Archives

Joy Resides Here: An Interactive Justice Journey of Oral History/Telling and Diasporic African Drum and Dance Traditions

Uncover how Diasporic African Polyrhythms from Africa, Brazil and America create mechanisms for place-making. Experience a Porch Choreo-Story from a Historically Black Neighborhood while learning about the Great Migration. Oral History/telling practices allow us to document our own stories, and speak for ourselves. Using dance as text, students will dance a friendship quality in the […]

Afro-Puerto Rican Folkloric Music: la Bomba y la Plena

Segunda Quimbamba is a cultural gem based in Jersey City. Led by Master Drummer Juan Cartagena and Master Dancer Nanette Hernández, the band performs and teaches Afro-Puerto Rican folkloric music La Bomba and La Plena, honoring their ancestors and heritage through practicing this preservation. The call-and-response music creates a collaborative artistic space in Bomba for […]

Patterns in Nature: From Science to Art

This workshop (or series of) will focus on the beauty, design and function of patterns, forms and structures found in the natural world. Topics including branching, the spiral/Fibonacci, star/radial, retiform/mesh, hyperbolic geometry, symmetry, etc. will be explored. Students will observe and draw from natural specimens and images, define and study, then create 2D and 3D […]

Good Character

This performance includes a series of interactive stories about good character told by Muslim grandmothers to their grandchildren. The performance is accompanied by percussive instruments from each of the countries presented, including Pakistan, America, China, Mali and Guyana. Highlights include the sharing of values that are similar across Muslim and non-Muslim countries as well as […]

Music & Movement Where Muslims Live

Experience the music and movement traditions of Islam.  Karim Nagi guides students in a participatory experience of music and dance from different Muslim communities around the world.  Karim shares dances from communities in both the Near and Far East.  This program is a perfect opportunity for children to enjoy a meaningful and distinctive aspect of […]

Transforming Learning Through Chinese Theatre

Though the use of Chinese Theatre, this professional learning supports teachers to discover the benefits and possibilities for using puppetry as a creative teaching and learning strategy. Teachers will gain an understanding of how and when puppetry can be used to 1) support a positive classroom culture, 2) introduce curriculum topics, 3) enhance creativity, and […]

Feet, Drum, Voice: A Soul Steps Workshop

This Soul Steps program explores the rich African-American cultural tradition known as step. Students use their bodies to create hip-hop infused rhythms through call and response patterns and foundational step choreography. They also examine step’s early roots in the mines of South Africa, through South African gumboot dance. If time permits, students can share a […]