Showcase
Celebrating their 35th anniversary in 2007, the current Gowanus Wildcats line-up clap, shuffle and stomp through an intergenerational drill routine alongside team alumnae: their mothers, aunts and older sisters. Photo: Etienne FrossardFolk Feet
Celebrating their 35th anniversary in 2007, the current Gowanus Wildcats line-up clap, shuffle and stomp through an intergenerational drill routine alongside team alumnae: their mothers, aunts and older sisters. Photo: Etienne Frossard
Traditional dance is one of the least served areas of the arts in the United States. As a result, many traditional dance groups lack sufficient funding and remain unknown. To address this problem, in 2003 BAC Folk Arts initiated Folk Feet, a program dedicated to supporting the work of traditional dancers in Brooklyn.
The goals of Folk Feet are to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops.
Since its inception, the Folk Feet project has identified 180 dancers or groups in the borough. We have documented many of them and have presented them in our annual showcase at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts and at other events such as Folk Feet at Ft. Greene Park. Dancers have also had the opportunity to teach in Circle ‘Round Brooklyn, a series of workshops in public spaces around the city that focuses on social dances such as the circular Greek syrtos or African American ring shout.
Folk Feet builds public awareness of the borough’s many currently practiced and performed traditional dances, including culturally specific Haitian, Irish, Trinidadian, Mexican, Korean, Lebanese, Israeli, and Bangladeshi forms as well as urban hybrid and cross-cultural forms. What’s more, traditional dancers play vital roles in their communities by sustaining cultural identities, performing at local celebrations and providing dance training. A number of dancers in Brooklyn also teach dance outside their communities through cultural programs and organizations, which increases cross-cultural awareness.
Among the many traditional dance forms documented and presented by Folk Feet are ceremonial dance from Senegal and Mali; Bangladeshi Hindu baowl; Norwegian partner dances; traditional Native American powwow dances; Haitian kombit; Indian Odissi; Dominican Pri-Pri and bachata; American square dance;Mexican norteño; Ukrainian Cossack; Panamanian tamborito; Yemenite bara’a; Nepalese Sherpa sherbru; Brazilian capoeira and candomble; Korean poongmul; Irish step; dance djouanigbe from Ivory Coast; Bangladeshi baowl; Swedish folkdance; Puerto Rican bomba; Polish polka and krakowiak;urban cross-cultural forms such as breaking, zouking, uprocking, salsa, and hustle; and many, many more.
The goals of Folk Feet are to identify the range of traditional dance practices represented in Brooklyn by individuals, companies, and community and social dance groups; to document these artists and their practices; and to present them to a wider public by way of concerts, showcases and workshops.
Since its inception, the Folk Feet project has identified 180 dancers or groups in the borough. We have documented many of them and have presented them in our annual showcase at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts and at other events such as Folk Feet at Ft. Greene Park. Dancers have also had the opportunity to teach in Circle ‘Round Brooklyn, a series of workshops in public spaces around the city that focuses on social dances such as the circular Greek syrtos or African American ring shout.
Folk Feet builds public awareness of the borough’s many currently practiced and performed traditional dances, including culturally specific Haitian, Irish, Trinidadian, Mexican, Korean, Lebanese, Israeli, and Bangladeshi forms as well as urban hybrid and cross-cultural forms. What’s more, traditional dancers play vital roles in their communities by sustaining cultural identities, performing at local celebrations and providing dance training. A number of dancers in Brooklyn also teach dance outside their communities through cultural programs and organizations, which increases cross-cultural awareness.
Among the many traditional dance forms documented and presented by Folk Feet are ceremonial dance from Senegal and Mali; Bangladeshi Hindu baowl; Norwegian partner dances; traditional Native American powwow dances; Haitian kombit; Indian Odissi; Dominican Pri-Pri and bachata; American square dance;Mexican norteño; Ukrainian Cossack; Panamanian tamborito; Yemenite bara’a; Nepalese Sherpa sherbru; Brazilian capoeira and candomble; Korean poongmul; Irish step; dance djouanigbe from Ivory Coast; Bangladeshi baowl; Swedish folkdance; Puerto Rican bomba; Polish polka and krakowiak;urban cross-cultural forms such as breaking, zouking, uprocking, salsa, and hustle; and many, many more.
Members of the youth troupe, Brooklyn Jumbies, perform the West Indian carnival stilt dance tradition called moko jumbie at the annual Folk Feet showcase. Photo: Dixie Sheridan
The Footbridge
With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, and New York Community Trust, Folk Feet expanded in 2006. Our Footbridge programs create more performance opportunities for Brooklyn’s traditional dancers, reach out to new audiences across New York City and are better able to sustain local dance organizations.
New Footbridge programming includes Dance Meets, which brings together traditional dancers and their audiences for trips and gatherings like the annual Congress of Research on Dance. Footbridge also expands our ability to teach traditional dance with Folk Feet Dance Workshops led by a roster of 12 traditional dancers who teach in such settings as libraries, community centers and elder care facilities, among others. Solo Feet, our new performance series, features traditional dancers performing one-person shows in public spaces across the city.
With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, and New York Community Trust, Folk Feet expanded in 2006. Our Footbridge programs create more performance opportunities for Brooklyn’s traditional dancers, reach out to new audiences across New York City and are better able to sustain local dance organizations.
New Footbridge programming includes Dance Meets, which brings together traditional dancers and their audiences for trips and gatherings like the annual Congress of Research on Dance. Footbridge also expands our ability to teach traditional dance with Folk Feet Dance Workshops led by a roster of 12 traditional dancers who teach in such settings as libraries, community centers and elder care facilities, among others. Solo Feet, our new performance series, features traditional dancers performing one-person shows in public spaces across the city.
Light on his feet, Director of Brooklyn’s Redhawk Native American Arts Council performs a Hoop Dance; Photo: Etienne Frossard
Folk Feet is made possible, in part, by Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The New York Community Trust.
BAC programs are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council and its Brooklyn Delegation.Related Categories
Dance, BAC Performances, Folk / Traditional Arts, BAC Workshops, Multi-Discipline, Multi-Cultural, Traditional / Culturally SpecificMore from Folk Feet:
BAC’s Folk Feet Dance Workshops connect you to Brooklyn’s traditional dance masters. These experts in different dance cultures are available to teach dance classes throughout the New York area. Learn ... more
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