Summer: Rutgers- Afro-Brazilian Dance and Music in Salvador, Brazil
The Program
The program in Salvador, Brazil offers an immersive cultural experience centered in Afro-Brazilian dance and music as community-driven, culturally sustaining practices blending African, Portuguese, and Indigenous traditions.
The program offers an immersive cultural experience centered in Afro-Brazilian dance and music as community-driven, culturally sustaining practices blending African, Portuguese, and Indigenous traditions. Salvador, home to the largest Black population outside of Africa, is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. The program host site is the Dance Department at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Students will participate in daily Afro-Brazilian dance and music classes with master teachers from UFBA and the Dance School of the Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia (FUNCEB). Additionally, the program features a series of cultural excursions to deepen students’ awareness and understanding of the history and contributions of Afro-Brazilians. Excursions include the Afro-Brazilian Museum, Carnival Museum and a dance and music performance by the world-famous Balé Folclórico da Bahia.
Program Locations
Brazil
Salvador
The Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) was founded in 1956 and became the first higher education institution for dance in Brazil. Today, the School of Dance offers four undergraduate courses: Bachelor's Degree (daytime), Bachelor's Degree with Teaching Certification (daytime), Bachelor's Degree with Teaching Certification (nighttime), and Bachelor's Degree with Teaching Certification in the distance learning modality, in addition to two postgraduate programs, the Dance Postgraduate Program and the Professional Postgraduate Program in Dance. In 2019, UFBA launched the first public and free Doctorate in Dance in the world, reaffirming UFBA's role as a leader in Dance Education and Research.
Academics
Learning Objectives: (1) Students will experience the distinctive artistic, pedagogic and cultural practices informing the performance of Afro-Brazilian dance and music. (2) Students will contextualize Afro-Brazilian dance and music through historical, social, political and cultural lenses and compare, contrast and/or connect to the U.S. context. They will also understand collaborative strategies and skills that have sustained and evolved Afro-Brazilian dance and music. (3) Students will cultivate individual perspectives and artist-educator choice-making in relationship to the content and form of Afro-Brazilian dance and music. (4) Students will reflect on their personal identities, experiences, assumptions, predispositions and beliefs about dance and music teaching and learning in America. (5) Students will become informed observers of a wider variety of dance/music teaching and learning settings. (6) Students will explore critical pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, and progressive education.
The course will count as elective credit for Dance and Music Departments. BFA Dance majors are required to take 8 credits of dance electives that must be chosen from at least three areas of the dance curriculum. Study abroad is one such dance curriculum area.
Housing and Meals
Program lodging will be in the Praia de Porto da Barra neighborhood, noted for its lively atmosphere and calm beach waters, making it a perfect spot for dining, swimming and relaxation. Lodging is at Monte Pascoal Praia Hotel in Porto da Barra. There are options for single or double rooms. Breakfast is included in the hotel cost; lunch will be provided on class days; select group dinners will also be included in the program cost.
Scholarships
Faculty Leaders
Marjoris Regus (she/ella) is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Her research interests include secondary general music, reggaetón music, and linguistic, behavioral, and musical codeswitching.
Frederick Curry (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Dance and Dance Education at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. His research interests include dance pedagogy, dance teacher identity, culturally informed somatics and dances of the Black African Diaspora.