EducArte

ABRACE weekly music lessons
2021-03-13 10:30 - 11:45, 2021-03-06 10:30 - 11:45, 2021-02-20 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Online
For ABRACE members only. To learn more about ABRACE, visit abracebrasil.org.

Virtual Series: Amy K Bormet
2021-03-05 20:00 - 21:30 | Online
Photo credit: Chris Ubit
Join us for a conversation with pianist, vocalist, and composer Amy K Bormet about her work and her upcoming Washington Women in Jazz Festival, which she created in 2011 and is organizing as a virtual festival this year.
This conversation will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
For more about Amy K Bormet, visit www.amykbormet.com.
Join us on Facebook Live or YouTube to tune in!
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/415891356315523/

Workshop: Deep Listening and Emotion in Sound with Brian Falkowski
2021-02-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join us for a free workshop with DC-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Brian Falkowski. In this workshop, Brian will discuss and demonstrate the often overlooked art of how to critically listen to music and hear emotion in sound. This skill is applicable to all genres of music and ability levels, no experience necessary.
Register for free
About Brian Falkowski
Brian Falkowski performs with a wide variety of groups at many top venues throughout the DC metropolitan area. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Music where he studied saxophone, flute, and clarinet with Chris Vadala and Dale Underwood. Since then he has traveled the world playing all styles of music on cruise ships, and has won top prizes at the Takoma Park Jazz Festival, DC Blues Festival, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and Mu Phi Epsilon Soloist Competition, and recently was named winner of the 2020 Emergent Seed competition in the Instrumental Category. Equally at home in the studio as on stage, Brian’s playing can be heard on 33 albums by various artists, including his 2011 debut album Transitions, the Zeitgeist Media progressive music documentary Romantic Warriors, and Tosin Aribisala’s 2018 album Africa Rising, which received a Grammy nomination for “Best World Music Recording.” In addition to performing/recording and teaching privately, he currently leads his own group “Kaleidoscope,” which features his original compositions, dynamic improvisation, multi-textured electronic experimentation, and mixed-media visual art.

Virtual Series: Cissa Paz
2021-02-19 20:00 - 21:30 | Online
Join us for a conversation with Brazilian singer-songwriter Cissa Paz about her latest work and her upcoming album. Cissa has made a name for herself in Washington, DC as an eclectic performer influenced by the local jazz sounds and her Brazilian African-Indigenous background. Nominated for 3 Wammies, her debut album gained great organic momentum. Cissa’s captivating stage presence and soulful voice bring music that is upbeat and engaging. She is known and loved among the lovers and dancers of Brazilian music not only as a performer, but as an ambassador of her genre. Her upcoming album promises a combination of Afro-Brazilian base with funky and soulful influences. The album is a musical melting pot of fresh collaborations with highly acclaimed artists from her home country.
This conversation will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
For more about Cissa Paz, visit www.cissapaz.com.
Join us on Facebook Live or YouTube to tune in!
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/988122458383254/

Brazilian choro lecture/demonstration with Mike Marshall
2021-02-19 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
Join us for a lecture/demonstration on Brazilian choro music with master mandolinist Mike Marshall, in partnership with the University of Maryland’s Global Communities Living-Learning Program. Marshall will perform some tunes and talk about choro, Brazil’s first urban popular music and the precursor to samba.
Register for free at go.umd.edu/gcchoro

Workshop: Brazilian percussion with André Coelho
2021-02-13 15:00 - 16:30 | Zoom
Join us for a free workshop with Brazilian percussionist André Coelho from Rio de Janeiro. The workshop will cover some background on Brazilian rhythms and describe each of the main instruments used in batucada and rodas de samba: surdo, pandeiro, tamborim, cuíca, agogô, reco-reco, reqique de mão and repique de anel, tantam or rebolo, ganzá or chocalho, and others.
The workshop will take place on Zoom.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/431179028321450

Frevo: Brazilian Carnival Dance Workshop
2021-02-13 15:00 - 16:00 | Online
Ei, pessoal! Vem moçada! O Carnaval começa com…a virtual frevo workshop with Kate Spanos! ⛱️
Did you know that in Recife, in the Northeast of Brazil, they celebrate carnival with frevo rather than samba? This workshop will be an introduction to frevo’s basic passos, or steps, with a focus on high energy self-expression. All are welcome!
Register: https://www.joyofmotion.org/adult-dance-classes/workshops/

