ODotteMita: Meet the College’s very own J-Pop dance troupe

Photo courtesy of ODotteMita

ODM members pose at VariAsians 2024 after having performed “No Brand Girls” from LoveLive!

Aspen Pearson ‘28

Staff Writer

As a dance group focused on bringing J-Pop to the stage, ODM is a community at Mount Holyoke College with performances that reach across the Five College Consortium.

The group’s name stands for Odottemita, a Japanese term that translates to “try to dance.” The style traces back to amateur dancers in Japan who learned choreography from anime, comics, games, or music and uploaded their performances online with “odottemita” in the title. These routines were designed to be fun and accessible, often performed in living rooms and shared widely across platforms like YouTube. While the genre now includes professional dancers, its origins remain rooted in openness and creativity: Values ODM emphasizes in its own practices.

ODM began as a Five College-club, but has become centered at Mount Holyoke over time, with occasional members joining from Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The group is best known for its appearances at cultural events across campuses. In recent years, they have performed at VariAsians, hosted by the Asian Students Association, China Night with the Chinese Cultural Association, Korea Night with the Korean Students Association, and Japan Night with the Japanese Cultural Club. They have also appeared at Smith’s Asian Culture Show and at Amherst College’s Night Market.

Past performances have highlighted ODM’s range, spanning J-Pop, anime dances, and even occasional K-Pop routines. At VariAsians, the group performed “No Brand Girls” from LoveLive! alongside “Salamander” by DECO*27. At China Night, they presented “Ci Ke Memories,” choreographed by Miyuki, and at Korea Night, they performed “La Vie en Rose” by IZONE.

This year, ODM is preparing for a new round of performances. At Japan Night, they plan to showcase “Living Beautifully” by Takaneno Nadeshiko, while Korea Night will feature their version of “Secret Story of the Swan.” Other members are working on additional projects, including duets and wota-inspired choreography, which blends fan chants with dance.

The group emphasizes accessibility and openness to all students. There are no auditions and no requirements for prior dance experience. At the beginning of each semester, members release a sign-up sheet with available dances, which functions on a first come, first serve basis. Dances are selected and run by instructors, who are club members themselves. Practices vary in format; sometimes groups learn together directly from a video, while other times an instructor breaks down choreography step by step.

“Most of our members are beginners with no dance background,” explained Joyce Jiang, a veteran ODM member. “I’ve danced for many years, but teaching has been just as valuable for me. It gives me a chance to think carefully about movement and how to explain it. Watching beginners gain confidence is one of the best parts.”

For Jiang, the group’s greatest value lies in its spirit of encouragement. “ODM is a very inclusive and chill place,” she said. “You don’t worry about making mistakes. It’s about working together, sharing happiness, and having fun.”

Leah Dutcher ’28 contributed fact-checking.

Creative writing workshop highlights building alternative worlds

Photo by Sarah Berger ’26

Alan Pelaez Lopez came to Mount Holyoke College to teach a creative writing workshop about imagining worlds different than one’s known reality.

By Sarah Berger ’27

Section Editor

On Monday, Sep. 8, students gathered in the Willits-Hallowell Conference Center and Hotel for a creative writing workshop, led by the scholar Alan Pelaez Lopez, who described themself as a creative writer and installation artist from Oaxaca, Mexico. They mentioned that they’re working on a book about how politicians and countries disable people.

At the beginning of the workshop, attendees pushed tables together to cultivate an intimate and conversational vibe. Pelaez Lopez made an effort to address each student by name. Students were primarily from Mount Holyoke College, although one Amherst College student also participated.

The workshop focused on building alternative worlds, or what it might mean to imagine something other than the present. Pelaez Lopez described freedom dreaming, which is a term coined by Robin D.G. Kelley to describe visualizing the future that we want to live in and trying to make that dream a reality. After a general discussion of the terminology needed to participate in the workshop, two different poems were offered up for analysis. “And When People Woke Up, They Were Safe” from Sonia Guiñansaca’s “Nostalgia & Borders,” and “The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On” by Franny Choi. Both poems were read twice, once to take it in and a second time to digest and annotate.

Towards the end of the allotted workshop time, participants took out pieces of paper. Pelaez Lopez provided seven lines from Sonia Guiñansaca’s and Franny Choi’s work. Each line was a “ghost line,” and the exercise involved writing for two minutes to each line until the timer went off. The workshop concluded with a discussion of whether the activity was helpful. Participants found that cohesion came more readily than expected, even when it wasn’t intended.

Leah Dutcher ’28 contributed fact-checking.

