Students to learn African-Cuban dances

Students and Bloomington residents will have the opportunity to dance the weekend away during workshops in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and the Indiana Memorial Union.\nFriday and Saturday, students will have the option of taking workshops that will focus on Afro-Cuban dances, modern dance, jazz dance, salsa and traditional dances from Africa, said Iris Rosa, who created the workshops. Registration will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. Registration will be available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Center, said African American Dance Company road manager Deara Ball. \nRosa said there is a fee for all of the workshops. Participants can pay $90 for the whole weekend or $20 for just one workshop.\nThe workshops, which are being put together by IU’s African American Arts Institute, the African American Dance Company and the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, will mark the 11th year of the dancing tradition, Ball said.\nRosa, who is also director and choreographer of the African American Dance Company, said the goal of the workshops has always been the same.\n“The workshops (are) an opportunity (for) students to engage in dance techniques in African Diaspora,” Rosa said. \nExperts in these dance techniques, including Elana Anderson, Rogelio Kindelan-Nordet, Silfredo La O Vigo and Ronne Stone, will come from around the country to teach these workshops, Rosa said.\nBall said all of the workshops are unique. \nA free panel discussion, “The Black Dance Experience: The Use of Culture of the Diaspora to Shape Performance,” will be held at 7 p.m. Friday in Woodburn Hall 101. A free dance performance will be put on by various youth dance groups at 7 p.m. Saturday in Willkie Auditorium, Rosa said. \nThese events will occur in conjunction with the workshops, Ball said.\nThe panel discussion will feature all of the guest dance instructors discussing all of the different dance styles, Ball said.\nKim Morris-Newson, pre-college program coordinator, said the performance on Saturday is one she always looks forward to. \nMorris-Newson said the Office of Community and School Partnership is funding students from Emerson High School for Visual and Performing Arts and a GI dance troupe from Gary, Ind.\nThe high school students and the dance troupe will be able to participate in all of the workshops and will perform their routines during the performance Saturday night. \nMorris-Newson, who has previously participated in the workshops, encourages people from all levels to participate.\n“I like learning different cultural dances,” Morris-Newson said. “But I know they are going to be challenging.”\nRosa said people should come out to learn about diversity and culture through dance.\n“We rarely get to see dance from other perspectives ... (that) the student population can find interesting,” she said.