Virtual Series: Carnival dance party with JP Silva
2021-02-06 20:00 - 21:30 | Online
Virtual carnival is coming to you!
This year we may not be able to dance together, but we are bringing the party to you. Join us for this special virtual performance by JP Silva, coming to us directly from Rio de Janeiro. We will kick off the evening at 8PM with a short dance lesson, and then at 8:30PM JP will lead us in some classic sambas and carnival songs. We invite you to sing and dance along with us from your homes! Viva Brasil, viva Carnaval!
Born in Rio de Janeiro, JP Silva is a singer, composer, and instrumentalist who professionally entered the world of music through choro at the Escola Portátil de Música da Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). He has played with renowned musicians Diogo Nogeira, Elza Soares, Toninho Gerais, Barbeirinho, Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, Délcio Carvalho, Maurício Carrilho, Elton Medeiros, Paulão 7 Cordas, Ademilde Fonseca, Velha Guarda Império Serrano, Velha Guarda Mangueira, Velha Guarda Portela, Mario Broder, Neguinho da Beija-Flor, B Negão, Wilson Moreira, Wilson das Neves, Dudu Nobre, Fernanda Abreu, Jorge Aragão, and Luiz Melodia. He has played at some at the biggest music houses in Brazil.
JP has played in Washington, DC various times, representing the genres of samba, choro, and MPB. He performed at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance’s Viva Brasil! carnival party in 2019 and 2020.
This virtual performance is presented in partnership between EducArte and Creative Alliance, to keep the carnival festivities going in 2021.
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1120616308367826/
Join us on Facebook Live or YouTube Live
Schedule:
8PM Dance lesson with Dee Hale
8:30PM Live music with JP Silva

African Rhythms in Brazilian Music, Part II - Workshop with Richard Miller, PhD
2020-12-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Online
Join us for the second workshop in the series African Rhythms in Brazilian Music, taught by Richard Miller, PhD. Watch the first workshop here.
About Richard Miller:
Richard Miller explores the richly expressive sounds of the nylon string guitar (both 7 string and 6 string) with a repertoire that includes Brazilian styles (choro, samba, bossa nova, forró, etc.), American jazz, Latin American styles (salsa, bolero, tangos, etc.), and Classical guitar. He is also active as an educator, composer, and writer/presenter for academic publications and conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America in 2006 and he has taught theory and guitar at Georgetown University. He holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of Music. Richard Miller was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an American father and a Brazilian mother and moved frequently in Brazil, United States and Puerto Rico (see “Treble is my middle name” under musings). He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A review of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” A review in the Washington City Paper by Joel Siegal of the duo of Richard Miller with Patrick de Santos (voice) stated “Patrick and Richard strike a remarkable balance between disciplined technique and otional abandon.”

Workshop: Traditional Samba Percussion Instruments: The Batucada
2020-12-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Join us for a free workshop with Brazilian percussionist André Coelho from Rio de Janeiro. The workshop will cover some background on Brazilian rhythms and describe each of the main instruments used in batucada and rodas de samba: surdo, pandeiro, tamborim, cuíca, agogô, reco-reco, reqique de mão and repique de anel, tantam or rebolo, ganzá or chocalho, and others.
To register for the workshop, please contact us.
About André Coelho:
André Coelho is a pandeiro player and percussionist, born in Rio de Janeiro. He started with samba schools and blocos such as Carmelitas, Céu na Terra, Orquestra Voadora, Prata Preta, Tá Pirando Cacique de Ramos, and many others, playing marchinha, samba, pop, regional, and fanfarras. His passion for music also brought him to samba and choro rodas where he delved into studies of pandeiro, an instrument that dominates Brazilian rhythms. He founded Grupo Instrumental Carioca, a regional choro group that travels through instrumental Brazilian music. He was a member of groups such as Terreiro de Breque, Velhos Malandros, and Padra do Sal with singers Roberta Nistra and Beatriz Rabello, besides freelancing with various others. He has grown his knowledge of general percussion techniques and today, besides pandeiro, he also plays surdo, tantam, repique de anel, atabaque, repinique, caixa, tamborim, and other various instruments. He researches and studies diverse rhythms such as samba canção, samba de breque, partido alto, samba de roda, samba choro, sincopado, samba enredo, and its origins in African rhythms, such as maxixe, marchas, and batucadas; as well as northeastern Brazilian rhythms such as baião, coco, frevo, maracatu, ciranda, and bumba meu boi. He moved to the United States, where he now lives with his family. In his short time living in the DC region, he has played with various musicians, such as Gigi MacLaughlin, Rafael Pondé, Pablo Regis, Cissa Paz, Julie Mack, João Fênix, and JP Silva. He is passionate about Brazilian music and culture.

