Beginning Afro-Cuban with Olivia Gonzalez
Wednesdays | 6:00 – 7:00 pm
TERM 1: September 9, 2024 - January 26, 2025
TERM 2: January 27, 2025 - June 8, 2025
Where: Ruth Page Center for the Arts | 1016 N. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60610
Dance is crucial to understanding Orisha in Yorùbáland and the diaspora. For centuries, the body was a site of black resistance in the colonies. Knowledge is not only expressed in language, words or thoughts, but it is also written on our bodies. By practicing the Orisha dance, this information reaches our minds, hearts and souls. The class begins with a traditional warm-up that emphasizes large movements in the shoulder and torso leading up to the basic Orisha step, which would be dancing and progressively moving across the floor with repetitions of steps and ending with a circle where the dancers can improvise. Yorùbá deities called Orisha are invited to mount the bodies of their initiates. The human personality disappears and gives way to the divine. Gods and goddesses join human beings, borrow the device of a body and bring blessings from another dimension.
About the teacher:
Olivia Gonzalez is originally from Cuba and studied at the Nacional School of Art in Modern, Contemporary and Afro-Cuban styles. She professionally performed with Retazos Dance Theater with whom she participated in many international festivals in Canada, Uruguay and the United States, and performed in ‘Transits – Havana’, an international dance collaboration between Sweden and Cuba. Since moving to Chicago, Olivia has danced with Concert Dance, Inc. and Hedwig Dances, and is a regular guest artist for the Ruth Page School of Dance and the Ruth Page Professional Dance Training Program, teaching modern classes, workshops, and Afro-Cuban dances.
Join us at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts for Open Technique Classes with the Ruth Page Professional Dance Training Program*, on Fridays at 9:30 am. The class will feature rotating guest artists and Ruth Page School of Dance faculty. Method and technique will vary by teacher.
*Ruth Page Professional Dance Training Program (PDTP) serves as a bridge between studio training and a professional dance career. Dancers train and rehearse daily 9 am - 4 pm, from August – June at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts focusing on refining ballet and contemporary technique in an international environment of performers, educators, and mentors. PDTP is designed for dancers between the ages of 17-25 who have completed high school and are preparing for a professional career. Trainees receive individualized coaching from accomplished faculty and curated international guest choreographers. The Ruth Page Professional Dance Training Program also offers international travel* (when available), limited need-based scholarships, and affordable housing. For further information about the Professional Dance Training Program (PDTP), reach out to the Artistic Associate, Maray Gutierrez at pdtp@ruthpage.org
