Rhythms of Life Series
2007/08 Performances
The Rhythms of Life Series seeks to inspire an appreciation of all people through vibrant presentations of the arts.

                           All events are Free and Open to the Public

OLLIN YOLIZTLI CALMECAC
Indigeous Aztec Music and Dance
Wednesday, September 12 - 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. at Bruno’s Café
The mission of OLLIN YOLIZTLI CALMECAC is to investigate, understand and raise awareness of the MEXICAYOTL culture, which flourished in Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1492.  Aztec Dance has its origins in the cultures of ancient Mesoamerica., such as those of the Olmecs and the Chichimecs. In the Nahuatl language, Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac means “School of Blood Moving in the Heart.”  Performances include traditional Aztec dances with live music, featuring tributes to the four corners of the planet, Fire Dance, Eagle Dance, Antigua (to the Ancestors) Dance, and Dove Dance.


Luminescent Orchestrii
Romanian Gypsy-Appalachian Fiddle- Klezmer-Tango Music
Tuesday, October 16 – Noon to 1:00 p.m. at Bruno’s Café
Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and bass. The members of the Orchestrii come from different scenes in New York City, yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music. Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer, and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist. It is not uncommon to see Rima composing music for a Lorca puppet show, Benjy schlepping his bass. 

The band has toured the East Coast, England, Scotland, and Germany, and have traveled to Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Serbia for inspiration. They most recently returned from Serbia's Trumpet Festival, a 47-year-old festival that takes place in the small town of Guca, where hordes of competing gypsy brass bands take to the streets and restaurants.


The WIYOS
Vaudevillian, Ragtime, Jugband, Blues, & Hillbilly Swing.
Wednesday, November 7 – Noon to 1:00 p.m. at Bruno’s Café
THE WIYOS play and compose Old-Timey American music inspired by the early American musical idioms of the 1920s and '30s. Gleefully subverting genre distinctions, their music comes from a time before commercial formatting separated blues from country, ragtime from gospel, and swing from hillbilly.

With an instrumentation of washboard/harmonica/kazoo, resonator guitar/banjo, upright bass and three harmony vocals, THE WIYOS' live performance transports audiences back to an era before TV and mass-media were the main sources of entertainment. Their sound is reminiscent of days-gone-by when live bands could be heard both on the radio and at community dances, juke joints, and house parties. With infectious exuberance and theatrical skill, they create a visual spectacle in the tradition of vaudeville-esque performers such as Fats Waller, the Hoosier Hotshots and Uncle Dave Macon. Their on-stage physical comedy recalls the silent films of Laurel & Hardy, Keaton and Chaplin.

Animusic
A special presentation of 3D computer graphics music animation
Wednesday, December 5 – 12:15 to 12:30 p.m. at Bruno’s Café
Animusic is a content creation company. Their principal focus is the production of 3D computer graphics music animation. Both the graphics and the music are entirely digitally synthesized. Virtual instruments are invented by building computer graphics models of objects that would appear to create the sound of the corresponding music synthesizer track. Graphical instruments range from being reminiscent of existing instruments to arbitrarily abstract.  You just have check it out and be amazed!

African Soul International
African drumming and dance
Tuesday, February 19 - Noon to 1:00 p.m. at Brunos Café
Celebrating National African American History Month
African Soul International is about much more than dance, they use dance as a vehicle to enlighten, inspire, and educate individuals about the African culture, its music, and its history.
 
FiddleKicks
Appalachian clogging to life with a whoop and a holler!
Tuesday, March18 - Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Reed Union Building's Wintergarden
FiddleKicks brings Appalachian clogging to life with a whoop and a holler! This uniquely American dance, from the southern Appalachian Mountains, emerged from a melting pot of influences - Celtic, African and Cherokee - creating a distinct new form of folk music and percussive dance, performed to the rhythms and driving beat of live banjo and fiddle. Adding variety to performances, repertoire also includes other traditional percussive styles.
 
Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association
Korean Music and Dance
Wednesday, April 16 - 12:15 to 1:15 p.m.
Reed Union Buildings Wintergarden
The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association, Inc. is a performance group that endeavors to preserve, cultivate, and disseminate Korean cultural arts in the United States. Its members consist of individuals from New York’s Korean-American community who are dedicated to promoting intercultural understanding and appreciation of Korea’s artistic heritage and history. The association has been instrumental in instilling pride of Korean culture to second-generation Korean Americans and Korean adoptees, and in fostering intercultural dialogue with the American society at large.

Sponsored by 
The Office of Educational Equity & Diversity Programs & the Student Activity Fee

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