DANCING WHILE BLACK: Master Classes for the Masses
Saturday, February 27 at 2 PM - 6:30 PM
Dancing Grounds l 3705 St Claude Ave
Master Classes for the Masses is an artistic training and community-building forum where participants can experience the unique aesthetics and teaching methodologies of Black experimental master artists while building their artistic network. 2:00 - 3:30pm The Technology of the Circle | Onye Ozuzu The Technology of the Circle is a performance process that uses the circle as a structure for diverse dance improvisation practices. From Breaking, Afro-Cuban, Contemporary Ballet, House, West African, these forms will merge with contemporary dance and theatre improvisational techniques and emerge as a fluid tool for the crafting of layered, powerful, individual and embodied civic discourse. 3:30 - 5:00pm Ourwombtruth | Jaimé Dzandu & Brittany Williams This workshop is centered around creating space for women and girls of color to dance our truth, build connection, reenergize and reclaim ourselves through sisterhood. Please expect to groove, reflect, release and create in your full self! 5:00 - 6:30PM Modern Roots | Nia Love Nia Love's Contemporary Modern class focuses on the ever-expanding power of the Africanist presence in modern movement. The engine of the class is the syncopated and poly-rhythmic body. Exhilarating crisp and sharp release, rounded drop-n-stack gestures and agrarian movement sensibilities power the legs, feet, pelvis, arm and head through space. Afro-Beat, Blues, Butoh and Funk landscapes are harvested and become identifiers that contextualize the power and force of the urban gait, the grounded pulsations, the flick, 'wack' and head-bobbing gestures that underscore the notion of trans-global movement. This class will equip the 21st century dance artist' tool box into a more equitable conversation about the linage contemporary modern and post modern dance. All events are free and open to the public. No registration neccessary. SPACE IS LIMITED. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. DANCING WHILE BLACK: On Fertile Ground presented by New York-based Angela's Pulse and New Orleans-based Junebug Productions, engages three generations of Black women choreographers from across the nation with New Orleans communities, culture bearers, and Black college students. Through workshops, site-responsive performance, and work-in-progress showings, collaborators will explore art making practices for social movement building. This cultural exchange is rooted in the past and present legacy of Black creative change-making in New Orleans. DANCING WHILE BLACK is supported by Surdna Foundation and Dance/USA's Engaging Dance Audiences. The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster sustainable communities in the United States - communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures. Engaging Dance Audiences is administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
