COISO: International Dance Competition 2018

University of Miami international students founded the Council of International Students and Organizations (COISO) in 1967 with the intent to promote and defend the interests of all international students and organizations; to integrate international students with campus life and the community where possible, to provide cultural and social activities for all students; to name and nominate official representatives of this council to all University of Miami committees as requested; to assist all international students and organizations on campus that so request it, in coordinating and harmonizing their campus activities; to help interested international groups to organize and become registered as approved organizations at the University of Miami; to provide services and information to the University and the student body and to refrain from sponsoring any political ideas or activates emanating from outside campus issues.

On Thursday, November 15^th, at 9:00 PM, at the Rock, COISO hosted the International Dance Competition 2018. This annual competition organized by COISO, invited various organizations around campus to show off their culture in a dance battle. This year’s theme was Disney's House of Villains!  Dr. Jorge L. Morejon was invited to judge the competition. Groups such as FSA, Virus, Sugar Canes, Olokun, etc, performed to make a statement about not only villains, but about diversity. The dance and music mediums were a conduit to express students ‘culture and love for the arts. Costumes, make up, music, choreography and stage skills combined to entertained a well attended event with lots of opportunities for student participation. There was food, there were games, there was dance and music and there was fun.

 

 

 

Round Table: Conga, Bomba and Cha Cha Cha

Michelle Grant Murray's Invitation to MDC Kendall.

 

 

In celebration of October's Hispanic Heritage, the Dance program at Miami Dade College, under the leadership of Michelle Grant-Murray, invited a group of students and academics to create a round table in order to discuss, honor and recognize the contributions of the culture.  The theme of the evening was One Endless Voice: Dance Identity, Power, Politics and it involved important aspects of Caribbean dance and music such as:

• The derivatives of Cuban Cha-Cha
• Bomba as a form of identity
• Politics of teaching linage of Cha-Cha and Bomba
• Who tells the story
• How is the story told
• What is the perspective

Below are the details of the invitation:

One Endless Voice:Dance Identity, Power, Politics

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

 

7:30pm - 8:45pm

 

Miami Dade College Kendall Campus

McCarthy Theatre/Room 6120

11011 SW 104th Street

Miami, Fl 33176

37th Annual Meeting of the West Indian Literature Conference

                                               Photography Kevin Adonis Browne

Jorge Luis Morejon Shared a panel with Professors Kwynn Johnson and Rachel Moseley-Wood at the 37th Annual Meeting of the West Indian Literature Conference by presenting his paper titled "South Florida Rituals: Unearthing Invisible Traces." Morejon's presentation included the enactment of the areito dance referencing the way  the Taino people of the Caribbean could have probably performed it. Facilitated by Rosie Gordon-Wallace, the presentation started with the re-arrangement of the space, to then ask participants to hold hands and improvise a collective chant, perform a simple step as they rotated together counterclockwise. The dance progressed in crescendo and eventually achieved a climax followed by a release. The presentation took place at the beginning of the session and not at the end as schedule. Ms Gordon-Wallace expressed her satisfation with the opening of the session with a performative presentation and so did Morejon's fellow panelists.

Session 28Multi-Room C

THE EYES HAVE IT: ENVISIONING CARIBBEAN TERRAINS Chair: Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator Sheryl C. Gifford, Florida Atlantic University “Alternate or Altered Reality? Jason de Caires Taylor’s Environmental Art and Caribbean Cultural Consumption” Kwynn Johnson, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine “Place as Palimpsest / Yon kote tankou Palimpseste” Rachel Moseley-Wood, University of the West Indies, Mona “A University of the People?: Visual Education in the British West Indies” Jorge Luis Morejon, University of Miami “South Florida’s Rituals:  Unearthing Invisible Traces”

Linda Bair Dance in Miami at Homestudio, Kendall

September 10th, Linda Bair Dance Company visited the University of Miami, Wellness Center, where Frost School of Music's dance program is hosted, to share their dance experiences with UM students. They visited classes such as Dance Orientation, Dance Movement Therapy and Dance Improvisation taught by Carol Kaminsky and Jorge Luis Morejon.

In the evening couple of dancers met with Linda Bair Dance Company to discuss issues related to dance in South Florida and in their place of origin, Davis, California. Local dancers Jorge Luis Morejon and Katie Brennan, who have shared the staged before, discussed, among other subjects, how to expand the dance dialogue to other communities who do not have access to the art of dance.

