International Dance Day
Come celebrate International Dance Day with Hickory Ballet & Performing Arts! This free community event will showcase several dance styles in an afternoon festival of master classes! Everyone welcome, no dance experience necessary.
Date: Saturday, May 3rd
Time: 12:00PM-5:00PM
Cost: FREE
Wear: Any clothes you can move in! Bring dance shoes if you have them. If not, socks or bare feet may be encouraged depending on the style.
Location: HBPA Studios, 116 3rd St NW Hickory, NC 28601
Click HERE for parking info.
Information on Our Guest Artists:
Tamara Williams
Associate Professor Tamara Williams earned her BFA in Dance from Florida State University and received her MFA in Dance from Hollins University in collaboration with The American Dance Festival, The Forsythe Company, and Frankfurt University. She is a certified GYROTONIC(R) Trainer, Reiki Practitioner, and capoeirista.
Williams’ performing career includes work with Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company, David P. France Dance company, Errol Grimes Dance Group, Millicent and Company, Angela’s Pulse, Maverick Dance Experience, and Urban Bush Women’s apprentice company. Her choreography has been performed nationally and internationally including Serbia, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil. In 2011, Williams created Moving Spirits, Inc., a contemporary arts organization dedicated to performing, researching, documenting, cultivating, and producing arts of the African Diaspora.
Williams has trained intensely in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil in Silvestre Technique and African Brazilian dance. She is a 2012 recipient of the Artist Residency Fellowship at the Dance & Performance Institute in Trinidad, a 2013 recipient of the Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall Fund for New Work grant, and a 2014 and 2015 Community Arts Fund Grantee by the Brooklyn Arts Council. In 2015, Moving Spirits, Inc. was accepted as Company-in-Residence at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Leadership in Jamaica, Queens. Williams was a 2015 Turkey Land Grove Foundation recipient in which she participated in a seven-day dance writing residency in Martha’s Vineyard, and a 2015 Fall Space Grant recipient, awarded by the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She is a recipient of the Digital Making Grant from UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture and several Mini-Diversity and Chancellor Diversity Challenge Fund grants from UNC Charlotte’s Diversity Fund. She has received two Faculty Research Grants to further her studies of African American ring shout traditions in the Carolina’s low country and West Africa. Williams has received several Culture Block grants from Mecklenburg County’s Arts and Science Council to offer free African Diaspora dance and music programming for communities around Charlotte. In 2020, Williams was awarded the College of Arts + Architecture 2020 Board of Governors Teaching Award.
Williams’ research has been published in The Dancer-Citizen Journal and her book Giving Life to Movement, analyzing African-Brazilian dance histories and cultures, was published by McFarland Press in 2021. Her monograph, The African Diaspora and Civic Responsibility: Addressing Social Justice through the Arts, Education and Community Engagement, is currently under contract with McFarland. This latter text investigates how African American, African-Brazilian, Haitian, and Latinx artists and scholars address civic responsibility and social justice issues through the arts. Williams’ research on African American Ring Shout traditions has been disseminated at several colleges and universities in the United States and Brazil. Her article, “Reviving Culture Through Ring Shout,” was published in the scholarly journal, The Dancer-Citizen.
Williams has researched and developed various community programs focusing on marginalized people in New York City and Charlotte. The programs provide opportunities for underserved communities to learn and practice dances of the African diaspora; histories and cultures which are strategically neglected in US education systems.
Ritu Mukherjee
Nrityangan Cultural Academy was founded in 2001 by Smt. Rituparna Mukherjee. Affiliated with Pracheen Kala Kendra, a premier educational organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of fine arts, Nrityangan has been providing classical Kathak and modern Bollywood training for students age 5 through adults. The founder and Creative Director, Ritu, provides group and individual training, understanding the strengths and skills of each student. Her affectionate manner and attention to detail builds dancers and individuals who are proud of their cultural heritage and eager to share their traditions with the community. All students at Nrityangan participate in cultural festivals during the year such as the annual Festival of India in Charlotte. Their talents are also showcased in Nrityangan’s annual recital and fundraiser, which brings together over a hundred dancers, working together to tell a story and raise funds for local and global organizations. Last year, Nrityangan’s annual recital raised over $40K to support Maiti Nepal and Treehouse Children’s Advocacy Center.
For those students on the kathak track, their years of training and hard work culminate in a Rang Manch Pravesh, or a graduation ceremony highlighting the skills they have built. Ritu works with each of her rising graduates, one-on-one, to carefully select and choreograph complex classical works. The end result: truly spellbinding performances that demonstrate the student’s technical strength, innate skill, and grace. In addition, Nrityangan is available to perform at, or choreograph dances for private events and weddings.
Ritu Mukherjee, was born in a small town in West Bengal. She completed her Masters in Zoology under Calcutta University. She was trained in the Indian Classical Dance Kathak by Rabindra Bharati, Dance Professor Dr. Jayanta Mukherjee, and Other renowned teachers like Late Sri Bela Arnab, Shoma Chatterji, Dr. Malabika Mitra Sen, Keya Chandra and Sri Jayanti Mukherjee.
Ritu has won several Kathak dance competitions. In 1993, she won the All India Jawahar Lal Nehru Dance competition and was the recipient of the National dance scholarship. After getting married to Dr. Arindam Mukherjee, she moved to the US in 2001. She started teaching dance in Santa Barbara, California, merely out of her passion for teaching others the art of dance. A year later, when she moved to Charlotte with her family, she founded the Nrityangan Cultural Academy, and has truly made a lasting imprint on the Indian cultural scene in Charlotte.
She is not only a mother of her own 3 children, but she also looks upon each of her Nrityangan students as her own. Her affection and dedication to their dance education is evident in each of her interactions . Today, Ritu Mukherjee trains many students between the ages of 5 -54 and continues to mentor on several Indian Dance projects in Hickory University. In spite of her busy schedule, Ritu volunteers as the Cultural secretary of Hindu Center of Charlotte. Srishti, has worked with the Indian association of Charlotte and is a cultural committee member of the Asian Dragon Boat festival .
Ritu has performed at the Charlotte International school, Charlotte Prep school, Charlotte Latin and Mecklenburg Schools, Passport to the World show at JC Smith University Charlotte, International day Dance and Music by Mecklenburg Library, Festival of India Charlotte, Raleigh, Microsoft Companies, AXA , AAPI, Hindu Center, Srishti, Nuvyug and so on.…
Walking Tall
Walking Tall is an Indigenous healer, teacher, and artist based in Hickory, NC. They have spent their entire life studying and practicing ancient spiritual healing modalities. For the last ten years, they have traveled the world to indigenous communities learning sacred healing techniques.
Walking Tall is a Master Teacher of nature-based healing and is the Founder of Earth Keepers School- a nature-based Indigenous School for children.
Walking Tall has apprenticed Indigenous Reiki under Peruvian Shamans, sound healing and meditation under Tibetan Buddhist Monks, Yoga Teacher Training from the Yoga Alliance, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Rutgers University. Their artwork empowers others to alchemize trauma, turning wounds into wisdom.
White Buffalo Studio is a Healing Arts Partner Practitioner with Hickory Yoga and Wellness. They offer: Reiki Sound Healing, Shamanic Journey and private drum lessons, Forest Meditation, Indigenous Sound Baths, Empowerment Coaching, Nature Retreats and Conscious Business Consulting.
Walking Tall is a Choctaw Shaman Heyoka- a sacred medicine healer who communes with the spirit world.
As an Indigenous Healing Arts Practitioner, they practice the world’s original holistic medicine, empowering and inspiring clients to achieve balance in mind, body, and spirit.