We are looking forward to the Spring and Summer season, not just for the weather, but for the celebration of Folk Feet’s 10th Anniversary. From May through July, BAC's Folk Arts program will look back in order to move forward. Through a series of public programs, we will fuse past Folk Feet participants of (i.e. Tiny Love) with new vernacular dance forms gaining traction in Brooklyn (i.e. Flex). We will also be guiding you through our Folk Feet archival materials (freshly digitized) to celebrate the fieldwork of the Folk Feet foundersf, Dr. Kay Turner and Nicole Macotsis.
Cultural Youth Incorporated Inc., The Brooklyn Jumbies, 2004.
In keeping with Folk Feet’s past (2004-2009), each public program will feature a mix of teaching workshops and showcases. In addition, context and community is an element that we will pay particular attention to. In my opinion, the highest form of traditional art—where expression hits its stride, the height of its artistic power—is when it exists within a particular community and strums the following chords: (1) renews social and religious bonds (2) provides exposure to the next generation (3) helps to provide contextual meaning to rituals, ceremonies, and festivals organized within that community.
Therefore, during the Spring and Summer of 2015, we will bring Folk Feet programs into the streets and parks of communities where these expressions serve a particular function, where their power can be fully realized. Here are just a few of the programs we are currently working on (1) dance workshops at the Arab American Bazaar (Shore Park, Bay Ridge); (2) West Indian dance procession street festival on Newkirk Avenue (Flatbush); (2) South Asian Dance festival at P.S. 230 (Kensington); (4) Break, Bruck- Up, and Flex (East NY). We are also co-curating these programs with community partners (Guyana Cultural Association, Bangladeshi Institute for Performing Arts (BIPA), Arab American Association of New York, etc).
Stay tuned for more details!