Monday, December 9, 2019

Page 1

Monday, December 9, 2019

IDS Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com

The toll it took, page 6 FOOTBALL

IU to play in Gator Bowl By William Coleman wicolema@iu.edu | @WColeman08

IDS FILE PHOTO

Raffaella Stroik performs during rehearsals in 2016 at the Musical Arts Center. Stroik was found dead last year in Monroe County, Missouri.

A ballet for Raffaella Raffaella Stroik's parents are commissioning a ballet about the life of the former IU ballerina after her death last fall. By Annie Aguiar aguiara@iu.edu | @annabelaguiar

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Raffaella Stroik danced in “The Nutcracker” every holiday season since she was 5. Her first on-stage role as a ballerina was delivering flowers to the Sugar Plum Fairy, a part she would eventually dance as she grew older. On Dec. 5 , Duncan and Ruth Stroik drove down from their home in South Bend, Indiana, to attend this season’s IU Ballet Theater production of “The Nutcracker” without Raffaella, who died last November. “She’s not in ‘The Nutcracker,’ and she should be,” Duncan said. More than a year after the death of their daughter Raffaella, Duncan and Ruth are commissioning and producing a ballet about their daughter’s life. The Jacobs School of Music has agreed to premiere the ballet, which is currently scheduled for the spring of 2022. Raffaella studied at IU’s Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department until 2017 and began working as a ballerina at the St. Louis Ballet after college. She went missing in November 2018, and a search party of more than 100 people looked for her before her body was found in a lake in Mark Twain State Park, around 100 miles northwest of St. Louis. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning. She was 23.

Raffaella’s standards were high, Duncan remembers. When he would take the young ballerina to see professional ballets in New York or Chicago, he would ask her afterwards: “Wasn’t that really great?” “Dad, come on, that wasn’t very good,” she would say before listing her critiques — a bad turnout or prerecorded music when she preferred her musical accompaniment live. It wasn’t that she was unappreciative, Duncan said, it was her love of the art of ballet.

“When I’m on stage, I just feel this amazing joy and love. I just want the audience to feel that way.” Former IU ballerina Raffaella Stroik in a 2015 interview with the Herald-Times

Duncan’s worried the ballet he and his wife are producing won’t be up to Raffaella’s standards. “I’m worried I won’t meet them,” he said. “I’m worried I’ll do things that she won’t like. But that’s good because maybe then I’ll do a better job. But I’m thinking that

all the time.” The show is a special one for the family. Raffaella danced in 17 years’ worth of productions as she moved from school to school and company to company. At a production one year in Elkhart, Indiana, Ruth was watching from the audience as Raffaella danced in “The Nutcracker” and broke into tears. She was struck by how emotionally connected Raffaella was to the audience. “I thought, ‘well I’m her mother, I’m connected,’” Ruth said. “But then I looked down the aisle and all the other moms were crying too. So then I felt like, I’m not the only one connecting with her.” One of four daughters, Raffaella wanted to be a ballerina from early on and started taking classes at age 3. The Stroiks say while she wasn’t always the top ballerina in her company as she grew up, she took it very seriously from a young age. “I like to dance for others,” Raffaella said in a 2015 interview with the Herald-Times as she prepared for the role of Odette, Queen of the Swans in “Swan Lake.” “When I’m on stage, I just feel this amazing joy and love. I just want the audience to feel that way.” Duncan said she flowered at IU, especially under the instruction of famed French ballerina and ballet SEE RAFFAELLA, PAGE 4

