I’m excited to announce that Pablo Regis and I have received folklife apprenticeship grants from Maryland Traditions, the traditional arts program of the Maryland State Arts Council. The funding supports the sharing of traditional arts skills from a master artist to a learner artist during a one-year teaching period. I will be working with percussive […]
Dances of Resistance publications
I’m excited to share that my chapter “Dances of Resistance and Social Inclusion in Brazil: Frevo and Popular Dances of Pernambuco” has been published in the Springer Handbook for Social Inclusion. From the abstract: The term “dances of resistance” refers to dances around the world that are involved in strategic processes of liberation, activism, or […]
EducArte, Inc. launched
I am happy to announce that we have officially launched EducArte, Inc., a new 501(c)3 non-profit organization that aims to build a vibrant cultural arts community through educational programs, bringing together artists, students, and audiences in music and dance. We have a wonderful board and our first event will take place tomorrow on Facebook Live […]
New articles, new projects
In the spirit of keeping this blog updated, I have a few things to share. Last year was busy and productive. It is amazing that I had just arrived in Recife two years ago, and now the articles about that research are finally being published. What a process! A Dance of Resistance from Recife, Brazil: […]
NextLOOK residency 2020
I am excited to announce that I am involved in a project that has been awarded a 2019-2020 NextLOOK residency at Joe’s Movement Emporium in partnership with The Clarice. With Brazilian musician Pablo Regis and dance artist Sinclair Ogaga Emoghene, we will be creating a new work exploring performances of “Otherness” through the music and […]
Frevo in Recife, Brazil
I have been spending the past 5 months in Recife, Brazil studying frevo dance, with only one month to go! This project is made possible by a postdoctoral U.S. Scholar Fulbright grant. To find out more about my research, check out my blog: frevo.thekatespanos.com. Photo credit: José Henrique Lustosas Roriz
Postdoctoral Fulbright grant
I’m very excited to be heading to Recife, Brazil on a six-month postdoctoral Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant! I will be studying frevo, a dance and music genre from Recife and the state of Pernambuco, to continue my research on “dances of resistance” and the role of dance, music, and carnival/festival in cultural identity formation. I […]
Samba Jig Productions
I’m excited to announce that I am co-founding a small business called Samba Jig Productions with partner Pablo de Oliveira! The company will offer music/dance related mobile apps and will do event bookings and promotion in the Washington, DC metro area. Our first app, called SambApp, is currently in development and will be available soon. […]
Word Calculator available in App Store
The Word Calculator app is now available in the App Store! Word Calculator includes all the features you need to calculate the value of any word in games like Scrabble and Words with Friends. This app is the iPhone version of thekatespanos.com web-based Scrabble word score calculator widget that has been offered on this site […]
Travel updates
Check out my Montserrat travel blog for updates on my fieldwork trip to research the music, dance, and performance culture on the island! I am posting photos and videos of the things I see and hear, and I am also writing about the workshops in Irish dance and West African drumming that I have been […]