"Continuously Rich: Black Women in Cultural Production," a Symposium
October 21 - 23, 2010
http://www.dance.umn.edu/symposium.php
"Continuously Rich: Black Women in Cultural Production" is a University of Minnesota Dance symposium that features the work of black women choreographers working from different contexts, aesthetics, and thematic foci, and whose work comments back on any stereotypical notions of what "black dance" might be. The symposium will be held from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, 2010 at the University of Minnesota, and will begin with a keynote lecture by widely renowned performance scholar Awam Ampka entitled "African Bodies as Texts." A second keynote lecture, "Continuously Rich: Legacies of Black Women in American Concert Dance" will be presented by Thomas DeFrantz, the acclaimed scholar and author of Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance and Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African American Culture. Students of the University of Minnesota will also present their research on black women choreographers in a "History Jam" during the symposium. University of Minnesota Dance Program students will perform "Walking with Pearl...Southern Diaries," choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and re-staged by Urban Bush Women Artists, and "Dark Swan" choreographed and re-staged by Nora Chipaumire. The performances will be followed by a panel discussion with artists led by Artistic Director Ananya Chatterjea.
The symposium and the informal performances will take place in Studio 100 in the Barker Center for Dance. This event is free and open to the public. The general public will be able to see ticketed and fully produced performances of "Walking with Pearl Southern Diaries" and "Dark Swan" in the annual University Dance Theatre concert in December 2010.
