Rhythm and Blues/Bump and Groove

DONNA MEJIA * 2 hr, ALL

Saturday Aug 3, 2:30-4:30p

LOCATION: Smith Hall

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With great affection, Donna Mejia offers this workshop as a tribute to the Rhythm and Blues music of her Creole Culture. This experience will be part dance class, and part ethnomusicology!

We will explore the common denominators of blues music (the roots of contemporary R&B) as it was imported and transformed by North and West African slaves in the American South. You will be delighted to learn that some popular rhythms, instruments, and musical flavors in the U.S.A. have an unbroken lineage of influence over hundreds of years from the North African and Arabian cultures of antiquity. Fusion is as old as contact between cultures, and this workshop will address some frequent gaps of information in our own understanding of North American popular music. Our dancing will be as varied as our sonic landscape, so please come ready to explore the movement history behind our love of gritty, funky, soul-searing and syncopated music!

• Difficulty: All levels welcome
  
• Please bring: Your capture materials of choice (a journal or computer for harvesting your insights and thoughts), and your favorite reusable water container. L&C DOES NOT ALLOW DISPOSABLE WATER BOTTLES ONSITE.
• Optional: yoga mat, dance shoes, knee pads, exercise towel, 

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44 presale

54 at the door

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