Ava Knapp

The final performer dances to “I will survive” by Gloria Gaynor to close off the Stanford Winter Performing Arts Festival yesterday afternoon at the Stanford Roble Gymnasium. Tyler “EagleBabel” Brooks, the Stanford student management associate, said in an email to the Paly Voice that the Spring Arts Festival is the next event. “This [The Spring Arts Festival] is also open to the Stanford community, so any interested folks at Paly should mark their calendars,” Brooks said.

The song “I will survive” by Gloria Gaynor echoes out of the Stanford Roble Gymnasium as the final performer, dressed in red, closes out an afternoon of dance, music, theater and poetry readings.

The Stanford Winter Performing Arts Festival wrapped up yesterday uniting the Palo Alto and Stanford communities while building anticipation for the university’s Spring Arts Festival April 25.

Although the events exclusively feature Stanford performers, Tyler “EagleBabel” Brooks, the Stanford student management associate of both events, stated in an email that the festivals are open for anyone to come and watch.

“It is open to all members of the Stanford public — high schoolers included,” Brooks said. “Our WPAF audiences are usually a mix of proud parents, youngsters with a ton of sugar in their system, and Stanford students who are their friends’ biggest cheerleaders.”

According to Brooks, the WPAF’s diverse performances make it a standout event during Stanford’s Family Weekend, fostering a community among artists.

“Our objective for the Winter Performing Arts Festival is to showcase students across all forms of performing arts,” Brooks said. “It’s actually very rare at Stanford to have a mix of all the forms, as student showcases usually focus on one.”

Brooks said that the festivals remain as dynamic as ever and included special surprises for guests. The WPAF audience endured a variety of unique performances.

“We have a very exciting lineup of performers, ranging from Shakespeare to video game music to traditional Chinese Lion Dance,” Brooks said.  “Our WPAF audience is usually in for a treat, as performers always bring their A-game and our Student Community Liaisons, who organize the festival, spice it up with Stanford arts trivia, for which trivia winners in the audience can win prizes.”

According to Brooks, the celebration of arts will continue in spring for those interested in visual arts as well.

“The party doesn’t stop just with the Winter Performing Arts Festival,” Brooks said. “Its cousin event — the Spring Arts Fair — happens not long after. WPAF focuses on performing arts and SAF is the complement that focuses on visual arts. We receive all kinds of submissions, including paintings, photographs, sculpture, virtual-reality, and mixed media; over the years, we have also enjoyed a collaboration with Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, who also showcases their 1st/2nd/3rd place prize winners and runners-up at our Festival.”

Other information about WPAF and the upcoming SAF can be found on this website.