Capoeira workshop at Arlington Montessori (private event)
2020-11-23 09:30 - 10:00 | Online
Organized in partnership between EducArte, Fulbright in the Classroom, and Arlington Montessori.

Women in Brazilian Song: Kenia and Alison Crockett
2020-10-23 20:00 - 21:15 | Online
Join us for the second program in our virtual performance series that features women in Brazilian song! We invite Kenia and Alison Crockett for a conversation about their careers as vocalists, and some opportunities to see and hear their work. The conversation will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/761203344674086/
About the artists:
Kenia
Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, vocalist Kenia has become one of the foremost exponents of Brazilian song in the United States. From her debut on the great trumpet player Claudio Roditi’s, “Red on Red,” to her upcoming 2020 Mooka Records release, she has epitomized the breezy elegance, refinement and groove of the best of modern Brazilian music. In 2008, Kenia won the Brazilian Press Award for Best CD of the Year, and was nominated for a Grammy for her release, “Simply Kenia.” Along with eight critically acclaimed solo releases (and counting), Kenia has performed at national and international festivals from the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival to the Bonaire Heineken Jazz Festival in the ABC Islands.
Alison Crockett
On seminal recordings by King Britt, Blue Six, Us3, and a host of others, Alison Crockett’s voice has provided a velvety, sensual finishing touch for cutting edge beats. Her voice dripping soul with generous helpings of jazz, gospel and blues, she has taken the baton from divas of the present and past such as Rachelle Farrelle, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Donna Summer, Elis Regina, and Sarah Vaughn and forged a uniquely personal and singular musical vision. Alison’s latest project, released in November 2018, focuses on a new love: Brazilian music. After visiting the country she decided to mix her musical loves to create the project, “Obrigada.” Recorded in the city of São Paulo in the summer of 2017 with Brazilian jazz musicians Felipe Silviera, Thiago Alves, and Palinho Vicente, Alison has weaved a refreshing sound love of jazz, bossa nova, and soul that continues to highlight her fearlessness as a musical traveler boldly projecting her inimitable voice into the sonic future.

Artists of Prince George's County: Amy K Bormet and Ceylon Mitchell
2020-10-09 20:00 - 21:15 | Online
Join us for a conversation with Prince George’s County-based artists Amy K Bormet and Ceylon Mitchell about their work as musicians, educators, and arts administrators. They will talk about their community-focused work pre-pandemic, how they have been dealing with the pandemic, and what their plans are for moving forward after the pandemic. The discussion will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/797246737780959/
About the artists:
Amy K Bormet is a pianist, vocalist, composer, and educator, known for her fearless free-wheeling style and dedication to creating new music. To collaborate with and celebrate women musicians, she started the annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival in 2011, directing, financing, and performing in an annual festival and women-focused events throughout the year in the DC area. As an advocate for and stakeholder in DC’s unique jazz scene, she co-hosts a weekly radio show on WPFW 89.3FM, Jazz Stories WPFW, featuring interviews and music. She is a teaching artist, collaborating with the Kennedy Center’s new programming at the REACH to present and perform with her trio “the future of jazz is female” for middle school students.
Ceylon Mitchell II is a flutist, arts entrepreneur, educator, and arts advocate in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. His mission is keeping classical music alive, authentic, and accessible. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, he earned a Master of Music Education degree from Boston University and a Master of Music Performance degree from the University of Maryland, in addition to a Graduate Certificate in Multimedia Journalism. Ceylon is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) student under the tutelage of Dr. Sarah Frisof at the University of Maryland. Recent achievements include the Strathmore Artist in Residence Class of 2021, a 2018 Prince George’s County Forty UNDER 40 Award in Arts & Humanities, and a 2019 Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council Artist Fellowship Grant. As part of the grant, Ceylon presented a series of performances exploring Western-European classical flute music in the Latin American countries of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil.

