Body Percussion: Clap, Step, Sing! Workshop with Evie Ladin

Using only your human instrument, explore rhythmic music in hands, feet and body, harmonic music in the voice, moving in space.  Fun and challenging on expression, precision and musicality, the style allows for levels of participation everyone can enjoy.  Explore and better understand syncopation, develop ensemble and personal rhythmic/harmonic strengths while literally incorporating music into the body. With deep training in Appalachian cultural styles, Evie explores the underlying African-diaspora polyrhythms that are embedded in those traditions, overtly reconnecting them in creative, moving ways.

Expect:

• Fun rhythm practice.
• Coordination, time and timing.
• Brain stimulation.
• Something for everyone.
• A new approach to making music with just yourself.

This workshop is appropriate for individuals 15 years and up

Banjo player, singer, songwriter, percussive-dancer, choreographer and square-dance caller, Evie Ladin grew up steeped in traditional folk music/dance, and brings a contemporary vision to her compositions and choreography.  Evie’s performances, recordings and teaching reconnect Appalachian music/dance with other African-Diaspora traditions, and have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Lincoln Center, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to Celtic Connections, Brazil to Bali. A longtime former member of Rhythm In Shoes, based in Oakland, CA, Evie tours solo, with Keith Terry and her Evie Ladin Band; and has produced numerous CDs and instructional DVDs. In the percussive dance world, she directs the moving choir MoToR/dance, co-founded the International Body Music Festival, and is an ace freestyle flatfooter. In the trad world, Evie teaches banjo at the infamous Freight in Berkeley, online at Peghead Nation and many camps. In the songwriter world, she just writes great songs. A highly entertaining performer, Evie enjoys facilitating arts learning in diverse communities. A natural entertainer with a gift for infusing folk practices with contemporary verve – San Francisco Chronicle