Spring 2012 Events

23-25 February

African Dance in the Diaspora

The purpose of African Dance in the Diaspora is to bring together scholars and practitioners of African diaspora dances and cultures to engage in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary discussions on modernization, creolization, globalization, identity, and more.  The concept of diaspora becomes increasingly important as cities and regions become more racially and culturally diverse; diaspora is one way of understanding the way collective groups create and maintain identity, culture and an attachment to a homeland. The African diaspora continues to contribute to multiple aspects of society throughout the Americas and the World, the most well-known of which include song, music and dance.

Program of events: 

Thursday, February 23, 2012
Fine Arts B Room 103
5:00-6:15pm
Talk by Yvonne Daniel
Introduction by Faye Harrison
Citizenship in the Swirl of Diaspora Dance Genres: a Video/Lecture Presentation

Friday, February 24, 2012
Reitz Union Room 282
1:30-3:00pm
Showing of Movement (R)evolution Africa :a story of an art form in four acts
Followed by a discussion with Producer and Director, Joan Frosch

3:15pm-5pm Round Table Discussion (20 minute presentations followed by discussion)
Joan Frosch, Moderator
Yvonne Daniel , Agency in Spanish Caribbean Social Dance
Jeanguy Saintus , Haïti, danse sacrée (entre tradition et modernité)
Haiti, sacred dance (in a contemporary world and/or concept)
Elizabeth Chin, Katherine Dunham

7:30-10:00 pm
Reception at Puerto ta'gwa
8:30pm Performance by Janete Silva
Through choreographed and improvisational movement and music, this performance will embody Afro-Brazilian dance from dances to the Orixas to Samba.

8:30-10:00pm Live Latin Music, Open to the Public

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Open community dance workshop with Jeanguy Saintus
7:30pm Ronald K. Brown Evidence, A Dance Company
Philips Center, 352-392-2787 for tickets

Invited Guests

Yvonne Daniel, Professor Emerita, Dance and Afro-American Studies, Smith College
Daniel teaches dance and anthropology and is a specialist in Caribbean societies, cross-cultural dance and performance and social inequality. Dr. Daniel has a new book forthcoming in 2011 entitled, Caribbean and Atlantic Diaspora Dance: Igniting Citizenship, from University of Illinois Press. Her book, Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba (1995, Indiana University Press) traces race, gender and class in contemporary Cuba through the analysis of dance performance. Her current research is on linkages within the African diaspora, especially between the Caribbean and the U.S., in terms of resistance, continuities and distinctions.

Jeanguy Saintus, Choreographer and Founder of Ayikodans
Visionary choreographer, dancer and educator, Saintus expresses the rich fusion of Caribbean culture and the contemporary life of his country through the body.  He studied anthropology, sociology and languages; Haitian traditional dance, classical, modern and contemporary technique. He also founded Cie Ayikodans in 1987, which established a dance and cultural center and training program.

Elizabeth Chin
Chin received a PhD from NYU in Anthropology in 1996 and a BFA in Drama and Anthropology in 1985. She has studied, taught, and performed Haitian Folklore for over 20 years, both in the U.S. and in Haiti.  Her teachers include Jean Leon Destiné, founder of Haiti's national ballet, Emerante de Pradines Morse, Mona Amira, Florencia Pierre,  Elle Johnson and Katherine Dunham.  A professor of Anthropology in the department of Critical Theory and Social Justice at Occidental College, she is at work on an ethnographic project examining contemporary dancers, race, and the preservation of Dunham Technique.

Interest of research lie within children and childhood; consumption; dance; race; urban geography; Haiti. She approaches these from an ecumenical theoretical perspective, grounded in political economy, critical theory and a good dose of literary, artistic and post modern influences. She has been published and written articles for a number of journals and anthologies, her books include 2001s Purchasing Power and her forthcoming The Consumer Diaries. She has taught at Hofstra, NYU, Duke and Oxy over the last 20 years.

Janete Silva, Dancer and Choreographer
Janete Silva has studied dance since childhood and has performed with various local and international companies such as Dance Brazil (NY), Bale Folclórico da Bahia (Brazil), Bahia Brazil (Los Angeles), Orquestra Popular da Bahia (Brasil), Freddiek Bratcher and Company (Miami) to name a few. Her professional training includes Afro-Brazilian Dance, Ballet, Modern Dance and Silvestre Technique. Janete has appeared as a dancer on star singer Ivete Sangalo's recent DVD who will be performing at Madison Square Garden in NYC on September 4th.

Currently, Janete is a master dance teacher in New York City.  Rooted in the orixa's dance tradition, Janete navigates with ease through modern and contemporary dance crafting a more holistic, style of samba for her performance.

• For more information, contact agreen@latam.ufl.edu

• Sponsored by the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, UF Center for Latin American Studies, Center for World Arts, the UF Black Graduate Student Organization, UF Performing Arts, UF School of Theatre and Dance, and Puerto ta'gwa

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