Free community engagement events
The Joyfull Step Afrika! Edition
When our bodies are hungry, we need to eat. But when our souls are hungry, we crave a different kind of nourishment. Just like food, art comes from many forms, cultural backgrounds, and histories. At each Joyfull, we welcome all to come and enjoy a meal, live performance and conversation.
Join the Center for the Performing Arts at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, in Alumni Hall of the HUB-Robeson Center for an event where we make connections and leave with full bellies and full hearts. Free sustainable utensil sets will be given to first-time attendees while supplies last. Help us reduce waste by bringing them with you to use at each Joyfull.
The event is free, but registration is required. Visit The Joyfull online for more info and to register.
Stepping Workshop
Artists from the Step Afrika! company will lead a public workshop at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, in Heritage Hall of the HUB-Robeson Center. No experience is necessary for the all-ages event and will focus on the stepping style of dance.
The workshop is free, but registration is required. Visit Workshop online for more info and to register.
Step Afrika! @ The Palmer
The Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with the Palmer Museum of Art, will host dancers from Step Afrika! for a discussion and demo at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, in the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Lobby and Event Space. A reception hosted by the Center for the Performing Arts’ Student Advisory Council and the Palmer Museum of Art’s Student Ambassadors will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Members of Step Afrika! will connect the art form of stepping to the work of renowned visual artist Jacob Lawrence. After the talk, they will present a brief stepping demonstration.
The event is free, but registration is required. Visit museum visit online for more info and to register.
Related opportunities
Step Afrika! School-Time Matinee
The Step Afrika! production of “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence” uses percussive-dance theatre to tell the history of The Great Migration in a School-Time Matinee performance of their landmark work. The matinee will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov 14, in Eisenhower.
Reservations are due by Friday, Oct. 25. Visit Step Afrika School-Time Matinee online for state standards and accreditations, and to make a reservation.
Extend the learning experience with a visit to Palmer Museum of Art to see artist Lawrence‘s “Confrontation on the Bridge.” Email Brandi Breslin at bgb56@psu.edu for information about a docent-led or self-guided tour.
Watch Artis Olds, Step Afrika! director of arts, education and community programs, discuss the educational components to Step Afrika’s programs and the stepping dance style.
‘Leaving the Summerland’ dramatic reading
The Black Women Playwrights’ Group is supporting Step Afrika’s performance of “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence.” To expand and give resonance to the performance, the playwrights’ group will broadcast 12-line dramatic scenes from the play “Leaving the Summerland,” also inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s “The Migration Series,” on the theater app 12@12NOON. 12@12NOON is a text-based, private SMS that delivers 12-line dramatic scenes written by award-winning playwrights to readers' mobile phones weekdays at noon.
Embrace the events that lead an intelligent family to flee their home in Duckhill, Mississippi, in 1919. Five scenes will be broadcast Monday–Friday, starting Nov. 11–15 and repeated the week of Nov. 18–22.
The app is available for free download on the App Store and Google Play. Visit Black Women Playwrights’ Group online for more info.
Acknowledgements
Support is provided by Debra Lee Latta and Dr. Stanley E. Latta Endowment, Mary Ann O’Brien Malkin Program Endowment, and Penn State International Dance Ensemble Endowment. Accessibility services supported by William E. McTurk Endowment for Program Support.
Support for The Joyfull events provided by Dick Brown and Sandy Zaremba, and the Penn State Equal Opportunity Planning Committee in the Office for the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.
A grant from the University Park Fee Board makes student prices possible.
Find us
For more information about the season, visit the Center for the Performing Arts online, Facebook and Instagram.