to the stage as stars in their own community

and present the final work in different

community events.

Winter Program Dances Description:

Maculelé (Brazil) There were two tribes in Brazil. One day,

during an attack, a young boy named

"Maculelé" picked up a pair of sticks and

fought off the other tribe. The other tribe never

attacked again. His home tribe then made a

mock combat dance using sticks and named the

dance "Maculelé" in his honor and memory.

Mapalé (Colombia) The dance was introduced in Colombia by

African slaves brought in ships by the Spanish;

the slaves came mainly from Angola. The

music is a fast rhythm of cumbia music and the

movements are based on the Mapalé fish

movements when it was out of the water.

Zaracundé (Panamá) The Panamanian dance depicted the story

of “Mama Grande” ( Big Mama ) fleeing from

their masters who they feel mistreated by them.

While escaping she carries her children.

We would like to thank all of our

dancers and volunteers and look

forward to growing, bringing the

program to more community

organizations, recreation centers and

suburban communities through

weekly classes and more public

performances. Our programs are

offered to all children and families,

transcending barriers of language,

culture, physical and cognitive

challenges. Children learn to work

together and develop personal

standards of excellence, a pride of

achievement, and a curiosity about the

Latin American world.

“Africa En America Latina” winter semester: Fundamentals of Dance and Performance:

students learn the story behind the dance,

the fundamentals of Latin America music

and the Africa Diaspora and theatrical

makeup. They also learn the value of team

work, the importance of discipline and

effort. Students also expand their critical

and creative thinking skills as their dance

skills develop.

Curricular theme: Students learn about

their heritage and how dance and music

create meaning, building community and

moving audience as they work toward a

common performance goal. The program

introduces students, volunteers and the

entire community to new culture, engages

them and encourages curiosity about the

world and their place in it. Final

Performance, every quarter the program

team create original pieces of

choreography inspired by the curricular

theme. Students master and perform these

dances in a fully-realized theatrical

production. Over the course of the

program, students become dancers, taking

Africa en America Latina 2013-2014 Winter Project

Community Participation

Picture from Black History Month at Gantt Community Center

Special points of interest:

• The majority of participants in the

Avenue D program Latin American

educational series come from low-

income families.

• Avenue D dancers represent a diverse population: approximately 40% iden-

tify as Hispanic or Latino; 50% as

African American; and 10% as Cauca-

sian.

• Quarterly the program impacts over

7,000 people including public school

students, their parents, teachers and local communities through classes,

assemblies, residencies and perform-

ances.

• This program is a partnership between

Avenue D Community Center, Grupo

Cultural Latinos En Rochester and IADC Project HOPE.

• Accomplishment: Creation of the

Avenue D Afro-Latinos Dance group;

10 new dancers were recruited and

trained; 12 volunteers were recruited

for program support; Artistic Makeup class for volunteers.

February 2014 Volume 1, Issue 1 by Evelyn Cassano

A T A V E N U E D C O M M U N I T Y C E N T E R , R O C H E S T E R N Y

Educational Series About Latin America

2014 Black History Month Celebra-

tion at ABC Early Head Start Black

2014 Valentines Day Celebration

with Seniors Ave A Community

2014 Supporting UPAC Praise Dance Group!

At RAPA Theater

2013 Kwanzaa family day at

Memorial Art Gallery

2013 Kwanzaa Celebration at

Rochester Museum & Science Center

2014 Black History Month family day

at Memorial Art Gallery

2014 Black History Month at Gantt

Community Center

2014 Black History Celebration

Avenue D Community Center

Some of the training session for volunteer is the makeup class for dance and stage performance (last Thursday of the month). Course Description: Study of materials, and practice in techniques of creating effect through makeup. This class is open to the public and specially for the volunteer

Volunteers help Avenue D maintain its

programs by lending a

variety of skills and services. Our volunteer

community is amazing!

A big round of

applause to everyone who worked behind the

scenes and helped this

performance season, with a variety of items

like sewing, painting,

shopping, dancing. We are tremendously

thankful and incredibly

fortunate to have your support!

that will help with the makeup prior the dance. presentation.

Volunteers behind the scenes

Program coordinators: Cynthia Rochet 200 Avenue D, Rochester NY 14621

Phone: 585.428.7934

E-mail: Rochetc@CityofRochester.gov

Evelyn Cassano

Grupo Cultural Latinos En Rochester Phone: 585.329.9671

E-mail: info@gcler.org

Volunteers are needed year-round to provide: performance assistance, administrative support, special event assistance, mentoring for children, arts and craft classes.

Awesome

media

coverage:

Avenue D Community Center E D U C A T I O N A L S E R I E S A B O U T L A T I N A M E R I C A P R O G R A M 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4

Cynthia Rochet with

Avenue D dancers

Volunteers at Black History family day Memorial Art Gallery 2014

Winter program partners:

Sacha Ríos

Ibero-American Development Corp Project HOPE coordinator

Phone: 585.467.6410 ext.30

E-mail: srios@iberodevelopment.org