Around the world of dance with the Brownings - dance performances at World Music Institute - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1997 by Rebecca Stenn

NEW YORK CITY--The World Music Institute has in eleven years become the stepping stone for New Yorkers to many of the most exciting world musicians and dancers. It was born in a fortuitous way, says Helene Browning, who directs the institute with her husband Robert. "We had a small art gallery downtown," explains Browning, "and one day the musician Jorge Linke walked in, took a look at the place and said, `You should have music concerts in here.'" The Brownings asked various musicians to perform in the gallery, and the concerts were a success. Soon they realized they would need larger spaces to accommodate growing audiences. "People were putting their feet up on the art work, on leaning on it," recalls Browning. The institute now uses venues ranging from churches to Avery Fisher Hall.

The institute provides a catalogue of over 5,000 titles of music and books. For those interested in world music outside of big cities, where the music is more readily available, this is an invaluable service. "We get calls from all over the country--librarians, people living in out-of-the-way places," explains Browning. Many of the artists, she reports, were "stars in their own countries and here they were driving cabs or selling pizza." The institute helps these artists share their work and makes their records available at concerts. It books up to ninety performances per year, and this year is no exception, with a concert nearly every weekend.

Martin Santangelo, whose Madrid-based Noche Flamenca performed earlier this year at Symphony Space, stresses the connection between the music and the dance. "Everything is integrated," he says. Santangelo attributes the resurgence of interest in flamenco to "people's need for something highly emotional. The trend has be toward the conservative, and so they want to see something passionate onstage."

May 2 at Town Hall, Moroccan musician Hassan Hakmoun presents Trance Music & Dance of Morocco. Hakmoun learned trance music and dance from masters in his native Marrakesh. "We would have the ceremony at a house. The entire community would be invited; it is not like a performance, it is a ritual." The musicians perform an acrobatic dance first and then the trance music. "It is still a real trance the musicians do," he says. "It is no different than in Morocco."

As part of an African festival, Ghana's Odadaa! performs at Symphony Space February 6. "The dances have a variety of purposes," says Anni Addy, whose husband Yacub founded the group and was the first Ghanaian musician to stage the traditional dances and music. "There is the ritual, which has a classical form and is always done the same way, and there are social dances, which are done for entertainment." Addy's first performance, in 1957, coincided with Ghana's liberation from the British. Included in the New York performance at Symphony Space will be the Ga dance Kpanlogo. "it is a dance for a couple," says Anni Addy. "An old man has three daughters, and no one knows their names. If a suitor can come up with the correct name, and the daughter loves him, he can take her as his bride. The suitor tries to entertain the woman so she will fall in love with him and reveal her name."

On March 22, Kevin Locke brings to Symphony Space Native American Music, Dance and Storytelling, part of the Makoche tour. Locke performs the Hoop Dance and plays his traditional cedar flute. "The Hoop Dance is a vision dance, a dream dance, where the dancer expresses solidarity and a sense of interconnectedness with all creation," says Locke, a Lakota Indian from North Dakota. "It is the North American Indian's concept of the interrelatedness of all things. I make designs with the hoops, evoking images of springtime, birds, clouds, constellations. It represents both the developing maturity of an individual and of the collective whole. When all elements of the human family converge, we will witness a springtime." Locke says he learned this dance from the elders of his tribe. "I had a dream about a man who I wanted to teach me, and I wanted to fulfill his wishes." Locke says that the idea of folk art is intrinsic to the community. He believes in the importance of sharing these rituals with the community at large. "In the new millennium people will realize that all the kindreds on the planet have something vital to contribute to global civilization. This is imperative to make a community. If we can communicate this through music and dance, people can relate to it."