Upcoming Traditional Arts Roundtable Series: Work Sample Laboratory for Traditional and Tradition-Based Artists
How do you best represent and document your work? To people who may not be familiar with the complexities of a tradition? In merely a few minutes?
Join us on July 17, 2010, with other artists, presenters, and funders in conversation about artist work samples (video, audio, images, etc.) which are often required to accompany grant applications and proposals.
The Dance of the High Spirit: An Apprenticeship in Stilt Dancing
“The height of success is infinite.” - Shaka Zulu
Mukudji, or stilt dance, is a form of West African cultural expression responsible for maintaining and affirming a community's values through ritual activities, festivals, and celebrations. Nyon Kwuyos or Nyomokwuyas (stilt dancers) are extraordinarily skilled dancers who perform spectacular stunts and movements to live drums. They are the mediums to the spirit world representing spirits that protect villages. Stilt dancing is also found throughout the Caribbean, but is known as Moko Jumbi, an unmasked version of Mukudji, and is done primarily for entertainment. The form requires focus, agility, dexterity, strength, stamina, power, grace, and most importantly spiritual connectedness.
Festival of Flamenco Arts & Traditions
By Lily Kharrazi, Living Cultures Grants Program Manager
A conversation regarding the guardianship of flamenco in its purest form is one that is as dramatic as the art form itself. This past June, the Bay Area Festival of Flamenco Arts and Traditions presented legendary Gitano or gypsy flamenco artist Manuela Carrosco, in concert and teaching workshops to an audience who largely seemed to understand that what they were seeing in her clarity of form and expressiveness is as close to the roots of a living tradition as one might get.
Benjamín C. Hernández Retires after 40 Years
By Dr. Susan Cashion, Professor Emerita, Stanford University, scholar in Mexican Dance
One of the true treasures of our California Mexican dance community is Benjamín Hernández, who has been an advocate and promoter in the development of the folklórico movement in the Los Angeles area since 1968. His teaching ritual and regional folklorico dances focused on traditional interpretations. This last spring he retired from the PE/Dance program of East Los Angeles Community College after forty years of teaching. Part of his legacy is turning a part-time appointment in Mexican Dance into a full-time, tenured track position. To accomplish this feat, Mr. Hernández received an MA degree from the UCLA World Arts and Culture Department in 1999.
New Funding Opportunity for Emerging Arts Leaders in California: Next Gen Arts Initiative
The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), on behalf of The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is pleased to announce the launch of the Next Gen Arts Initiative, which will provide emerging arts administrators in California with access to new funding resources for professional development through CCI's Creative Capacity Fund.
In order to be eligible for grant monies and other program opportunities, individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 must first register online and complete a profile questionnaire by July 31, 2010.
Cultural Equity Dialogues: The Teacher's Gift
By Prumsodun Ok
Editor's Note: The Teacher's Gift is an essay by Cambodian classical dancer Prumsodun Ok in response to the Leadership segment of ACTA's Cultural Equity Dialogues, a series of interactive articles exploring topics relating to cultural equity and folk & traditional arts. You are invited to join this conversation by posting your own comments and stories below.
Once, a long time ago, there lived a powerful hermit. He had under his tutelage three very capable and intelligent students and wanted to bestow a most precious gift upon the most deserving of them. There was Moni Mekhala, goddess of the seas, and the storm demon Ream Eyso; Prince Vorachhun studied magic with the wise man as well. Seeing their abilities, the hermit could not decide who to give his gift to so he conceived a contest in which the winner would receive the prize. He told his students sitting in respect below him, whom he loved like his own children, “Whoever should bring me back a glass full of morning dew first will be master of this gift.”