‘Directing Actors’: Students create short films in college class

Graphic by Sindy Maldonado ’27

Sindy Maldonado ‘27

Contributing Writer

Mount Holyoke College prides itself on having rigorous academics and a plethora of unique, hands-on courses available to students. One of these courses is Directing Actors for the Screen, offered by the department of film, media, and theater and taught by Visiting Assistant Professor in Film Production, Dien Vo.

The course aims to give film students foundational skills needed in the sphere of production, such as screenwriting, casting, and most importantly, directing. Students take on these roles by creating their own short films or scenes if working on a bigger project. They have already wrapped up auditions, which were open to all students within the Five College Consortium, and are now entering the filming phase following their table reads held the week of Oct. 5.

Students currently in the class gave Mount Holyoke News insight into the course and their projects. Gabriella Cordero ’26, a neuroscience and behavior major and FMT minor, is creating a short film titled “Chandelier.” The story takes place inside a parked car at a gas station, and follows two characters, Aubrey and Dylan, on their first date. Why it is called “Chandelier” is a secret.

When asked what the story means to her and why she chose these characters, Cordero said, “I just really wanted to capture that, you know, teenage feeling of liking someone else and finally allowing yourself to open up.” The two characters bond over their shared love for music and film but find it difficult to become fully comfortable since the characters don't know if they can quite trust each other yet.

Cordero mentioned that her inspirations include directors like Greta Gerwig and Sofia Coppola, who have created coming-of-age films, such as Cordero’s favorite from 2017, “Lady Bird.”

The course requires collaboration and peer support throughout the creative process. Cordero said the class has been amazing so far, especially during the script writing phase. She described the environment by stating: “Picture a writer’s room in a circle and we are just spilling out different ideas, talking to each other, editing every day [and] peer reviewing.” Apart from the directors she looks up to, Cordero also drew inspiration from old journal entries and conversations with friends. She “kind of fell in love with the story,” and as she continued writing, “it kind of just came out” naturally.

Another student, FMT major Ryan Heller ’26, shared similar experiences in developing her film. Heller anticipated taking a directing-focused course after already gaining experience in production assistant roles. She was excited to explore the “niche part of filmmaking that you don’t really think about.”

Heller’s film, “Getting Nowhere,” is described as a scene from a “mockumentary of students at a liberal arts college.” It features three characters: Jessica, Charlie, and Chrissy. The friends are working on a thesis and developing a film script. However, Charlie and Jessica get distracted by their banter, while Chrissy continuously attempts to keep them on track. Heller was inspired by mainstream sitcoms like “Abbott Elementary” and “The Office,” as well as other shows and movies that highlight the “behind the scenes of creating entertainment,” such as “The Studio” and “Hacks”.

Having grown up with theater experience as well, Heller explained, “I pretty much stick to, like, dramatic theater … so I wanted to challenge myself and do something more comedic.”

As an FMT major, Heller has accumulated hands-on experience with media in other courses and through internships in the entertainment industry, including impressive roles such as production assistant work and brand partnership positions at talent management agencies like Producer Entertainment Group and Breakpoint Booking, both based near Los Angeles, where she is from.

Heller stated this was her first time getting to write a script. Despite this, she was not nervous and instead leaned into writing about familiar environments. She implemented cliches to create character archetypes one would typically find in cinema, describing her characters as "chaotic, sarcastic film students.”

Students taking this course get the opportunity to express their personal experiences, passions, and interests through the art of writing, filming, and production. They get to engage in different forms of communication and learn about the different perspectives that can be found on a film set. According to the students interviewed, it is uncertain whether films created in this course will be publicly showcased. However, because they are personal projects, students have the option to include them in portfolios and feature them independently.

Leah Dutcher ’28 contributed fact-checking.

Cheap ending of "Weapons" becomes its own undoing

Graphic by Betty Smart ’26

Contains spoilers for “Weapons” and “Barbarian.”

By Sarah Berger ‘27

Arts & Entertainment Editor

If you’ve been online in the past several months, chances are you’ve seen a trailer for “Weapons.” The premise of the movie is immediately intriguing. One night, all the children in a classroom at school disappear, arms splayed out as they fal into the void. All of them… except one. “Weapons” centers on the children’s teacher — who is the prime suspect — as well as the father of a missing child, the school principal, a police officer, and a man addicted to drugs. The first hour or so of the movie is incredible. Although your feelings about each of the different characters may vary, the way suspense is built through each of their perspectives is highly effective. The viewer repeatedly sees the same scenes play out, with different details added each time,culminating in a reveal where “Weapons” will either grab you or lose you.

