Special Events | Ongoing Instruction

Special Events


Wednesday, February 4, 6 pm - 7:15 pm: FREE INTRO
Wednesdays, February 11 through March 18, 6 pm - 7:15 pm: Weekly Course
Learn Haitian Drumming, Song and Dance: Honoring the Ancestors & the Spirits
The ancestors of the Haitian people brought their divinities and rituals from West Africa and developed the Vodou ("spirit") tradition based on this African legacy. Drums are centrally important in Vodou, because they can bring individuals and the community into balance with nature, thereby healing minds, spirits and bodies. In this course with Master Drummer Frisner Augustin and musicologist Dr. Lois Wilcken, students will learn three of the main Vodou rhythms on three different percussion instruments (frame drum, bell and rattle) and three songs and dances with specific spiritual functions. We will open with ritual salutations to Legba, guardian of the cosmic crossroads (the entry point of the spirit realm into the material world) and end the course with salutations and ritual libations in honor of Ountò, the patron saint of drums and drummers. For information about the free introduction, the course, and fees, visit http://www.opencenter.org/content/view/2192/.

Presented by The New York Open Center.

Location:
The New York Open Center, 83 Spring Street, Soho, New York NY 10012 . For directions to the Center, see http://www.opencenter.org/content/section/12/49/.


Sunday, February 15, 2:30 pm
Black History Music: Haitian Drumming at the Brooklyn Children's Museum
Master Drummer Frisner Augustin captures the  power of Haitian drumming in an interactive workshop taking place at the  Brooklyn Children's Museum in celebration of Black History Month.  Mr. Augustin will work with musicologist and historian Dr. Lois Wilcken to bring the culture and the sounds of Haitian drumming alive for children age 6 and up. FREE with admission to the Museum ($7.50 general; free before 11 am, for Members, and for children under 1 year of age). For more about the Museum and its programs, see http://www.brooklynkids.org/index.php/visit/comingup.

Presented by Circuit Productions in collaboration with the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

Location:
Brooklyn Children's Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11213. For directions to the Museum, visit http://www.brooklynkids.org/index.php/visitorinformation/mapsanddirections.


Sunday, April 19, 3 pm
Free Sundays at Kingsborough Community College
The Troupe will continue its celebration of the life and the magical passing of its namesake—the mystic and revolutionary Makandal. In 1758 French colonists arrested the maroon Makandal in northern St. Domingue for his plot to liberate the island. Mystery surrounds the story of his execution, which, according to many, never happened. Our performance brings together music, song, dance, literature, and visual arts. Admission FREE.

Presented in collaboration with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and the City of New York's Immigrant Heritage Week.

Location:
Performing Arts Center at Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn. Visit http://www.kingsborough.edu/sub-directions/index.html for directions to the campus and http://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/isa/map_choice.html for a campus map.


Saturday, April 25, 1 pm (exhibits and panel discussions), 7:30 pm (concert)
¡El Tambor Llama! / Tanbou a Rele! (The Drum Calls!)
Makandal will participate in a program exploring the connections between Afro-Cuban, Afro-Dominican, and Afro-Haitian sacred drumming traditions and related cultural expressions. The day-long program features a keynote address by Dr. Robert Farris Thompson; panel discussions on ritual language (Dr. Oluseye Adesola, Dr. Ivor Miller, and Dr. Lois Wilcken) and on traditions from the Congo (Dr. Roberta Singer, Dr. Martha Ellen Davis, Alex LaSalle, Dr. Ivor Miller, and Dr. Marta Moreno Vega); dance and music performances (Proyecto Enyenison Enkama, Makandal, and Pa'lo Monte); and an exhibit of the sacred diagrams common to the three traditions, which includes Makandal artist Kesler Pierre. Admission $15. Information available from City Lore, 212-529-1955 x306.

Presented by City Lore in collaboration with Hostos Community College

Location:
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, 450 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451. For directions to the campus, visit http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/directory/directions.html.

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Ongoing Instruction