An evening with the East Palo Alto Boxing Club: "Closeness in Boxing"

An evening with the East Palo Alto Boxing Club: "Closeness
in Boxing"
Date
Thu May 17th 2012, 5:00pm
Location
Stanford Humanities Center, Levinthal
Hall

This event brings the East Palo Alto Boxing Club to Stanford to discuss the sound, images, and performance of boxing, as well as the broader question of "closeness."

Some considerations: What are our conceptions of boxing? Let's think about.... the ability to endure and work with people getting very close to you * violence in sports vis-à-vis street violence * the boxer's body * close rivals and the intimacy of sparring * vulnerability, courage, and "heart" * dancing in the ring * how boxers learn their opponent * boxing as a springboard to sociability and membership * race in boxing * the impossibility of play in the ring * the knock-out * trustfulness between athletes and their coaches * emulating Ali * infighting * Johnnie C. Gray (Founder of the East Palo Alto Boxing Club, a non-profit program focused on at-risk youth, and three-time Golden Glove Champion) and amateur boxers from his gym will perform to a backdrop of sounds and images from the gym, and have a public conversation, moderated by Vincent Barletta, Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures. Refreshments will be served. CLOSENESS IN BOXING is a project in collaboration with the EPA Boxing Club to study the phenomenon of physical and emotional closeness and give the audience an intimate insight into the sport of boxing.

Sponsored by the Stanford Office of Community Engagement, the DLCL Performance Focal Group, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and the Stanford Humanities Center