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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

African American Dance Workshop to be at IU Bloomington Feb. 27-28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 10, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's African American Arts Institute, African American Dance Company will present its 12th Annual Dance Workshop on Feb. 27-28 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center on the IU Bloomington campus.

The mission of the dance workshop is to expose participants to dance from the African American and African Diaspora perspectives through master dance classes, panel discussion and enlightening dialogue.

This years' workshop features five distinguished guest artists (more biographical details are below):

• Rogeilo Kindelan-Nordet, a dancer, vocalist and percussionist from Guantanamo, Cuba, who is accomplished in the styles of Merengue Haitiano, Rumba, Gaga, Palo, Vodu, Tumba Francesa, Tajon and Chancleta. He is the former director of folkloric studies at the Centro Nacional de Superacion de la Ensenanza Artistica in Havana (Cuba's national university for the performing arts), where he also earned his doctorate. He has taught at the California Academy of Arts and Sciences, Alhambra Academy, Santa Clara University, Sacramento City College, Alice Arts Center and Humboldt State University. He has been the lead percussionist for numerous groups, including Projecto Folklorico, Banrara, Ballet de Belgium and Conjunto Folklorico Cutumba de Santiago, Cuba.

• Silfredo La O Vigo, a professional dancer in the Afro-Cuban and Haitian tradition, modern contemporary dance and popular Latin dance and a dance professor at Palomar College in San Diego, Calif. A graduate of the National School of Art in Havana, he has toured professionally with Cutumba: Ballet Folklorico Afro Cubano for five years and with the modern dance company ODC in San Francisco. He also is a visual artist and has shown his work at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the ODC Gallery in San Francisco.

• Ronne Stone, a choreographer and teacher from Indianapolis who has traveled extensively to study West African dance. A native of Florida, she studied and performed West African dance with the Orlando School of Cultural Dance for six years. For several years, she performed with two professional dance companies, Seattle's Kumba and Tampa's Adefua. For the last 10 years she has traveled extensively to study West African dance under the instruction of Yousueff Kombassa, Dejenaba Sacko and other teachers. She choreographs for various dance companies in Indianapolis and currently conducts community classes in the city.

• Elana Anderson, dancer, teacher and choreographer from Chicago who has worked extensively in television, film and stage. A native of Washington, D.C., Anderson began training professionally in dance at the age of 14 through the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She was the senior and founding member and teacher at Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre in Chicago and has worked extensively in television, film and stage. Her performance credits include work with the Philadelphia Dance Company, the D.C. Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Washington Opera and Jubilation! Dance Company, New World Dance Company, Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

• Reynaldo Gonzalez, an experienced professor of folkloric voice, dance and percussion originally from Matanzas, Cuba. A graduate of the Escuela para Instructores del Arte, Gonzalez was a principal with the prestigious Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas, with whom he performed with for 14 years. Since his arrival in the United States, Gonzalez has continued to perform and teach master classes in Afro-Cuban dance, song and percussion. He currently resides in the Boston area.

The workshop will kick off Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. with a Cuban modern dance class taught by Kindelan-Nordet and La O Vigo, followed by a class in African Dance from the Senegal and Gambian traditions taught by Stone at 3 p.m. There also is a panel discussion at 7 p.m. that evening with the artists. The topic of the discussion is "The Black Dance Experience: Passing on the Torch." This discussion is free and open to the public.

The Feb. 28 workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. with classes for beginners and advanced students in the dance styles of Afro Cuban, Cuban Modern, West African, Horton (Modern) and Salsa.

That evening, there will be a free dance showcase at Willkie Quad Auditorium, 150 N. Rose Ave. at 7 p.m.

Registration begins Feb. 27 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Feb. 28 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. To obtain a registration form, visit https://www.indiana.edu/~aaai/adc.html. Cost is $90 for full registration for two Friday classes and three Saturday classes and $55 for classes on Saturday (includes three classes). The cost for single classes will be $20. Lunch will cost $10.

For more information, contact Olivia Hairston at the IU African American Arts Institute at 812-855-5427 and olhairs@indiana.edu.

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