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News Release

Last modified: Monday, February 25, 2008

African American Dance Workshop to be at IU Bloomington Feb. 29-March 1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 25, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's African American Arts Institute, African American Dance Company and Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies will present the 11th Annual Dance Workshop this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 29-March 1) on the IU Bloomington campus.

Iris Rosa, the workshop's creator and the director of the African American Dance Company, said the mission of the annual workshop is to expose students and community members to experiences in a broad range of dance styles and movement expression from the perspective of the African American and African Diaspora.

Guest artists will teach master classes and discuss the black dance experience. Keynote speeches and panel discussions also are planned. All events are open to students and the public.

The workshop will feature master dance classes in Modern (Horton), Jazz, Afro-Cuban, African and Salsa styles, as well as a choreographic workshop. Classes will be taught at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave.; and the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. A choreography workshop for advanced students on Saturday will take place in the dance studio in the School of Health Physical Education and Recreation, 1025 E. Seventh St.

A panel discussion, "The Black Dance Experience: The Use of Culture of the Diaspora to Shape Performance," will begin at 7 p.m. Friday in room 101 of Woodburn Hall, 1100 E. Seventh St.

A dance showcase at 7 p.m. on Saturday will close out workshop events at Willkie Auditorium, 150 N. Rose Ave. It will be held in conjunction with a closing reception for IU's Black History Month celebration.

While there is a registration fee to participate in the workshop, there is no charge for the panel discussion or the dance workshop.

Guest artists include:

• Elana Anderson, senior and founding member and teacher at Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago, Ill. Anderson began dancing at the Ellington School of the Arts and danced with Jubilation! from 1986 to 1989. Known as a Horton modern dance specialist, she is pursuing a master of arts degree at Howard University. She has been a guest artist with the African American Dance Company's Annual Dance Workshop since 1998.
• Terence Greene, a professional performer who has performed in touring productions of "Dream Girls," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Black Nativity," "Show Boat," "The Merry Widow" and "Carousel." A graduate of the Cleveland School of the Arts, he studied with Karamu House, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Cleveland Ballet, Chuck Davis Dance Theatre, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the Dayton Ballet. His teachers included Donald Byrd, Pearl Primus, Kevin Ward, Jeraldyne Blunden, Donald McKayle and Ulysses Dove.

He has choreographed and taught at the Cleveland School of the Arts, The Colonel White School of Performing Arts, The Wittenberg Dance Ensemble, Howard University's Children's Theatre, Purdue University, Valencia College and the American Dance Festival in North Carolina. He currently is head consultant for the Dance Department at the Cleveland School of the Arts and artistic director for the Urban Dance Collective and Mt. Zion Liturgical Dancers. He will teach the jazz dance class with modern dance influences.

• Rogeilo Kindelan-Nordet, an accomplished dancer, vocalist, and percussionist from Guantanamo, Cuba, who is expert in Merengue Haitiano, Rumba, Gaga, Palo, Vodu, Tumba Francesa, Tajona and Chancleta. His family of musicians and dancers of Haitian descent nurtured his talents. He holds the equivalent of a MFA degree from the Centro Nacional de Superacion de la Ensenanza Artistica in Havana, where he has held several professorships and served as director of the Folkloric Studies Department from 1982 to 1985.

Kindelan-Nordet teaches Caribbean music and dance and Cuban Salsa workshops in California, including at the California Academy of Arts and Sciences, Alhambra Academy, Santa Clara University, Sacramento City College and Humboldt State University. He also has been lead percussionist for numerous groups, including Projecto Folklorico, Banrara, Ballet de Belgium, and Conjunto Folklorico Cutumba de Santiago.

• Silfredo La O Vigo, a professional dancer in the Afro-Cuban and Haitian traditions, modern contemporary dance and popular Latin dance. A graduate of the National School of Art in Havana, Cuba, where he obtained a bachelor of arts in modern dance and Afro-Cuban dance, he toured professionally with Cutumba: Ballet Folklorico Afro-Cubano for five years.

La O Vigo performed with the modern dance company ODC in San Francisco from 2001-2003. He now resides in San Diego and is a dance professor and musical director of the Drum and Dance Ensemble at Palomar College. He will teach the Oriente dance traditions with Kindelan-Nordet, beginning with a modern dance warm-up technique from the "Tecnica Cubana," a codified style of modern dance created and practiced in Cuba.

• Ronne Stone, a Florida native who studied and performed West African Dance with the Orlando School of Cultural Dance for six years. Upon graduation, she spent several years performing with the professional dance companies Kumba in Seattle and Adefua in Tampa.

For the past 10 years, Stone has traveled extensively to study West African dance under the instruction of Yousueff Kombassa, Dejenaba Sacko and others. She is a choreographer for dance companies in Indianapolis and currently conducts community classes in the city. She will be teaching African Dance from the Senegal and Gambian West African traditions.

To participate, download a registration form from the AAAI Web site at http://www.indiana.edu/~aaai/ADC.htm. Full registration fees for both days is $90 for adults. Saturday registration, which includes three classes, is $55. Single classes are $20.

For more information, contact Iris Rosa, director of the African American Dance Company , at 812-855-6873, rosa@indiana.edu or iuadcworkshop@yahoo.com.

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