Ethnographic research workshop: Sharing your research findings
2020-09-25 10:00 - 11:30 | Online
This online workshop is the fourth in a series of ethnographic research workshops organized in partnership with Fulbridge, the Fulbrighter Network, and EducArte. The workshops are for Fulbright alumni, current Fulbrighters, and prospective Fulbrighters, or for anyone interested in ethnographic research. We welcome people from all fields and disciplines to share their experiences and expertise.
This workshop (on Zoom) will be an open forum discussion about sharing ethnographic research findings. Some of the questions we will discuss are:

What are some of the ways that we share or apply our research findings? (Publications? Forums? Community events? Festivals?)
What are some concerns with translating lived experiences into written form?
How do we talk about both positive and negative experiences when we return home, and in different contexts (in the classroom, at conferences, in publications, etc.)?
What does it mean to become a cultural ambassador, as central to the Fulbright mission?
How do we maintain connections in the host country and create networks for future work? How do we build research collaborations or mentoring relationships?

To register, visit tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography4. More information about the workshops and video recordings of previous workshops can be found here.

African Rhythms in Brazilian Music, Part I - Workshop with Richard Miller, PhD
2020-09-23 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
EducArte workshop series. Wednesday, September 23, 2020.
About Richard Miller:
Richard Miller explores the richly expressive sounds of the nylon string guitar (both 7 string and 6 string) with a repertoire that includes Brazilian styles (choro, samba, bossa nova, forró, etc.), American jazz, Latin American styles (salsa, bolero, tangos, etc.), and Classical guitar. He is also active as an educator, composer, and writer/presenter for academic publications and conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America in 2006 and he has taught theory and guitar at Georgetown University. He holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of Music. Richard Miller was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an American father and a Brazilian mother and moved frequently in Brazil, United States and Puerto Rico (see “Treble is my middle name” under musings). He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A review of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” A review in the Washington City Paper by Joel Siegal of the duo of Richard Miller with Patrick de Santos (voice) stated “Patrick and Richard strike a remarkable balance between disciplined technique and otional abandon.”

Trio Júlio
2020-09-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us for this extra special virtual performance and conversation with the brothers of Trio Júlio from Rio de Janeiro!
Trio Júlio is a Brazilian music trio comprised of brothers Magno (percussion) and twins Marlon (7-string guitar) and Maycon (mandolin). Their charismatic performances combine choro, samba, and other Brazilian rhythms. The trio was recognized at the “II Fetival Curitiba no Choro” for Marlon Júlio’s composition “Quebrando Tudo,” and they launched their album “Minha Felicidade” in 2017. They are also professors at the Escola Portátil de Música in Rio de Janeiro, an internationally recognized school for choro. www.triojulio.com.br
The event will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
Join us on Facebook or YouTube on Tuesday, September 22 at 7PM US/Eastern to see the performance live.
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/336103767747071/

Transnational Popular Music and Dance of Brazil & Ireland: Rob Curto, Paddy League, and Kate Spanos
2020-09-04 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
Forró, frevo, reels, jigs, and the button accordion. There are more connections than you know between the popular music and dances of Brazil and Ireland!
Join us for a conversation between ethnomusicologist Paddy League, Ph.D., ethnochoreologist Kate Spanos, Ph.D., and accordion master musician Rob Curto. They will describe their experiences and research in northeastern Brazilian and traditional Irish music and dance. The program will be moderated by Bryan McCann, Ph.D. of Georgetown University. We invite you to join us and ask questions with this distinguished panel.
This is the first in a series of conversations and multidisciplinary productions, and the beginning of an artistic collaboration between these artist/scholars.
Join us on Facebook or YouTube on Friday, September 4 at 8PM US/Eastern to join the conversation live.
RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/308480846887212
About the guests:
Rob Curto
Rob Curto is an accordionist, pianist, and composer based in Philadelphia, and is the bandleader of Fish Harmonics, influenced by decades of music-making around the world. Steeped in American jazz piano standards, Rob discovered the accordion as an adult, and his curiosity led him to Brazil on a Fulbright project–where he ended up living on-and-off for several years in the Northeast, learning and absorbing the music traditions, and especially the piano accordion. Rob was part of establishing the Forro “scene” in the US with Rob Curto’s Forro For All, and toured the world with his “Brazilian Bluegrass” band, Matuto. Curto has developed an interest in Irish button box, adding B/C button accordion to his repertoire. He studies with NEA National Heritage Fellow and multi-All Ireland Champion, Billy McComisky, and occasionally with John Whelan and PJ Hernon. Curto is profoundly interested in the (relatively) recent history of accordion in traditional Irish music.
Paddy League
Panayotis (Paddy) League grew up around traditional Irish and Greek music and dance, and by his teenage years was performing professionally throughout both diasporas on a number of string and percussion instruments. For the last decade he has devoted much of his time and energy to studying the button accordion music of Northeast Brazil, particularly the style developed by the Calixto family of Campina Grande, Paraíba. He is currently Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida State University and Director of the Center for Music of the Americas. He has published widely on the music, dance, and oral poetry traditions of the Aegean Greek islands, and is working on several print and multimedia projects in collaboration with Paraiban button accordionist Luizinho Calixto.
Kate Spanos
Kate Spanos, Ph.D., is a dancer, educator, scholar, and arts administrator whose work focuses on “dances of resistance” and social change through dance. She is an Irish dancer from Washington, DC and she completed an MA in traditional Irish dance performance at the University of Limerick in 2008. Her doctoral dissertation (University of Maryland) focused on the festivals and masquerade dances of Montserrat, the “Other Emerald Isle” of the Caribbean. She also practices various Brazilian movement forms including capoeira, frevo, and samba. In 2018, she was a postdoctoral Fulbright scholar in Recife, Brazil, where she studied popular dance of Pernambuco, including frevo, cavalo marinho, and maracatu rural. www.thekatespanos.com
Bryan McCann
Bryan McCann, Ph.D., is the department chair and a professor of Brazilian history in the History Department at Georgetown University. He is the author of the books Hello, Hello Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil (Duke, 2004) and João Gilberto and Stan Getz’s Getz/Gilberto (Bloomsbury, 2018), as well as numerous articles on Brazilian popular music.

