[Chronicle]

Oct. 5, 2006
Vol. 26 No. 2

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    Afro-Peruvian singer, Latin dancers to offer ‘antojitos’ during weeklong series

    By William Harms
    News Office

      
    Jessica Wyatt and Jorge Quintero Troestch
    Photo by Kristie Kahns


    Susana Baca
      

    The Center for Latin American Studies will give members of the University community a taste of Afro-Peruvian music and the Latin American dance style it often accompanies during a weeklong series of events. Renowned Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca will lead workshops and performances on campus beginning Monday, Oct. 9 and concluding Sunday, Oct. 15.

    Baca and the Luna Negra Dance Theater, Chicago’s premier Latino contemporary dance company, will perform “Antojitos,” excerpts of “Mi Corazón Negro” (“My Black Heart”) at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13, in the Assembly Hall of International House. Following this free and public performance, Luna Negra’s artistic director Eduardo Vilaro will join Baca for a discussion of “Mi Corazón Negro,” which they choreographed together. The dance will formally premiere Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, Chicago.

    The event will offer an amazing blend of contrast and distinctive style that combines ballet and modern dance techniques, strongly flavored by the legendary Latino and Afro-Caribbean music of Susana Baca.

    During the week’s activities, faculty members from other U.S. campuses and Puerto Rico will discuss the political and sociological interpretations of salsa at a symposium scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 14, at International House.

    Baca will be part of the symposium, which will include two panel discussions titled “On the Communitarian Politics of Salsa” and “Salsa: Between Discipline and Pleasure?” A round table discussion will follow the panels.

    Through the assistance of the Center for Latin American Studies, Baca relocated to Chicago from New Orleans following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At the time, Baca had been an artist-in-residence at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she was studying the commonalities between Afro-Peruvian music and New Orleans jazz.

    After moving to Chicago, she shifted her focus to exploring the commonalities between this South American-style music and Chicago jazz, using the Chicago Jazz Archive at the University’s Joseph Regenstein Library.

    More information about the week’s activities is available at http://clas.uchicago.edu.