Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Symposium, workshop to focus on mixing of African, American musical forms

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The complex commingling of musical forms among the cultures of Africa and the Americas will be explored during a symposium and workshop April 16-17 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to the presentation of academic papers, “Circuits of Style: Musical Interchange Between and Among Africa and the Americas,” will feature a music-and-dance performance, two music-and-dance workshops and an Afro-Latin social dance party. Most activities will take place at the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.

The symposium is aimed, in part, toward K-12 educators, but is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the UI’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, in cooperation with several other campus units.

“Calypso, jazz, son, hip-hop and rumba are among the many complex musical forms resulting from centuries of ongoing transatlantic exchange, back and forth, between and among Africa and the Americas,” said Nan Volinsky, the center’s academic programs and outreach coordinator. “This symposium and its workshop connect comparative cases of musical practice in Africa and the Americas to define diasporas as multidirectional circuits of style.”

The program opens at 7 p.m. on April 16 at Levis Center with a keynote address by Pomona College music professor Katherine Hagedorn. Her topic will be “Sonic Portraits of Afro-Cuba Orichas: Towards a Theology of Sound.”

Hagedorn’s presentation will be followed, at 8:30 p.m., by a music-and-dance performance, “Spanish Stew for the Soul: Capturing the African Diaspora Through Music, Dance and Song.” The performance will be presented by the Indianapolis-based Sancocho Music and Dance Collage. Anthony Artis is the music director of the group.

Paper panels will be held the following day, beginning at 9 a.m. At 4:15 p.m., two music and dance performance workshops will be offered: “Step Into the Roda: Introduction to Capoeira,” with the UI’s “Cordão de Ouro” Capoeira Club; and “A Bailar Chancletas: Experience the Rhythms of Oriente,” with Sancocho Afro-Cuban Music and Dance Collage.

Capping off the activities for symosium and workshop participants will be an Afro-Latin social dance from 8-11 p.m., with Fotamana and disc jockey Craig Koslofsky at the Lake House, Crystal Lake Park, Urbana. A voluntary contribution of $5 will be collected at the door.

More information, including a detailed schedule of activities and registration form, is available on the Web.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010