Continuously Rich: Black Women in Cultural Production

"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.

jazz education classes

The Minneapolis Public Schools' Radio Voice for Jazz and Education (Jazz88 KBEM) is partnering with Minneapolis Community Education to present a series of classes on jazz in October and November, 2010.

Ethnic Studies week

The first Ethnic Studies Week will be October 1-7, 2010. Ethnic Studies Week is a nationally coordinated week of actions to defend ethnic studies programs and academic freedom.

BlackAtlas.com

The new website BlackAtlas.com claims to offer "a unique look at travel from an African-American perspective." The website is sponsored by American Airlines, which raises interesting questions about objectivity.

Communicating with African friends and family

A new undersea fiber-optic cable along the coast of East Africa promises to improve phone and Internet communications between East Africa and the rest of the world. Here in Minnesota, particularly, immigrant and refugee populations from Somalia and Ethiopia anticipate less expensive and more reliable connections.

UROC art exhibit

The University's Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC) is staging its inaugural art exhibit, "Ancestry: Celebrating Diversity and Commonality in Community." Featuring works by Fawzia Khan and Lynn Fellman (created in collaboration with six community organizations), the exhibit can be viewed from 8:30 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. Monday through Thursday, and 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. on Friday. For additional information, visit www.deepancestryportrait.com.

revised website

The website for the Department of African American & African Sudies has been updated. As part of this process we have a new URL (http://aaas.umn.edu/) and email address (aaas@umn.edu). The old afroam.umn.edu and afroam@umn.edu URL and email address, however, are still in operation, as they get redirected to the new locations.