The first Fall Free for All, Cal Performances’ celebration of the opening of its new season, drew enthusiastic crowds to the UC Berkeley campus for dance, music and theater performances. Before the 1 p.m. performance of Diamano Coura West African Dance and Music in Zellerbach Hall, the line for free seats stretched across Sproul Plaza, around the corner along Bancroft Way and then down Barrow Lane to the back corner of Sproul Hall.
The day kicked off with the Cal Band playing in Lower Sproul Plaza. Kronos Quartet opened the program in Zellerbach, while the classical guitarist Marc Teicholtz was the first performer in Hertz Hall. Other performers included Mark Morris Dance Group, three Adler Fellows from the San Francisco Opera, the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, the Word for Word Theater Company, and the Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players.
For those without the patience to wait in line at Zellerbach or Hertz Hall, student musical groups performed at Sather Gate and the plaza in front of Hertz Hall. A number of a capella groups, such as the UC Men’s Octet (strangely, with only seven singers) and Noteworthy, seemed particularly popular.