IU will play in the 2020 Gator Bowl against University of Tennessee at 7 p.m. on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida. The only prior meeting between IU and Tennessee was at the 198788 season’s Peach Bowl. The Volunteers, 8-2-1, were ranked No. 17 in the country while the Hoosiers, 8-2, were not ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll. Tennessee sealed the game with a go-ahead touchdown within the game’s final two minutes to beat IU 27-22. “Playing in the historic TaxSlayer Gator Bowl is a great opportunity for our team,” vice president and Director of Athletics Fred Glass said in an IU Athletics press release. “Earning an invitation to our first ever Florida bowl game is a reflection of the hard work of our players and staff, and yet another remarkable achievement, in a season of remarkable achievements. We greatly look forward to bringing Hoosier Nation to Jacksonville, competing against a high-quality opponent in the Tennessee Volunteers and having the opportunity to be TaxSlayer Gator Bowl champions.” The Hoosiers are after their first bowl win since the 1991 Copper Bowl, a 24-0 shutout win. IU’s last bowl appearance came in 2016, a 26-24 loss to then-No. 19 University of Utah in the Foster Farms Bowl. This season was just the eighth ever in which the Hoosiers finished with at least five wins in Big Ten play. It’s also IU’s first eight-win season since 1993, but its bowl game represents a chance for the third nine-win season in school history. With a win over Tennessee, IU head coach Tom Allen would join Lee Corso and Bill Mallory as the SEE FOOTBALL, PAGE 4

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Wise leads IU past North Florida By Will Trubshaw wtrubsha@iu.edu | @Willtrubs

“I am very excited and happy about how the Women in Business responded, which is exactly how we teach our girls here at Girls Inc. that when you are confronted with misogyny and ignorance, to face it

No. 14 IU women’s basketball got the win it was looking for, even if it wasn’t the best 40 minutes the team has played this season. In its return to Assembly Hall after nearly three weeks on the road, IU defeated the University of North Florida 72-45. Without leading scorer and sophomore guard Grace Berger for the second consecutive game, the Hoosiers relied on scoring from senior forward Brenna Wise’s 22 points. “On a night where we couldn’t get things going, it was big,” IU head coach Teri Moren said. “Obviously, she took it upon herself to make some aggressive plays at the rim. She was probably the bright spot of the night offensively. You expect your seniors to step up when you have situations like we did tonight.” Wise was the primary offensive option for IU’s offense as the Hoosiers once again looked unsure of themselves, at least through two quarters. The Hoosiers went on a 17-0 scoring run in the first quarter, with four points from Wise and six from junior guard Ali Patberg. The defense was gashed in the second

SEE BUSINESS, PAGE 4

SEE BASKETBALL, PAGE 4

IU’s Women in Business raises $14,000 By Jess Prucha jprucha@iu.edu | @jess_prucha

Women in Business fundraised $14,000 benefitting Girls Inc. of Monroe County through their sweatshirt sale, with a total of 3,400 sweatshirts sold. The fundraiser was in response to IU professor Eric Rasmusen’s controversial tweet. The student organization created black sweatshirts reading “Female genius.” on the front and “Support women in academia” on the back in white lettering. Members of the organization distributed the sweatshirts Friday in Hodge Hall. Women in Business president and IU senior Mandy Novicoff said she created the sweatshirts to spread a positive message about women in academia. “We're an accepting campus, we’re a supportive campus and we’re here for everyone,” Novicoff said. Novicoff said the fundraiser sold 100 hoodies within the first 20 minutes after the link went live. “We knew from that moment that it was going to be something absolutely huge,” Novicoff said.

Students shared the link to the sweatshirts on social media and in group chats, Novicoff said. “We started receiving such good feedback about it that people’s friends from all across the nation wanted them, so we’ve sold hoodies from California to New Jersey to New York,” Novicoff said. Through the link, students could purchase the sweatshirt or donate to Girls Inc. IU senior Binita Madaiah, vice president of membership for Women in Business, said her organization chose Girls Inc. as the beneficiary because it has worked with Girls Inc. in the past and admire its mission. “We felt like it was the right organization because they support women who are struggling to go to school every day,” Madaiah said. Girls Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides academic support and physical activity programs for girls ages 6 to 18. The organization focuses on empowering and advocating for girls. Martha Whitmill, communications and development director of Girls Inc. of Monroe County, said

IZZY MYSZAK | IDS

Freshmen Claire Given, left, and Amber Zhao, right, pass out sweatshirts Dec. 6 in Hodge Hall. The Women In Business organization sold sweatshirts that said “Female Genius.” as a fundraiser for Girls Inc.

she is grateful that Women in Business fundraised for Girls Inc. “It was creative and made an opportunity out of a bad experience,” Whitmill said. Whitmill said the fundraiser was a smart way to respond to Rasmusen’s tweet.


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