sage Chapel Christmas Vespers, lessons and carols services with songs and readings for Advent and Christmas, will take place Dec. 4 and 5 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and the Cornell Chimes will play for 30 minutes before and after each program.

Sage Chapel will be decked with a tree and greens and lit by candlelight, with the Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club performing Eriks Esenvalds’ “Stars,” Kaj-Erik Gustafsson’s “Salve Regina,” Ola Gjeilo’s “Northern Lights,” David Willcocks’ arrangement of “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and French and German carols.

Organist Annette Richards plays a prelude and postlude, and will accompany choral selections and audience participation on such familiar hymns and carols as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “Silent Night,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Joy to the World” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

Services also feature traditional readings by 14 members of the Cornell community (seven each night), and opening and closing prayers and blessing by Daniel McMullin and the Rev. Kenneth Clarke, associate director and director, respectively, of Cornell United Religious Work.

Study break stroll

Research has shown that spending time in nature reduces stress, enhances brain function and improves concentration, according to the student wellness initiative NatureRx@Cornell. Discover these benefits for physical well-being, mental health and academic performance during a half-hour Study Break Walk around Beebe Lake, Monday, Dec. 5. Walkers will gather at 2 p.m. at Mann Library and between Uris and Olin libraries.

The walk begins at 2:15 p.m. from the parking lot at the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, 626 Thurston Ave. Following the walk at 2:45 p.m., there will be free hot beverages and snacks at 6-2-6.

The walk is co-sponsored by Nature Rx, Gannett Health Services, the Campus Activities Office, Cornell Minds Matter, Cornell Recreation Services and Cornell Outdoor Education (which holds its annual gear sale Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon at Bartels Hall). Visit CUinNature.cornell.edu for more information about natural areas on campus and outdoors-related organizations and resources.

Other (indoor) stress relief options during study break include the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, free and open during regular winter hours, Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and a free screening of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. in 190 Rockefeller Hall, hosted by the Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.

Systems thinking

A Systems Thinking Symposium, focused on applying systems approaches to complex water and public policy problems, will be held Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in G71 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall. It is free and open to the public. Participants are required to register to attend on campus or for the live stream of the event online.

The TED-style event features multimedia content and 10-minute presentations by visiting lecturer Derek Cabrera, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs MPA graduate students from Cabrera’s fall Systems Thinking class, USDA ThinkWater fellows at Cornell and expert practitioners.

Co-sponsors include the College of Human Ecology, the College of Engineering, Cornell Cooperative Extension, eCornell, Sustainable Tompkins, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Science and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Sustainability summit

This year’s Student Sustainability Summit, “What Now: Adjusting to Change in an Uncertain Future,” is Tuesday, Dec. 6, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room. It is open to the Cornell community and includes lunch; there is a $4 fee to cover the cost of food.

The summit will feature breakout sessions tailored to encourage collaboration between President’s Sustainable Campus Committee focus teams and student leaders, reports from working groups and next steps.

The summit is coordinated by the Cornell Environmental Collaborative (ECO, formerly Sustainability Hub). For more information, email Campus Sustainability Office ECO coordinator Brendon Brown or Daniel Szabo of ECO. 

A gift of music

International concert violinist Ellen Jewett has offered to perform all of J.S. Bach’s solo violin works in a casual, nonconcert format, Dec. 6 and 8, 2-5 p.m. in Sage Chapel. Faculty, students, staff and community members are welcome to come and go while Jewett plays this transcendental repertoire.

Provided

Concert violinist Ellen Jewett will play all of J.S. Bach’s solo violin works Dec. 6 and 8 in Sage Chapel.

Jewett is a former Ithaca College School of Music instructor and a founding member of Ensemble X. Now based in Turkey, she has been a concertmaster of the Borusan Philharmonic and a guest concertmaster of the Istanbul State Orchestra, and is the founder and artistic director of Klasik Keyifler, a chamber music festival in Cappadocia.

See the Department of Music calendar for more concerts and recitals on campus.

Student films

Students from assistant professor Dehanza Rogers’ introduction to 16mm and digital filmmaking class will screen their films Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Kiplinger Theatre at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, 430 College Ave.

The student film screening presented by the Department of Performing and Media Arts is free and open to the public, with food and drinks provided.

Students in the course complete several exercises and two short film projects exploring narrative, documentary, experimental or animation forms, as well as a final project shown in a public on-campus screening at the end of the semester.

Mission: Mars

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working on advanced technologies and missions close to Earth that will enable human exploration of Mars by the 2030s, from solar electric propulsion to life support systems and the first crops grown in space.

Dava Newman, deputy administrator of NASA, will discuss the agency’s strategic approach and the innovation required to reach Mars, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. in B14 Hollister Hall. Sponsored by the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the seminar, “NASA’s Journey to Mars and Beyond,” is free and open to the public.

Appointed by President Obama in 2015, Newman oversees planning and policy direction at NASA. She is the author of the textbook “Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design” and was the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before her NASA tenure. Her multidisciplinary research in aerospace biomedical engineering includes advanced space suit design, dynamics and control of astronaut motion, as well as research on space policy and assistive and wearable technologies for use on Earth. 

NYC day trip

The Cornell Recreation Connection’s last day trip of the year to New York City is Saturday, Dec. 10.

The discounted fare is $50 per person for Cornell faculty, staff, retirees and up to four guests. Contact Swarthout Coaches to make a reservation; full payment is due at the time of reservation.

The bus leaves Cornell’s B-Lot at 6:30 a.m. (boarding pass required) and arrives in the city at 11:30 a.m. with drop offs at Bryant Park and at Macy’s at 34th Street and 7th Avenue. Travelers will spend the day on their own in New York City.

The bus leaves at 8 p.m. sharp from Bryant Park only, returning to campus at about 12:30 a.m.