The reason that the children disappeared is a witch. The ultimate success of this reveal depends on both what you were expecting and what you’re willing to tolerate. There are allusions to the supernatural early on in the movie, but most of them turn out to be dreams. About twenty minutes before the big reveal, it may be obvious that something paranormal is at play, but perhaps not, making it an effective surprise, but maybe not a welcome one.

While what the witch represents is truly horrible — lack of agency, loss, forced silence, selfishness — since she is the physical manifestation of these things, it’s important to consider what she looks like. She’s an old woman who wears obscene amounts of makeup, dresses in outdated clothes, and has hair a clownish orange reminiscent of Pennywise the Clown. Horror movies are often reliant on grotesque and cartoonish representations of evil, for better or for worse, but considering director Zach Cregger’s former work, a theme emerges. In 2022’s “Barbarian,” one of the antagonists was an emaciated nude woman known as Mother. Although Mother wasn’t necessarily framed as evil, her presence made up the movie’s primary scares. Mother subjugates the characters of “Barbarian” in order to fulfill her desire to parent. Gladys, the witch in “Weapons,” forces the residents of the town into a catatonic state in order to remain young and/or healthy. It seems as though the worst thing that Cregger can imagine is an unattractive woman with inconvenient desires.

Weapons is not a comedy. It can be heartbreaking and terrifying, with many scenes that are best watched from in between your fingers. It’s a shame that it forgets this in its last ten minutes, in which the missing children are directed by magic to chase Gladys. The ensuing scene, while conceptually cathartic, relies far too heavily on comedy. The children smash through windows. The sound cuts in and out. A neighborhood father complains about the effect that the Witch’s eventual dismemberment has on his lawn. It would better fit a chase scene from Looney Tunes than the conclusion to a horror movie. In the context of the rest of the plot, the scene is silly, undercutting the terror the movie has worked so hard to create.

“Weapons” could have been memorable for its plot and tone, but instead, it is more likely to be remembered for the seemingly unnecessary, over the top grotesquery achieved by countless horror movies before it.

Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.

Five films to watch that capture the essence of fall at Mount Holyoke

Graphic by Brianna Stockwell ’28

Mary Grahn

Staff Writer

With temperatures in the 70s and trees still green, it’s been easy to forget that fall is almost here. Despite the weather’s reluctance to leave summer behind, many Mount Holyoke College students are ready to welcome autumn and all of its seasonal festivities and rituals: celebrating Mountain Day and Halloween; wearing sweaters, and cozying up to watch films that capture the fall spirit. Here are some films that do just that!

Little Women (2019)

“Little Women” adapts Lousia May Alcott’s classic novel by the same name. The film centers on the March sisters as they navigate their lives as women in 19th-century America, exploring themes such as growing up, family and love. Although the story takes place over several years and seasons, the film’s sweeping landscapes, autumnal foliage, and cozy vibe make it feel quintessentially fall.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Set in a preparatory boarding school, “Dead Poets Society” follows a group of students as they encounter a new English teacher who inspires them to seize the day: Carpe Diem. As the film depicts the students’ self-discovery, it slowly transitions from fall to winter, satisfyingly showcasing the beauty of the two seasons.

Knives Out (2019)

“Knives Out” is a whodunnit, a class commentary, and an all around delightful watch. The film revolves around the family of successful crime novelist Harlan Thrombey, who argue over the distribution of the massive wealth left after the patriarch’s mysterious death. Soon, detective Benoit Blanc begins to investigate. The film’s wardrobe of cozy sweaters and coats is perfect for fall. Moreover, the story’s mystery pairs well with the spooky atmosphere of the season.

Various Horror Movies

In a list of fall films, it would be remiss not to include any horror movies. Unfortunately, if this article included every frightful film that deserved a mention, it would be too long for MHN to print. Thus, here is an abbreviated list of horror movies to watch this fall: “Jennifer’s Body” (2009), “The Ring” (2002), “The Conjuring” (2013), and “Halloween” (1978).

Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

How does one summarize Rocky Horror? The film has been influential for its depiction of sexual freedom and gender nonconformity. Additionally, it is an incredibly entertaining movie that plays with all sorts of horror and sci-fi tropes, which makes it perfect for Halloween. It’s also a rock musical. There’s a lot to say about this film and that’s not even mentioning the shenanigans that take place at many in-person screenings. If this description intrigues you, you can check it out yourself at a showing at Amherst Cinema on Oct. 30.

Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.