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Category: Dance

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Caught My Ear: Dance Tunes in the National Jukebox from Collections by Cecil Sharp

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Many divisions of the Library of Congress have fascinating collections that are closely related to folklife and that complement collections in the American Folklife Center. The Recorded Sound Section is a part of the Library that works closely with the American Folklife Center in a variety of important ways. Among their holdings are recordings related …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Katherine Dunham’s Ethnographic Research in the Caribbean

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Katherine Dunham is perhaps most famous for her influence on modern American dance with the introduction of African and Caribbean dance movement. That work began with ethnographic work in the Caribbean in 1936. Films made during her research have been put online by the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Selections from the …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Traditional Sports for Unity

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

The ancient concept of the Olympics was to create competitions that brought people together once every four years in a ritual in honor of the god Zeus. Wars were banned while the games were put on allowing people of different states to participate and travel to and from the games safely. People came from all …

A dancer in Native American regalia on an ornate marble floor with a group of hoops merged to form a sphere.

Homegrown Plus: Nakotah LaRance, 1989-2020

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Normally, the Homegrown Plus series is a way to bring together the videos of Homegrown concerts with other information about the artists, including oral history interviews.  This time, however, we have a more solemn duty: to celebrate the life and legacy of Nakotah LaRance, an outstanding Native American hoop dancer from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Nepal traditional dance comes to the American Folklife Center

Posted by: John Fenn

In this guest post one of our archivists, Valda Morris, discusses the work she’s been doing behind the scenes to process an important collection and help create a finding aid that will assist researchers in discovering the richness of the materials.  The American Folklife Center is proud to announce the availability of an online finding …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with a concert and oral history with the Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble. Update: in September, 2020, Chum Ngek did …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: The Sattriya Dance Company with the Dancing Monks of Assam

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with the Sattriya Dance Company with the Dancing Monks of Assam Traditional Dance from Assam, India. This is one of two related …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Homegrown Plus: Kalanidhi Dance Company Performs Kuchipudi Dance

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with a performance of Kuchipudi dance by the Kalanidhi Dance Company from Maryland and an oral history with their director, Anuradha Nehru. This is …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

AFC acquires the songbooks from your childhood

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by Todd Harvey, acquisitions coordinator at the American Folklife Center (AFC). The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce a major acquisition, the Cooperative Recreation Service collection (AFC 2016/051) donated to the Center by fiddler, scholar, and publisher Bruce Greene. The Cooperative Recreation Service is a publishing company founded during …