Upcoming Native Arts & Events Series Not to be Missed

Native Dance

I find that Native American dance is usually misunderstood by the general public, if not entirely overlooked.  Knowing that Green Street offers a number of dance classes and workshops, and that Wesleyan has a vibrant Dance Department, I thought there would be plenty of interest to hold a workshop on Native American dance.  Join Rebecca Perry-Levy (Pequot/Narragansett) and her family in an exploration of a number of different Native American Dance traditions, in full regalia. This workshop includes a question and answer forum, in depth explanation, and teaching of social dances.  Participation is welcome, but not necessary.  Please join us on Saturday, September 25th, 2-4pm whether you want to dance or simply sit back and enjoy!

Be sure to join us for other events in this fantastic series:

File Under Miscellaneous StillThe next event in the series is a special Halloween-themed film screening on Friday, October 29th, at 7pm.  Montreal-based writer and director Jeff Barnaby (Mi’kmaq) will discuss The Colony and his new film, File Under Miscellaneous, both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.  File Under Miscellaneous received a warm reception at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and has been called “a dark SciFi gem” by critic Todd Brown. Barnaby’s psychological thrillers will make you reconsider stereotypes of what Native/First Nations art “should be.”  In addition, there will be a screening of Bruce Curliss’ (Nipmuc) short film Survivor, which deals with the atrocities committed against the Nipmuc at Deer Island.  On October 30, 1675, Native people from what is now South Natick were removed to Deer Island in Boston Harbor.  Without adequate food, clothing, or shelter, the majority of the people—mostly women, children, and elders—perished. (Viewers should note that The Colony and File Under Miscellaneous are not suitable for viewers under the age of 18 without parental accompaniment.)

On Friday, November 12, at 7pm, Green Street will be hosting a panel moderated by anthropologist and UMass Boston professor Amy Den Ouden. Panelists will include Schaghticoke elder Trudie Lamb Richmond and Ruth Garby Torres, also a member of the Schaticoke Nation, and representatives from the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation and the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation. Our knowledgeable panelists will discuss issues facing their tribes, including federal recognition. They will happily answer questions from the audience, with the hope that the event will be an open, informative dialogue.

Submitted by Stephanie Elliott, Friend of Green Street and Publicist at Wesleyan University Press

To reserve your spot for any of these events, call 860-685-7871 or email gsac@wesleyan.edu.Native Dance

Native American Dance Workshop

Saturday, September 25 | 2pm

General: $10; Members/Students/Seniors: $8

This event is co-sponsored by the Wesleyan Dance Department.

File Under Miscellaneous: Short Films

Friday, October 29 | 7 pm

Suggest donation: $5

The State of Native Connecticut

Friday, November 12 | 7 pm

Suggest donation: $5

Keeping the Beat: Green Street Encourages Life-Long Students

A Note of Thanks

Thank you to everyone who attended our Opening Evening on September 10th; the night was a great success and we enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing familiar faces.  We’d like to thank Michael Roth, Wesleyan University President, Sonia Mañjon, Wesleyan University Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Chief Diversity Officer, and our incredible Green Street Advisory Board members and Wesleyan Trustees who joined in the festivities and showed their support for GSAC.  We hope you all experienced some of the great offerings, like the salsa workshop, West African Drumming and Dancing, and family art projects.  Green Street is fortunate to have fantastic advocates like you.  Buster and Paola, two of our supporters, have shared their Green Street experience with us below.

Keeping the Beat

Green Street Arts Center is an essential part of our lifelong learning process.  Buster and I are both teachers. He teaches fourth grade at Macdonough School in Middletown and I teach sixth grade at Sunset Ridge Elementary Academy for Arts and World Languages in East Hartford. He is a Middletown native and I live in Glastonbury, which makes for a convenient commute to Green Street for both of us.  Last spring, we participated in the West African Drumming: Djembe Orchestra class led by expert instructors Jocelyn Pleasant and Aaron Greenberg, who teach with humor and patience. We not only practiced drum technique, but also learned about the various rhythms and cultures of West African countries with our diverse, energetic, and good-natured classmates.

In addition to expert instruction and welcoming classmates, another key feature of the Green Street Arts Center is its partnership with the greater Middletown community.  As a culmination to our drumming course, many class members joined the instructors and younger Green Street students to perform at a community festival celebrating the arts open to all.  For a novice musician such as me, performing a public concert for an intergenerational audience was thrilling!

Buster and I always look forward to Green Street’s new course offerings because they stretch our minds and rejuvenate our spirits.  In the future, we hope to explore Salsa dancing, creative writing, martial arts, and of course, more drumming.

Thank you, Green Street Arts Center for helping us stay bright and lively!

Sincerely,

Paola Maina and Buster NelsonFall Catalog Cover
Submitted by Paola Maina and Buster Nelson, Green Street students and After School support staff

If, like Paola and Buster, you are interested in staying bright and lively through one of Green Street’s offerings, view our fall course catalog here.  To become a member and receive great discounts at Green Street and partner organizations around the state, email gsac@wesleyan.edu or call (860) 685-7871.  Click here for all of the membership benefits. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sunday Salon Series: “Days and Knights of the Round Table”

Come join us to learn about the true story that inspired a legend.

The Arthurian legend is perhaps the most important legend in Western society and is still frequently retold and reinterpreted today in literature and cinema.  Wesleyan Professor Jeff Rider has been studying the legend for over thirty years and will be discussing it in Green Street’s Sunday Salon Series.  Jeff will discuss the origins of the legend in Dark Age Britain along with its early evolution in medieval England and France. Audience members are invited to ask questions about Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, the Grail, and much more.

This informal lecture takes place on Sunday, September 12 from 2-4pm as part of the Sunday Salon Series, Green Street’s monthly discussion series for creative minds and curious individuals hosted by Wesleyan University Chemistry Professor David Beveridge.  Each monthly salon includes plenty of opportunity for socializing as well as a reception with light refreshments.

More about Jeff Rider
As a professor of French and Medieval Studies at Wesleyan University, Rider is an expert on the history and literature of northern Europe during the High Middle Ages.  He received his bachelor’s degree in French and English from Yale University, a diploma of Medieval Studies from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and a MA and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago.

Rider is the author of twenty-three published articles and six books, editions, or translations devoted medieval subjects.  He has given numerous lectures about the Arthurian legend in the United States, England, France, Belgium, Holland, Hungary, Romania, and Peru.

He teaches French language and medieval literature and history courses to undergrads, and recently taught a course on “Chivalry, Courtliness, and Courtly Love in the Middle Ages” to students enrolled in Wesleyan’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program.  He will be teaching a GLSP class this fall on “Days and Knights of the Round Table”.  Much like his Sunday Salon discussion, it will look at the way the various developments of the legend were rooted in specific historical circumstances and yet contributed to the elaboration of a rich and complex narrative that has been appropriated in different ways by each succeeding period of western European culture.

Days and Knights of the Round Table with Professor Jeff Rider
A Sunday Salon & Graduate Liberal Studies Open House
Sunday, September 12 | 2:00-4:00 pm
Suggested donation: $5

Co-sponsored by Green Street Arts Center and Graduate Liberal Studies at Wesleyan, this event will be followed by an information session about Wesleyan’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program.

For a complete list of events at Green Street, click here.