11/20/08 Feature Article in The Smith College Sophian
Fall Faculty Dance Concert to showcase Arab-American Tribal Fusion by Dana Glass, Assistant Arts Editor with The Smith College Sophian Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Arts If you are craving some culture this weekend, head over to Mendenhall for the Smith Faculty Fall Dance Concert. Don’t worry if you are not a dance expert – the evening promises to be memorable even for the least experienced of audience members. “It’s thrilling to let oneself be deepened and expanded by incorporating new dimensions of reality into our consciousness,” explained Donna Mejia, guest artist-in-residence. “International or world dance forms can leave Western audiences…
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A Gift from Poet and Dancer, Dane Kuttler 2008
For the Bellydancers This dance comes from sword and sun-cracked land. In her journey, she discovered oceans, thunderstorms, mountains of green. She comes to you, shoes filled with motherland sand so her feet will feel at home wherever they walk. She appears loose in her skin. Too many women have asked to try it on and tossed it back when they found it too big for their cameras. Let your body be a place she can rest joyfully, a peaceful ground of curves like the dunes she’s homesick for. But from the back of the studio, I can see you avoiding your eyes in the mirror the way my daughter…
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Navel Magazine Interview with Donna Mejia (February, 2008)
Interview for Donna Mejia conducted by Eleyda Negron. Published in Navel Magazine, February 2008 issue. NM: You have a wide knowledge in different dance styles, how did you discover belly dancing? A wonderful friend, Gypsy Ames—a colleague who shared my passion for world dance forms—was the first person to introduce ATS to Colorado. She invited me to events, kept me abreast of her projects and performances, and began an exchange of artistic ideas that is an ongoing source of pure delight to me. My great admiration and fondness for her inspired me to learn more about her…
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Dance in the African Worldview
Published March 2006 in the Journal of Aesthetic Education in the Republic of China. Africa, as a continent, varies tremendously in social structure, religious practice, topography, climate and custom. Africa is 22% of the Earth’s land mass and home to over 600 million inhabitants. Over 1,000 languages are spoken, differentiating into over 5,000 documented dialects. Yet through all of this rich diversity, dance and music have endured as an integral and important feature of African community life. For each variety of cultural tradition, a dance has developed in tandem. There are, therefore, thousands…
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For the Love of Dance
Excerpts from the forthcoming book: For the Love of Dance. In the many years I’ve enjoyed teaching dance, I’ve grown to deeply respect the courage it takes for someone to sign up for a dance class. It’s one thing to camouflage our perceived intellectual shortcomings in an academic or professional setting. But it is completely another, huge THING to allow our physical bodies complete vulnerability in front of others. I’ve seen students change and improve at record pace, and I’ve seen students who, slowly but surely, grind out incremental progress.
