This year, CLAS and the Department of Dance will host guest teachers and artists sharing their knowledge and body practices from different parts of the continent. 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.
About the Workshops
What to Expect
This new iteration of the Afro-Diasporic Dances workshop series will host eight fifty-minute classes, four on each day, between March 22 and March 29.
*Attendees should wear comfortable clothes to move in and bring water to hydrate during and between the workshops.
Schedule for Saturday, March 29
10:00 -10:50 AM - Forró with André Gomes Felipe
11:00 -11:50 AM - Cumbia Norteña with Frine Garrey y Jorge Santana
12:00 -12:50 PM - Lunch
1:00 -1:50 PM- Samba with Montë Murphy
2:00 -2:50 PM- Capoeira with Mestre Lobinho
Meet the Artists
André Gomes Felipe - Forró
André Gomes Felipe 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: Forró Columbus
Frine Garrey & Jorge Santana - Cumbia Norteña
Frine Garrey is a dancer, trainer and choreographer who graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea specializing in Choreography. Founder of the Urban Folk Dance Mexico Company, she focuses on training with different urban techniques, emphasizing Quebradita Acrobatic dance and other popular urban and Latin dance genres. She has represented Mexico in some of the most important congresses, events, and television programs in the United States and Mexico City.
Jorge Santana is a professional dancer of the popular Mexican dance genres Quebradita, cumbia norteña, and huapango. He has years participating in various transnational competitions, where he has received many accolades and first place positionings for his work. He has 8 years of experience in Mexican social dance genres and specializes in Quebradita Acrobática (Acrobatic Quebradita).
Montë Murphy - Samba
I’m Montë. A Black affirming Ethnochoreologist, Choreographer/Educator, Scholar, Writer, Choreographer, Filmmaker, and Artivist leading my work with the voices and stories of my community and ancestors. Artistic Director and Founder of A Brotha’s Luv in Motion: A Dance Project, Inc. where the values are Embrace, Embody, Empower, or E cubed. I am an archivist and preserver of Africanist Cultural & Spiritual practices and traditions of: the United States, Caribbean, Brazil, and West & Central Africa and a developer of community engagement for the Afro-diasporic mind and body. Currently pursuing a dual MFA/MA in Dance & Latin American Studies at the Ohio State University. My current research looks at the Afro-American & Afro-Brazilian communities, and asks if the preservation of cultural heritage through resistance can be used as a tool for auto genealogy and how masquerade & embodied ritual of African Traditional Religions transmute communities and build liberated worlds.
Mestre Lobinho - Capoeira
Mestre Lobinho (Fabio Cosmo da Cunha) began training in 1998 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lobinho has been teaching in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas of Michigan for 8 years. Lobinho has taught kids programs from ages 2 to 18, adults, and specializes in persons with disabilities. As a young boy, he was a student at a non-profit in Brazil to help underprivileged kids in the community. Coordinated by his teacher and under his guidance, Lobinho had the opportunity to train and participate in many capoeira events around the world and is well known across the globe. By the time Lobinho was 16, he was already teaching classes to other adults. When he was 18, he worked in local preschools teaching capoeira full-time in Brazil. Lobinho has extensive knowledge of capoeira and is a wonderful teacher for persons of all ages. Currently a lecturer at the Department of Dance at the University of Michigan, Lobinho has also taught innumerous workshops and classes around the Midwest, the United States, and in other countries like Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and more.
This event is co-organized by the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Dance at The Ohio State University. This event is funded through the NRC Title VI Grant from the Department of Education.
