New Folk Dance Publication by Kiri Avelar and Roxanne Gray

Professor Kiri Avelar and MFA Candidate Roxanne Gray co-authored the article Embracing the Choque: Pedagogical Disruptors in Folk Dance Instruction, which appeared in the 2024, Vol. 11 edition of the Journal of Folklore and Education. You can read the article here.

Abstract:
The authors look to the choque, the literal crashing of the castanets together, as a metaphor for the collision of cultures, histories, practices, and values (Anzaldúa 1987) when concert dance and folk dance traditions coexist within the changing contours of an academic studio. They offer potential interdependent disruptors for folk dance practitioners to consider when teaching concert-trained dancers in Western academic spaces.