Saturday 15th, Linda Hair Dance Company and Jorge Luis Morejon performed at the inauguration of HomeStudio through the celebration of the company's 20th anniversary. Bair and Morejon danced My Hands tug Brazos and showed a work in progress Alma.
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Audience Responses

September 16th

Me quede con ganas de decirte más cosas.... primero Gracias por invitarme, I guess it was my birthday.
El trabajo de Linda es excelente pero eso ya lo sabes, la teatricalidad ( no creo que esto es una palabra ) es muy interesante, la integración de teatro-Danza me encantó, Wrong song/right girl me encanta.
Qué bueno que tienes esta colaboración con Linda y su compañía....
El espacio fabuloso.... el patio también divino para hacer una presentación a las 6:30 q comienze afuera y después la gente entra??? Me vinieron muchas ideas (pero es tu espacio no el mío ) cuando te animes juntémonos en la mitad ( Ft Lauderdale) y nos tomamos un cafecito.

Elena Garcia
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September 28th

It was amazing Jorge and of course you were amazing! Thank you so much for including us.

Elsa Salvador

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September 24th

Thank YOU for sharing so much of yourself and your art at HomeStudio that night.  It was powerful, challenging, and joyous.

Houston Cypress

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Quiero agradecer por la invitacion el evento artistico de DANZA MODERNA. Un evento que va muy bien con el inicio de la temporada de arte como el prestigioso Art Basel. Me gusto mucho ver de la manera tan maravillosa la expresion del cuerpo, de los rostros y de las manos de manera tan harmoniosa y agil. Fue de verdad un privilegio poder estar, compartir y conversar con personas tan lindas en todo su aspecto. Que energia, que coreografia tan genial! Los invitados con los que logré conversar y que fueron tan amables de conversar con mi madre gracias por su attencion con ella, que personas tan especiales. Un saludo y abrazo para todos, nos veremos de nuevo si es la voluntad de Dios, 

Fabi.

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Felicidades primo, estuvo muy hermoso el espectáculo; yo se lo que cuesta hacerlo; mucha dedicación, tiempo y sacrificio, pero vale la pena; es muy gratificante cuando al final se ven los resultados. Gracias por invitarnos. Felicidades de nuevo!

Nuria

Theater Presentation en Noches con Chicho

Friday, September 7yh, Jorge Luis Morejon was invited to Las Noches Con Chico to present on Cuban Theater. The evening took place in Little Havana at the performance space and gallery Art Emporium.

Miami Medley Dance Week / July 30th to August 4th

Miami Medley Dance Week is an initiative that promotes cross pollination within the dance community; help new dancers in town gain some footing and get a sense of who is doing what in the community.

 

Workshops taken by Jorge L. Morejon:

 

Nikki Rollason / Faldenkrais

Randy Goblen / Performance Workshop

Rosie Herrera / Brutal Elegance

Hannah Baumgarten / Contemporary Technique

                       

Karen Peterson / Choreographing Difference 

                                 Participants: Gabriel, Britany, Alegra, Laura, Jenna, Daniel, Marisol, Emily, 
                                  Diana Gamboa, Ceci, Destiny, Ishmael, Keisha, Clara, Jorge, Lakeria, Nataly, Melissa

 Recipe to make oneself / Exercise

Danza Contacto en Espacio en Blanco

Contact Improvisation Dance Workshop with  Marta Wrzesinska in Espacio en Blanco, C/ Mira el sol, 5-7 local calle 28005 (Madrid) Madrid, from July 9th to 12th, 2018. 

Participants: Hugo, Ivan, David, Jorge, Lea, Maria, Shus, Irma, Isa, Eliza, Tatiana, Martha (leader)

Contact improvisation is a form of dance based on a dialogue between two or more people in movement, who share a point of contact and improvise using some principles from physics such as:  gravity, weight, centrifugal force, momentum and inertia. 

                                             
                    Jorge Luis Morejon and Tatiana in front of Espacio en Blanco, Calle Mira el sol

                                                         
              Jorge Luis Morejon and David (In the background Eliza & Maria, left, Chus & Lea, right)

                                          (From left to right) Jorge Luis Morejon, David, Lea, Chus, Hugo and Irma