1st Annual Music Moods & Moves/2016

The first Music Moods and Moves was celebrated at the Donna E. Shalala Student Center, University of Miami, on December 3, 2016. The event was hosted by the Dance Program and the Music Club from Frost School of Music.

The Power of Expression: A Journey of Trauma, Pain and Transformation

Jorge Luis Morejon performed as guest faculty in the pre-show, of program B of The Art of Dance Festival hosted by MDC Jubilation Dance Ensemble, directed and produced by Michelle Grant-Murray. The piece The Power of Expression: A Journey of Trauma, Pain and Transformation was presented at the McCarthy Hall Theater on November 9, 2016. The piece narrates the transitions in the life of an immigrant and the intersections of his multiple life experiences: childhood in his country of origin, migration to a new country and adaptation to a different system.

A I R Dance Conference

Artistry in Rhythm (AIR) Dance Conference. Living Tradition: Antiquity and Beyond. Dance Program. Music, Theater and Dance Department. Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus. 11011 SW 104th St., Miami, Florida, 33176, Miami, Florida. April 14 - 16, 2016

Creative Ritual-Making: Areito Restoration Project

 Abstract: Many Indigenous cultures have been dissolved through historical processes of decimation and erasure. Despite this, many traits of indigenous cultures, have survived through modes of expression such as dance and movement. The Areito Restoration Project is part of a practice-as-research approach, within the scope of Performance Studies, which involves identifying cultural traits that have been retained in order to inform artistic creative processes. The work aims at re-building embodied cultural memory as a medium to heal individuals and communities that have experienced social injustice. The specific characteristics of the areito, a song-dance derived from the arguably extinct Taíno culture, in terms of intent, choreography, storytelling, music and chants, constitute a viable frame to create new work. Thus, this paper tries to highlight the importance of using regenerative performance memory as a methodology for the restoration of indigenous performance and religious practices in the subjunctive. The current research piece with the Jubilation Dance Ensemble at Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus, is a work-in-progress that uses reactive, regenerative and associative mechanisms to produce ancestral performance memory. The reactive phase invites students to recreate a ritual or ceremonial scenario using their own creative associations. The regenerative phase gives them cues that allow them to generate movement that is specific to the Taíno culture. The various archetypes of the pantheon, their characteristics and manifestations inform their movement choices. The associative phase integrates the material students experience during rehearsals, the archival and performative information already collected, shared and discussed and the personal and collective life experiences of the group. The creative ritual-making process provides students with an experiential understanding of the science of survival, a clearer view of how to embody indigenous consciousness and at the same time, the opportunity to further their aesthetic responses through their own song-dance, in this case the piece Matininó: No Men Island. The long term goal of the work is to bring the attention of contemporary audiences, communities and curricula to creative ritual-making as a way to connect with ancestral knowledge, re-embody a sense of identity and at the same time continue healing in the face of conflicting realities.

http://www.mdc.edu/kendall/academic-departments/mtd/artistry-in-rhythm.aspx