Workshop to incorporate dance, culture

The IU African American Dance Company’s workshop is coming back to the Bloomington campus.

The 14th annual workshop, cosponsored by the African American Dance Company, African American and African Diaspora Studies, African American Arts Institute and the IU Office of Community and School Partnership, is to be presented this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25.

The dance company hopes to explore American and African Diaspora themes through dance classes and panel discussions. Using West Indian Folk, Afro Cuban traditional and contemporary modern dance, the workshop will encourage participants to learn about different cultures and non-local types of dance.

This year’s theme is “The Black Dance Experience: Learning and Respecting the Dance Discipline in African Diasporic Cultures.” The discussion panel includes speeches by four guest artists.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. Friday. The panel, as well as a dance showcase, will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday,, incorporating a few of the workshop’s highlights into the performance. It will be free and open to the public.

The panel and workshop will take place in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

Special guests attending include Alfred Baker, the founding director of the West Indian Folk Dance Company, Joel Hall, cofounder of the Chicago City Theatre Company, Rogelio Kindelan-Nordet, a past director of the Folklore Studies Department at Centro Nacional de Superación de la Enseñanza Artística, and Silfredo La O, the musical director of the Palomar College Drum and Dance Ensemble.

Each speaker brings a personal story to the workshop, either about performing professionally or directing a
production.

“The dance workshop will give anyone a great opportunity to learn various dance forms and techniques that are not usually offered in the area of central Indiana,” Director of the African American Dance Company Iris Rosa said in the press release. “It is also about connecting, establishing new relationships and forging collaborations in the dance discipline with other dancers, teachers and performers.”
Rosa is also a professor of African-American and African Diaspora studies in the
College of Arts and Sciences.

A $120 participation fee is required of attendees for both events. For just Saturday, which includes three classes, the participation fee is listed as $70. Single class fees are $25. The classes are open to the public and for all ages. For more information, contact Iris Rosa at rosa@indiana.edu or call 812-855-8079.

— Jessica Campbell