March 2009: Persistence of West African religious movement in the rituals of a Cuban town

Tonight, March 26, 7 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Mainstage Theatre

Dr. Jill Flanders Crosby, a UAA dance professor and researcher, will offer a presentation on the evening of March 26 that demonstrates how certain religious practices and dances migrated from the Ewe people of Ghana, West Africa, into the Arara religion in the small towns of the Matanzas province of Cuba.

It is a story about a crossover that spans several centuries and the Atlantic Ocean. It's one that encompasses both the dance expressions of folk religion and the old slave trade, and reveals the persistence of a people's myth and culture under the heaviest psychological and social duress.

Professor Crosby will use a combination of lecture, video and photos to discuss her fieldwork, and will conclude with a presentation of parts of a choreographic work in progress derived from that fieldwork. (The completed work will be performed at UAA next month in New Dances 2009). Several dancers and the marvelous visuals of San Francisco artist Susan Matthews will be part of Professor Crosby's presentation.

This event is free and open to the public.