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Reaching Out Through Dance
An electrifying festival of dance – including African, lindy hop, modern, hip hop, and more, in a dizzying mix of drumming and instrumental jazz – is taking center stage on campus in late June thanks to a unique collaboration between UMass Amherst Outreach and the UMass Amherst Department of Music and Dance.
Part of a week-long intensive dance workshop based on the work of The Sankofa Dance Project, three evening dance and music events will bring some of the hottest names in dance to the western Massachusetts area to work in and with area communities in a program of dance study and performance. Three interactive performance events will be held at the Rand Theater on UMass Amherst campus June 24-27.
Sankofa is an African term for “reclaiming our past to move forward.” The rhythms and movements of Africa underlie most American dance technique and expression. Under the direction of Tony Award winner George Faison, the Sankofa Dance Intensive will bring over fifty participants of all ages and abilities to campus to study these roots and their progression from African dance to Hip Hop the last week of June.
Tuesday evening, June 24, a Harlem Renaissance Jam will entice audiences onto the stage to learn Lindy Hop with live music. On Wednesday, June 25, a Bebop, Hip Hop and Spoken Word Jam, will bring audiences to their feet again, accompanied by master drummers and DJs. On Friday June 27, Sankofa Dance Project participants will perform in a culminating performance of their work.
George Faison will be joined by a roster of exceptional teaching artists, choreographers, and performers. Master teachers Dudley Williams and Adrienne Hawkins along with Raquelle Chaves, Marilyn Sylla, Jodi Leigh Allen, and Jennifer Weber will round out the summer staff. The Sankofa Festival events will feature the diverse talents of Yusef Lateef, Fred Tillis, Steve Tracy, MiRi Park and others.
In partnering with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Springfield and Thousand Cranes Studios in Feeding Hills, The Sankofa Dance Project will also showcase the artistic talent of our youth in a gallery exhibit at the Student Union Gallery, located on the UMass Amherst campus.
Reaching out to the surrounding community is absolutely critical to the Sankofa Dance Project, according to Maryann Lombardi, Director of the UMass Amherst Outreach Creative Economy Initiative.
“Our hope is, by engaging students in the arts and providing them a chance to spend some time on the UMass Amherst campus, we can encourage students who might not have thought of college as an option to change their minds,” notes Lombardi. “This is an important way to connect with the community.”
Sankofa Dance Project activities, supported through a grant from the UMass President’s Office, with additional support from the UMass Amherst Provost’s Office and the UMass Amherst Office of Student Affairs, began in 2007 with the restaging of Ron K. Brown’s Exodus.
With the involvement of UMass Amherst Outreach, UMass Amherst’s School of Humanities and Fine Arts and its Departments of Music, Dance and Theater, and Fine Arts Center, the program has forged strong partnerships with Springfield Technical Community College, the Springfield public school system, and with highly respected performance companies, including Ailey II and The Faison Firehouse.
Sankofa Youth-Reach brought dance classes to Springfield’s High School of Science & Technology in March and to Putnam High in April. Through these classes, UMass Amherst dance professor and Sankofa Associate Artistic Director Billbob Brown, along with UMass Amherst visiting professor Jodi Allen, have helped students understand how their own loved genres of Hip-Hop, Rock, and Pop have a deeper history in African, African-American, European, and American traditions.
“The word Sankofa invokes a belief that we must go back and reclaim our past in order to move forward,” noted Lombardi. “And we are really excited about being able to move forward with a high-quality program that celebrates African American dance traditions and that can make a real impact in the community.”
In 1976, George Faison’s choreography for The Wiz made him the first African-American choreographer to win a Tony Award. More recently, he has focused much of his work on the challenges facing urban youth, and on dance as a vehicle for empowerment and expression.
Tickets for the public events are being sold at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center Box Office, which can be reached Monday through Friday at 413-545-2511. Ticket prices reflect special discounts for families or for anyone attending all three events. Visit www.sankofadanceproject.com/fesival for more information.