Forró jam and hang with Rob Curto, Richard Miller, and Bryan McCann
2020-08-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
Join us for a forró and choro dance party featuring Rob Curto, Richard Miller, and Bryan McCann!
Accordionist Rob Curto and 7-string guitarist Richard Miller will play some forró and choro tunes to get you dancing in your home, and they will be joined by Brazilian music scholar Bryan McCann for an exciting discussion about the historical and cultural context of these music forms in Brazil. The conversation will be moderated by Pablo Regis.
Check out the Facebook event and join us live on Facebook or YouTube on August 21 at 8PM US/Eastern.
About the guests:
Rob Curto (coming soon)
Richard Miller explores the richly expressive sounds of the nylon string guitar (both 7 string and 6 string) with a repertoire that includes Brazilian styles (choro, samba, bossa nova, forró, etc.), American jazz, Latin American styles (salsa, bolero, tangos, etc.), and Classical guitar. He is also active as an educator, composer, and writer/presenter for academic publications and conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America in 2006 and he has taught theory and guitar at Georgetown University. He holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of Music. Richard Miller was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an American father and a Brazilian mother and moved frequently in Brazil, United States and Puerto Rico (see “Treble is my middle name” under musings). He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A review of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” A review in the Washington City Paper by Joel Siegal of the duo of Richard Miller with Patrick de Santos (voice) stated “Patrick and Richard strike a remarkable balance between disciplined technique and otional abandon.”
Bryan McCann is Department Chair and Professor of Brazilian History in the History Department at Georgetown University. He is the author of the books Hello, Hello Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil (Duke, 2004) and João Gilberto and Stan Getz’s Getz/Gilberto (Bloomsbury, 2018), as well as numerous articles on Brazilian popular music.

Women in Brazilian Song: Rose Moraes, Cissa Paz, and Elin Melgarejo
2020-08-01 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Join us for an online conversation about vocal techniques in Brazilian music with renowned singers Elin Melgarejo, Rose Moraes, and Cissa Paz. They will talk about techniques for singing samba, forró, and bossa nova, as well as their experiences in the Brazilian music scene in Washington, DC and how they are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic as performing artists.
The discussion will be moderated by Pablo Regis. Join us live on Facebook and YouTube.

Ethnographic research workshop: Interviewing
2020-07-31 14:00 - 15:30 | Zoom
This online workshop is the third in a series of ethnographic research workshops organized in partnership with Fulbridge, the Fulbrighter Network, and EducArte. The workshops are for Fulbright alumni, current Fulbrighters, and prospective Fulbrighters, or for anyone interested in ethnographic research. We welcome people from all fields and disciplines to share their experiences and expertise.
This workshop (on Zoom) will be an open forum discussion about ethnographic interviewing. Some of the questions we will discuss are:

What are the differences between formal interviews and informal conversations?
What are best practices when working with translators and transcribers?
What are discipline-specific suggestions for reading and re-reading transcriptions, note-taking, and qualitative research coding?
How do we deal with issues of consent/confidentiality when using quotes from interviews or informal conversations?

