February 9-10, 2019

Registration opens at 8:00 a.m. both conference days. February 9th register at the Ralph Bunch Center and February 10th register in the Ira Aldridge box office

(workshop locations subject to change)

Dancing Identity

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Identity has historically been an elusive phenomenon to define. It is both static and dynamic, and is constructed, deconstructed, preserved and appropriated, by individuals, groups, and nations. Elusiveness notwithstanding, Africana dance displays and defines identity in ways that words cannot. The conference theme, “Dancing Identity,” seeks to foster critical analysis and rigorous discourse regarding identity and the performance of dance in Africa and the African Diaspora. 

Schedule: February 9th, 2019

Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center, Main Campus

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1. Pedagogical Conversations on Africana Dance  

9:00-10:50 a.m.

Papers:

"Using African Dance As a Tool for Deepening Identity Exploration"

Truth Hunter, Connecticut College

Shani Collins-Achille, Connecticut College

"'The Internet and Africana Dance, Curse or Blessing?' Is the African Dance We See on the Internet African Dance?"

Phylise Smith, Scripps College

"Identity in African Dance: Myth and Reality"

Judith Lynne Hanna, University of Maryland

"Fare Ra Lankhi: the Circle is an Indigenous Pedagogical Space for West African Dance"

Ojeya Banks, Denison University

2. Home is Where the dance Is: Constructing Africa in the Diaspora

11:05 a.m.-12:35 p.m.

Papers:

"African Dance in Diasporic Experience: The Congos and Venezuela"

Mesi Walton, Howard University

Rehema Nkisi, Global ReConnections & Zongo Healing Dance

"Bamboula! African Diasporic Dances of the Caribbean"

Milteri Tucker, Bombazo Dance Company

"To PerforMemory an Afro-European Identity: Memory and Movement in the African Diaspora"

Layla Zami, Pratt Institute

Oxana Chi, Oxana Chi & Ensemble Xinren

Including a live performance excerpt from I Step on Air.

Lunch Break 12:35-2:00 p.m.

3. Claiming Space: African Dance Retentions in Popular Culture 

2:00-3:30 p.m.

Papers:

"Eat Me: Consuming Black Gendered Posteriors through Popular Culture Dance"

Samantha Salters, George Mason University

"Makolongulu: Ndombolo, the Ghetto Kids and Emergence of Afrobeats in the DMV"

Giltrecia Head, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Amber Golden, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

"Hip Hop, the Language of Africana Activism Vernacular: Celebrations of a People"

Patricia Dye, Teachers College Columbia University 

Hanan Hameen, Walden University

4. Screendance Session

3:45-4:15 p.m.  

Short Film:

Original Spaces: Black/African/Pacific Dance Intersections

Ojeya Banks, Denison University

Schedule: February 10th, 2019

Ira Aldridge Theatre & Childers Hall, Main Campus

**Dance and Drum Participation is limited to adults & children 12 and above**

9:00-10:30 a.m.

Dance workshop

Drum workshop

Afro-Cuban

Alberto Limonta Perez

Ira Aldridge Theatre

West African drumming

Farafina Kan

Childers Hall/Dance Studio

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Dance workshop

Drum workshop

Guinea/Djembe

Moustapha Bangoura

Ira Aldridge Theatre

West African drumming

Farafina Kan

Childers Hall/Dance Studio

12:30-2:00 p.m.

Dance workshop

Drum workshop

Afro-Cuban

Alberto Limonta Perez

Ira Aldridge Theatre

West African drumming

Farafina Kan

Childers Hall/Dance Studio

Lunch Break 2:00-3:30 p.m.

3:30-5:00 p.m.

Dance workshop

Drum workshop

5:15-6:45 p.m.

Dance workshop

Senegalese/Sabar

Asane Konte/Kankouran

Ira Aldridge Theatre

Afro-Cuban Rhythms

Alberto Limonta Perez

Childers Hall/Dance Studio

Guinea/Djembe

Moustapha Bangoura

Ira Aldridge Theatre

7:00-8:30 p.m.

Dance workshop

Senegalese

Asane Konte/Kankouran

Ira Aldridge Theatre