BOONE – Appalachian State University’s Middle for Appalachian Scientific studies declared their inaugural World-wide Roots of Appalachian Mountain Dance Symposium. Scheduled for March 31 to April 2, this symposium is no cost to anybody wishing to go to and will consist of performances, workshops, jams, movie screenings and discussions, lecture demonstrations, a keynote panel and social dances of the diverse traditions that make up the international roots of Appalachian dance. Pursuits are found on campus all over the party and Saturday options workshops and demonstrations at the Jones Property in Boone as perfectly as the Florence Thomas Art School in West Jefferson. Participants can be expecting to be released to a assortment of dance and tunes traditions such as West African, Afro-Caribbean, Cherokee and Irish dance traditions. In addition, Appalachian dance traditions, these as flatfooting and buckdancing, and their near “cousins,” this sort of as tapping, will be featured through the weekend.
Dr. Julie Shepherd-Powell, assistant professor of Appalachian Scientific studies and organizer of the symposium, has worked in conjunction with the Centre for Appalachian Experiments to invite internationally renowned lecturers and performers from the two inside and outside of the Appalachian Mountains to take part through the weekend. In addition to lecturing and carrying out, these men and women will lead options for symposium individuals to expertise these dance traditions initial hand.
Notable performers and presenters include the Raven Rock Dancers of Cherokee, North Carolina, a team established by Cherokee elder Walker Calhoun (1918-2012) Thomas F. DeFrantz, scholar of African American scientific tests and dance who will execute and present on early African American dance traditions Phil Jamison, Appalachian dance performer, caller, and historian, and creator of Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance John Turner, a renowned Watauga County flatfoot dancer, sq. dance caller, and dance board maker the Environmentally friendly Grass Cloggers of Asheville, NC, a traditional Appalachian dance collective celebrating their 50th anniversary (2021) Sherone Price, a West African dancer and Associate Professor of Dance at ASU and Khalid Saleem, an internationally renowned African drummer who will also serve as an artist-in-residence in the course of the weekend.
Highlights of the weekend involve a keynote panel discovering the historic roots of mountain dance at 4 p.m. and a general performance that includes a selection of dance styles at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 1, and a spherical robin model social dance that includes Afro Caribbean, céilí, and sq. dances on Saturday, April 2, at 7 p.m.
This event is made probable by support from the North Carolina Humanities Council, the North Carolina Arts Council and put together attempts of the ASU Heart for Appalachian Experiments, the University of Arts and Sciences and community songs and dance groups and members. The entire a few day World wide Roots of Appalachian Mountain Dance Symposium is absolutely free and open up to the public as very well as students and ASU college and personnel. Please direct any queries to the Heart for Appalachian Studies.