To register, visit tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography3. More information about the workshops and video recordings of previous workshops can be found here.

Geovane Santos and Richard Miller on Brazilian jazz
2020-07-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Join us for an online conversation about Brazilian jazz with talented guitarists and educators Geovane Santos and Richard Miller. They will play some solo pieces and talk about their journeys performing and teaching Brazilian jazz guitar.
About Geovane Santos:
Geovane Santos, a native Brazilian from the city of Belo Horizonte, is a guitarist, composer, arranger, vocalist, educator, and awardee of the 2017 Louis Armstrong Foundation Jazz Composer Award through ASCAP in association with the University of New Orleans (UNO). Currently a local presence in the New Orleans music scene, in his debut album “Jobim,” Santos pays tribute to one of Brazil’s greatest composers of all time: Antonio Carlos Jobim. In spite of being regarded as well rounded solo guitarist and improviser, Santos doesn’t have his solo guitar playing in the forefront at all. More as a collaborative effort, every song has a featured musician, either carrying the melody, singing, or improvising. The entire album consists of Santos’s impressions of Jobim’s music. There are numbers that reenact the classic Bossa-Nova sound such as in Corcovado, Once I Love, Chega de Saudade, Wave. and Só Danço Samba; jazzed up rendition of Triste; Caribbean sounds from Haiti and Jamaica on Água de Beber and Girl From Ipanema; Fusion rock on How Insensitive and O Morro Não tem Vez; and Dindi as a romantic ballad. The album is very diverse, not only for the genres chosen for each selection, but in terms of instrumentation, which mixes acoustic and electric instruments, and songs sung in English and Portuguese (a defining characteristic of Jobim’s music).
You can find Geovane Santos’ information at www.gpstheguitarist.com.
About Richard Miller:
Richard Miller explores the richly expressive sounds of the nylon string guitar (both 7 string and 6 string) with a repertoire that includes Brazilian styles (choro, samba, bossa nova, forró, etc.), American jazz, Latin American styles (salsa, bolero, tangos, etc.), and Classical guitar. He is also active as an educator, composer, and writer/presenter for academic publications and conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America in 2006 and he has taught theory and guitar at Georgetown University. He holds a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of Music. Richard Miller was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an American father and a Brazilian mother and moved frequently in Brazil, United States and Puerto Rico (see “Treble is my middle name” under musings). He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A review of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” A review in the Washington City Paper by Joel Siegal of the duo of Richard Miller with Patrick de Santos (voice) stated “Patrick and Richard strike a remarkable balance between disciplined technique and otional abandon.”

Ethnographic research workshop: Ethnographic observation and participant observation in Fulbright research
2020-05-19 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
How do we acknowledge our biases and reflect on how our cultural perspectives are formed? How do we physically position ourselves in a space that is unfamiliar to us? How do we behave when etiquette is unknown or language is an obstacle? What does participation look like, and when is participation appropriate or inappropriate?
Panelists:

Gordon Bronitsky – Senior Fulbright Professor, Germany 1984-5, teaching area American Indians; Senior Fulbright Specialist, Kenya 2010; Senior Fulbright Specialist Zimbabwe 2016-2017; President, Bronitsky and Associates indigenow.com, a firm that works with Indigenous peoples around the world in the performing arts (traditional and contemporary) and festival development on every continent except Antarctica
Padmini Bhuyan Boruah – Professor & Head, Department of English language Teaching, Gauhati University, India; FNAPE Teaching & Research Fellowship, 2019-20. Host institution: University of San Diego, CA; Home institution: Gauhati University, India; Research interests: English Language Teacher Education; Action Research
Loneka Wilkinson-Battiste – Assistant Professor of Music Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Brazil 2019; Fulbright Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellowship, 2019. Host institution: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Areas studied: coco de roda
Kate Spanos – Brazil 2018, dance anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park (moderator)

For more information and registration, visit tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography2

Ethnographic research workshop: Panel discussion about ethnography and cultural encounters in Fulbright research
2020-03-31 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
At the core of Fulbright’s mission is cultural ambassadorship and international partnership. What are some common concerns for Fulbrighters when working in a new country? How do cultural encounters shape our Fulbright research or work? How do we develop meaningful collaborations with other Fulbrighters and local researchers in productive and sensitive ways?
Panelists:

