Moving Spirits: A Community Intensive Dance Workshop with Tamara Williams

Join us at the Gantt Center every second Saturday of the month as we dance through the African diaspora.

“It was really poignant to me, this idea that a work of art could, somehow, turn a page, shed a light, or lead back to a source. And that’s one of the things that’s exciting about being an artist; that your work threads people to other places, and not necessarily in straight lines.”
-Alison Saar

This monthly movement conservatory will focus on bringing the dance forms and techniques of the African Diaspora to the Gantt Center. Throughout the series of five classes, we will travel, through dance, to Brazil, Cuba and Trinidad.

Integrating themes of the current exhibition, Alison Saar: The Nature of Us, the instructor will demonstrate the importance of empowerment of the female form, explorations of spirituality, and ritual practices as they relate to movement of the body. By exploring global perspectives through dance, we create even more opportunities to share and celebrate black heritage. Moving Spirits: A Community Intensive Dance Workshop is led by Gantt Center teaching artist and Assistant Professor of Dance at UNC Charlotte, Tamara Williams.

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP

Workshop Focus: Afro-Caribbean
Guest Instructor: Vanessa Carr

Dance, as resistance, manifested itself in the development of “dance technique” that was  derived from African traditional dances. In preserving the culture of diasporic regions for people of African descent, dance traveled across the waters to the Caribbean, capturing the essence of war and resistance, celebration, freedom, and healing through choreographed movement. Combative movement often times represented the fight for freedom as well as dance circles, which were used to boost morale before and after acts of defiance. Today, we salute Katherine Dunham and her expressions of African American Modern Dance, for adding afro-centric and  afro-caribbean techniques. The Trinidadian dancer, Beryl McBurnie, who started the Little Carib Theater, is often credited with getting the people of Trinidad and Tobago ready to handle independence with themes of freedom in his dance. Rex Nettleford, master choreographer from Jamaica and the cofounder and artistic director of the National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica, published written works that described the artistic parallels of dance between African and Caribbean countries. In this month’s class, we will explore modern, jazz, and african movement techniques of the Afro-Caribbean culture, celebration and freedom.

ABOUT THE GUEST INSTRUCTOR

As a native of Charlotte, Vanessa Carr grew up dancing in Charlotte, performing on many stages and at area events. At 16, she was accepted into the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem in modern dance, received a scholarship to study with Dance Theater of Harlem (DTH) in New York, and attended North Carolina Governor’s School in Winston-Salem, in dance, two consecutive years. She is a highly motivated fine arts director, teacher, and performer with a Master's Degree in Dance Education. She has a proven ability to create and orchestrate theatrical productions, coach collegiate and professional cheerleading and dance teams, and instruct and train in the area of physical fitness & wellness. She has taught dance in universities across the US - teaching Ballet, Tap, Modern, Jazz, Broadway, African, and Vaudeville. During this time, Ms Carr served as Artistic Director for several Dance Companies, worked in the Community Theaters as a choreographer and stage manager, and started her Doctorate in Sports Medicine. While living in NC, she taught at UNCC, Children's Theater, Spirit Square, Winston-Salem Arts Center, and served on the NC Arts Council at which time she was part of the group that helped implement dance into the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System curriculum. Her dance training includes: Alvin Ailey, Arthur Mitchell (DTH), Tokyo Ballet, Chicago Ballet, George Faison, Frank Hatchett, Pilobolus, Nicolai, Graham, Taylor, and Cunningham.