Montage a class tension in the music, where you see dark, slinky funk. The songs mix hip-hop’s on older tracks like Rage’s “Vietnow” and Lamborghinis rolling by homeless encamp- grooving tempos and syncopated backbeats Audioslave’s “Set it Off.” ments on Sunset Strip.” with the simple harmonies and overdriven The smile is almost audible in Morello’s Morello’s ability to channel that ten- crunch of heavy metal, with Chuck D and voice as he happily reports that a large per- sion into his guitar work is a large part of B-Real delivering plenty of timely political centage of their audience is too young to have what keeps Prophets of Rage from becom- observations (reflecting on LA’s homeless- been original Rage fans; he is excited to be ing, in his words, “a nostalgia act.” Proph- ness epidemic, B-Real raps, “Living on the attracting and, he hopes, converting a new ets of Rage, the album of original material 110, four sharing one tent / Can’t afford no generation of listeners. But more broadly, the band released last fall, sounds less like rent, forgotten by the government”). But al- he continues, he thinks of the album as ad- a truly new work than a synthesis of the though the album features somewhat less of dressed to…well, everyone. “I hope the album members’ previous groups: Rage Against Morello’s signature FX-driven experimen- is a clarion call to those who know in their the Machine’s raw heavy-metal power; the talism, his guitar is its strongest aesthetic hearts that the world is not owned and run contemplative melancholia of its succes- anchor. The rhythmic swagger of “Strength by people who deserve to be owning and sor, Audioslave (which Morello, Wilk, and in Numbers”—a paean to working-class running it—and that there is a better way, a Commerford formed in 2001 with Sound- solidarity—and the slithering, metallic an- different way, to achieve a more decent and garden singer Chris Cornell); Public Ene- ti-nationalist anthem “Who Owns Who” humane planet. And if you take that to heart, my’s machine-gun lyricism; Cypress Hill’s keep easy pace with his fiery performances you can be the David to any Goliath.”

Madelyn Ho during a playful moment in Esplanade, one of choreographer Paul Taylor’s most famous works, and (right) in his balletic Mercuric Tidings, set to music by Franz Schubert

entwined with one in medicine. After grad- uating with a degree in chemical and physi- cal biology and a serious love of dance, she joined Paul Taylor’s smaller company, Taylor 2, right out of college. In 2012, having audi- tioned for the main company twice with- out success, and feeling she’d learned all she could, she moved back to Boston to start at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Three years in, while looking up PTDC’s perfor- mance dates, she spotted an audition notice. She decided she’d try out a third time. “It was this sort of immediate gut reac- tion,” she said. Until that point, she’d fig- ured she was done with dancing. But she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to audi- tion, just to see what would happen. She thought the outcome would give her some closure—a final confirmation that her dance career was in fact behind her. “I just didn’t have any expectations,” she said, “and so I walked, ran, and slid across the floor—pe- felt like I was able to, in some ways, be freer.” Next Steps destrian movements made elegant. Ho made the main company. She broke As the smallest dancer, barely skimming her lease and started dancing full time in A dancer’s dual life five feet, Madelyn Ho ’08 stood out among the spring of 2015, squeezing her fourth-year her taller counterparts. She wore a green medical requirements into her profession- by samantha maldonado leotard with purple legwarmers pulled up al schedule. Her schedule changed by the over her knees and an unwavering smile— day, but in general, time off from rehears- n a Wednesday afternoon in a resting grin face—that she made disap- als meant a full day in a clinic or hospital April, members of the Paul Tay- pear only with seeming effort during dark- as part of her rotations, or work on her re- lor Dance Company rehearsed er, moodier parts of the choreography. Her search project about the history of dance O Esplanade in their sunny, Lower steps were precise yet energetic. medicine. Sometimes she skipped compa- East Side studio. Eight dancers leapt and Ho also stands out in her company for ny class to spend the morning on rotation, crawled, paired up and drifted apart, and another reason: her dance career has been then joined her fellow dancers at noon for a

64 July - August 2018 Photograph by Paul B. Goode

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Montage “Right now, I see the comings and goings as the natural progression of things. There’s that initial bittersweet moment, but then with change comes a new opportunity.”

sive, in which dancers are cast as humans, able future. Eventually, she wants to pursue never swans—invites her to engage emo- dance medicine, an interest sparked by her tionally, based on her personal experiences. recognition of the unique demands dance Her interpretations of Esplanade in particu- places on the body and her experience of suf- lar change constantly. “Right now, I see the fering a dance injury as an undergraduate. comings and goings as the natural progres- In the meantime, she’s figuring out how to sion of things,” she said. “There’s that initial continue studying medicine outside medi- bittersweet moment, but then with change cal school—perhaps by spending more time comes a new opportunity.” at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at

WHITNEY BROWNE WHITNEY That also reflects her stance in anticipa- NYU Langone Medical Center, where she five-hour rehearsal: running through pieces, tion of her May graduation from HMS (see completed a clinical rotation earlier this year. learning repertory from videos, or creating page 20). For now, Ho intends to continue “I’m at a place right now where I’m really new work with an outside choreographer. her career with PTDC, holding off on tak- growing and happy where I am dancing,” Then Ho would complete a kettlebell work- ing up her medical residency for the foresee- she said. “I’ll see where it takes me.” out—“I call them ‘my moves!’”—as part of her cross-training. On the commute to her Upper East Side apartment, she’d start her homework: reviewing her choreography and reading medical articles to answer questions Not “Mickey Mousing” from the previous day’s clinical round and in preparation for the next one. The rigors of accompanying silent films Finding the balance has been taxing, but by sophia nguyen the pursuits have been complementary. “The body is our instrument, and medicine is just understanding the body better,” said Andy hundred years ago, a night and amenities fit for imperial Romans (din- LeBeau, the assistant artistic director at Tay- at the movies meant live music. ner delivered to XXL reclining seats). Sound lor. “Madelyn’s become very vital to a lot Even low-end joints had at least seems like nothing special. of the dancers. Her nickname’s Dr. Ho, and A a violinist and pianist; grand- But decades after the talkie invasion everybody asks her questions.” er establishments em- Ho’s willingness to chart her path by ployed 50-piece orches- following her passions mimics how she’s tras (some of which, by developed as a performer. She trained as the 1920s, were replaced a ballerina throughout high school; when by massive Wurlitzer or- she first started as a modern dancer in col- gans that supplied sur- lege, she focused on nailing the technical round-sound audio with movements. This tendency carried over to less manpower). These Taylor 2, where LeBeau noticed her deter- days, most theaters up- mination to be perfect and worried that sell their couch-coddled she might have trouble finding the artist- viewers with whiz-bang ry in the movements, or allowing herself visuals (IMAX and 3-D) to have fun. Now he sometimes jokes with Robert Humphreville, Ho during the more intense moments of a frequent Harvard Film practice that it’s dance, not brain surgery. Archive accompanist, “She’s grown intelligent enough to realize says he’s mostly asked to play comedies, that it’s about the intention,” he said. “It’s especially from “the big not about the actual step, and that step can three”: Charlie Chaplin, change as long as the intention maintains Harold Lloyd, and its integrity.” Buster Keaton. (A scene from Keaton’s Sherlock Ho has embraced the way Taylor’s cho- Jr. appears over his reography—at once athletic and expres- shoulder.)

Photograph by Stu Rosner Harvard Magazine 65

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746