Rachita Sood – Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India, 2015-16 – postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University, medicine
Janet Robbins – Fulbright Specialist in Brazil, 2018 – professor emerita at West Virginia University, world music pedagogy
Kate Spanos – Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Brazil, 2018 – adjunct faculty and marketing staff at University of Maryland, dance anthropology and performance studies
Amy Kuritzky – Fulbright Student Research in Ecuador, 2019-20 (current) – recent graduate of Rice University, nutritional anthropology, environmental science, and anthropology
Ilana Herold – Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Korea, 2019-20 (current) – recent graduate of University of Maryland, environmental science and technology

More information and registration at tiny.cc/FulbridgeEthnography

POSTPONED: Frevo dance presentation
2020-03-19 12:00 - 13:00 | Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Capital Gallery Building, 600 Maryland Avenue SW Suite 2001, Washington, DC, 20024, United States
Note: In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, this event has been postponed. Stay tuned for rescheduling details.
Kate Spanos, PhD will present her research on frevo dance in a talk entitled, “A Dance of Resistance from Recife, Brazil: Carnivalesque Improvisation in Frevo,” at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Abstract:
Frevo is an energetic music and dance that symbolizes Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco: loud brass instruments provide the fast-paced music and dancers in bright costumes hold small colorful umbrellas as they perform quick footwork and acrobatics. The word frevo is a colloquial form of the Portuguese verb ferver (“to boil”) that alludes its frenetic nature and the hot, sweaty Carnival during which it is danced, especially in Pernambuco’s capital, Recife. In this presentation, I present ethnographic research based on six months of fieldwork in Recife to examine frevo as a “dance of resistance” that implements strategies derived from its origins in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira. In considering how frevo’s playful and carnivalesque nature combines with its improvisational techniques, I propose the term “carnivalesque improvisation” to describe how dancers communicate cultural knowledge and work through and around the unpredictability and frequent violence of Carnival and Recife’s society at large. I examine the teaching methodologies and performance strategies of selected frevo groups, performers, and choreographers to show how practitioners challenge sociocultural boundaries and socioeconomically determined attitudes.
Bio:
Kate Spanos, PhD is a dancer and dance scholar specializing in studies of dance, music, and festival in Brazil, the Eastern Caribbean, and Ireland. In her research, she examines kinesthetic strategies involved in “dances of resistance” from cultures around the world. She has conducted research on frevo in Recife, Brazil as a postdoctoral Fulbright U.S. Scholar and on masquerades on the Caribbean island of Montserrat as a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Master’s in Traditional Irish Dance Performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland.

POSTPONED: Capoeira workshop (private event)
2020-03-17 08:30 - 11:30 | Washington International School, 3100 Macomb Street NW, Washington, DC, 20008, United States
Note: In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, this event has been postponed. Stay tuned for rescheduling details.
Pablo Regis de Oliveira and Kate Spanos teach capoeira history, music, and movement to 6th graders at the Washington International School. Private event.

Irish step dance workshop
2020-03-06 03:45 - 17:15 | The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD, 20742, United States
Kate Spanos teaches at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Mid-Atlantic North conference at the University of Maryland, College Park. The class covers the basic techniques of Irish step dance, with a focus on body posture and footwork. Students learn movements from Irish dance vocabulary and explore the incorporation of these movements into personal style through improvisation exercises.
Conference registration required.

Brazilian dances of resistance: capoeira and frevo movement
2020-03-05 15:45 - 17:15 | The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD, 20742, United States
Kate Spanos teaches at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Mid-Atlantic North conference at the University of Maryland, College Park. The class covers movement vocabulary from the Brazilian dance traditions of capoeira and frevo. Capoeira is a “martial art disguised as a dance” and frevo is a carnival dance with origins in capoeira. Students learn how capoeira and frevo are “dances of resistance,” using improvisational exercises.
Conference registration required.

Dances of resistance and frevo: Lecture and discussion
2020-02-12 14:30 - 15:45 | George Washington University, DC, United States
Kate Spanos, PhD visits Dr. Maria Cecília Zea’s cross-cultural psychology class at George Washington University for a discussion about dance ethnography, dances of resistance, and Brazilian frevo—and how these themes connect to cross-cultural psychology.
