51ÉçÇø

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Global Arts Festival Guest Artists & Speakers

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Brother(hood) Dance!

(Featured Artists)

A 2020 Bessies Honoree of the NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies for Afro/Solo/Man. They are an interdisciplinary duo that seeks to inform its audiences on the socio-political and environmental injustices from a global perspective, bringing clarity to the same-gender-loving African American experience in the 21st century. Brother(hood) Dance! was formed in April 2014 as a duo that researches, creates, and performs dances of freedom by Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine. We have performed our works at Five Myles, Center for Performance Research, B.A.A.D! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), VCU-The Grace Street Theater, DraftWork at St. Mark's Church, JACK, Movement Research at Judson Church, Colby College, Denmark Arts Center, Universidad de las Américas Puebla/Performática(MX), Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán/Viso Festival (MX), Jean-René Del Solins Institute (HT) and other venues. They are both MFA in Dance graduates from The Ohio State University integrating Agriculture and Technology.

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Dr. Marisol Norris

2024 Keynote Speaker

Founder and CEO of the Black Music Therapy Network, Inc., and director of the Music Therapy and Counseling Master’s Program at Drexel University. She is a leading scholar-activist in music therapy whose work centers on musical placemaking within Black communities. Dr. Norris teaches internationally on the human need for wholeness and the liberatory function of artistic processes to deepen the capacity for relational experience. Her work has been featured in media outlets, including Rolling Stone and Vogue, and has contributed to the international discourse of applied music-based research through platforms such as The Sound Health Network

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Festival Guests and Speakers

51ÉçÇø International Languages Showcase: Pittaya Paladroi-Shane 

World Languages Coordinator and Associate Professor, Instruction of Thai & World Languages

Pittaya Paladroi-Shane is the World Languages Coordinator and a Thai Associate Lecturer. She manages the Center for International Studies' African and Asian language programs. Fon advises students on language courses, scholarships, study abroad, and other opportunities. She teaches Thai from elementary to advanced levels, including special topics based on student interests. She also taught in two summer programs: Thai and environmental issues at Centre College, KY, in 2016 and 2018, and Thai and Thai culture at UW-Madison in 2017. Fon is an active COIL faculty member at 51ÉçÇø.

The 51ÉçÇø's Bella Voce

The 51ÉçÇø's Bella Voce  is a treble chorus made up of talented singers from diverse majors.

As a performance group, Bella Voce gives soprano and alto singers at 51ÉçÇø an opportunity to study, rehearse, and perform choral repertoire from a wide variety of musical styles and genres – music that is challenging as well as fun! We take pride in our ability to perform collegiate-level choral literature, both accompanied and a cappella, ranging from three to eight parts. Our goal is for each member to grow as a musician and as a performer.

Percussion Studio. World Percussion Extravaganza

With a tradition of excellence, the percussion ensembles led by Roger Braun have performed at schools, universities, and conferences, including the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in 1999, 2009, 2016, and 2019. They gained acclaim for Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June and Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra, featured on the CD "Sticks and Stones: Music for Percussion and Strings" by Equilibrium. Notable achievements include forming the first jazz percussion ensemble in 1974 and playing Uganda's Embaire Xylophone music. In 2024, the 51ÉçÇø Percussion Ensembles performed at the Edeta Arts Festival in Valencia, Spain, marking their first international tour.

Brodacity Jazz

Brodacity is a Jazz Fusion group based off of fusion groups of the 70s and 80s such as Pat Metheny Group and Herbie Hancock. We play a diverse set of tunes with influences from styles around the world. We are delighted to perform at the World Music Festival.

Members:
Riley James Vocals
Brodie Battin Guitar
Zach Winkleman Keys
Jayden Rahmon Bass
Miles MacDonald Drum

Ohio Valley School of Celtic Dance & Culture Night

The Ohio Valley School of Celtic Dance and Culture is a Southeast Ohio based, board run non-profit with the mission to build confidence and self esteem in dancers of all ages through the art and performance of Irish dance. Their Bi-annual Feochadan Project production, a dance show imagined, created, and fully produced by the Irish Dance team, is a much anticipated event in the community. OVSCDC recently celebrated the 10 Year Anniversary of the Feochadán performance to the community in June 2024, titled “An Tus: The Beginning".

The Singing Men of Ohio

The Singing Men of Ohio (SMO) is an ensemble of undergraduate and graduate students from across the University who sing tenor-bass choral repertoire. Established as both a performing ensemble within the School of Music as well as a student organization that sponsors service projects, social activities, and makes numerous community appearances at university and alumni functions, The SMO enjoy a unique blend of professional training in music with opportunities for creative expression in the spirit of fraternity.

Canal Winchester Community Steel Band, Brodacity Jazz

Founded in 2001, the Winchester Steel Co., under the direction of Todd Phillips, has become the premier steel drum band program in central Ohio. The list of notable performances include: an inauguration reception at the Ohio Statehouse for dignitaries and invited guests of the Strickland/Fisher administration; opening for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra at the historic Southern Theater in 2004, and at the Columbus Zoo for the JazZoo concert series every year since 2006.

Previous Festival Guests and Speakers

BEN DOTSEI MALOR KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2022 


AZAGUNO


NATIONAL DANCE COMPANY OF GHANA


MESSIAH UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WITH DIRECTOR, DR. TIMOTHY DIXON


JEFFREY A. RUSSELL, PH.D., A.T., FIADMS KEYNOTE SPEAKER 2022

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MESSIAH UNIVERSITY PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE WITH DIRECTOR, DR. ERIK FORST

Festival Director

DR. PASCHAL YAO YOUNGE

DR. PASCHAL YAO YOUNGE
FESTIVAL AND CONCERT CO-DIRECTOR

The sights and sounds of Africa fill the air when Paschal Yao Younge, the Ohio Arts Council 2020 Ohio Heritage Fellowship Awardee, Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow, a multi-talented and interdisciplinary musician, scholar, composer, author, and performer, presents world percussion music and dance forms internationally, focusing on styles from Africa and the African Diaspora. Dr. Younge, Professor of Music at 51ÉçÇø, is currently the Executive and Music Director of Azaguno, Inc., a multi-ethnic ensemble based in Athens, Ohio that focuses on research, preservation, and performance of African, African American, Caribbean, and Latin American Music and Dance. Learn More