Join the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Dance for this year's Afro-Diasporic Dance Workshop Series!
This year, we will host a one-day event with five different workshops showcasing Afro-Latin art forms. This will be an exciting event to celebrate and experience unique and vibrant practices from the African Diaspora in the Americas. This event is FREE and Open to the Public.
Lunch will be provided from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Please register below!
About the Workshops
What to Expect
This new iteration of the Afro-Diasporic Dances workshop series will host five 55-min. classes on March 28
*Attendees should wear comfortable clothes to move in and bring water to hydrate during and between the workshops.
Schedule for Saturday, March 28
10:00 - 10:55 AM - Forró with André Gomes Felipe
11:00 - 11:55 AM - Salsa with Gerson Lanza Ruiz
12:00 - 12:55 PM - Lunch (provided)
1:00 - 1:55 PM - Tango with Emma Beltran
2:00 - 2:55 PM - Caribbean dance and Salsa/Reggaeton Fusion with Marion Ramirez
3:00 - 3:55 PM - Capoeira with Julio Beltran
About the Instructors
André Gomes Felipe - Forró
Andre is not a dance teacher, but like many Brazilians, he just loves to dance. He started dancing Forró as a teenager, participated in open classes in college, and daaaaaaaanced endlessly at concerts and popular parties throughout Brazil. He also enjoys Samba-Rock, Axé, and any rhythm that moves his body. Forró is a Brazilian ballroom dance, and the folktale goes that it was created to be accessible for all, forall, forrol, Forró... Andre teaches Forró at OSU every Wednesday, 6:30 at the Timashev Music Building. For more information, access the Instagram: ForroColumbus
Gerson Lanza Ruiz - Salsa
Originally from La Ceiba, Honduras, Gerson discovered tap dance after relocating to New York City in 2001 and quickly developed a passion for the art form. After a fruitful career living in New York City, he has taught and performed across the United States and internationally. His choreographic work at Artist at the Center was highlighted in the New York Times in 2024. Gerson is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Ohio State University
Emma Beltran - Tango
Emma Beltran has been dancing Argentine tango for nine years. Her movement background spans synchronized skating, a teaching certification in hot hatha yoga, and the martial art capoeira, which she practices in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Passionate about community-based movement arts which explore communication through music, poetry, history, and improvisation—Emma brings this spirit into her tango classes, which are friendly and accessible to all levels.
Marion Ramirez - Caribbean Dance & Salsa/Reggaeton Fusion
- Marion Ramirez is a Puerto Rican dance artist, immersed in the practice and pedagogy of somatics, collaborative art making, and improvisational dance as a tool for experiencing bodily agency, empathy, and community building. Her movement research is rooted in her cultural sensibility as a Caribbean artist and performance experiences in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Europe, South Korea, and the US. She received a BA in Dance Theater at the Laban Center in London, UK, and an MFA in Dance from Temple University. She was awarded the Reflection: Response Choreographic Commission 2019 for the multi-disciplinary project kNots and Nests in Philadelphia. Since 2023, she has curated and co-created the interdisciplinary performance project Mareas/Tides with Ojeya Cruz-Banks, honoring the ocean and calling for environmental justice in Puerto Rico. This piece has toured for over a year, recently performing at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus. She is certified in Somatic Movement Therapy and a founder of the intergenerational somatic project Caracola. She has been a long-time collaborator of choreographer Merián Soto. Recently, she led a multi-year project, Cambios de Tactica in Puerto Rico, honoring, performing and passing forward the methodologies of legendary Puerto Rican experimental choreographers as part of ‘Escuelita Fenomenal de Rompeforma,’ a project by PRAI (Puerto Rican Arts Initiative) funded by the Mellon Foundation. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Denison University and the director of Denison Dance Company.
Julio Beltran - Capoeira
Beriba (Julio Beltrán) started practicing Capoeira in 2008 and started his teaching experience around 2012, assisting his teachers' classes and later on taking the lead of his own classes. He started in Quito, Ecuador, where he was born and raised. His encounter with Capoeira was unique. The holistic nature of the art form captivated him, so his consistency in training and learning Capoeira and other Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions became part of his daily life. Since 2020, when Beriba came to the United States, he has had the opportunity to share Capoeira in different spaces, such as the American College Dance Association’s East Central Conference, at Ohio University. Beriba’s capstone project for his MA degree was an autobiographic and ethnography research, which explored notions of identity, resistance, and post-colonialism, in/through capoeira. He presented his research work on capoeira in conferences like the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference, and the Arts, Health, Wellness & Sustainable Development International Symposium at OU. He also put together a live performance of his research, presented at the Shirley Wimmer Dance Theater (School of Dance at Ohio University). As the Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Latin American Studies at The Ohio State University, Beriba led the “Capoeira in the Classroom” outreach project, through which he visits K-12 institutions across Columbus, Ohio. He also taught Capoeira classes at the Tuttle Park Community Center for kids and adults, and more recently, he has helped with classes for all ages at the Brazilian Michigan Cultural Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan.