The Exit 9 percussion group and the Von Howard dance project visit both cities to give workshops and perform at the Festival of the Living Arts.
Twelve artists from the United States, including percussionists and dancers, are visiting Ecuador this week for a series of trainings and cultural encounters with students and artists from Guayaquil and Loja. In the latter city, they are invited to close the International Festival of Living Arts.
In the ensemble are the musicians of Exit 9 Percussion Group, formed in 2002 at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Its current headquarters are in the New York metropolitan area. He has conducted hundreds of music clinics in schools and community centers.
In this composition of the group since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the founding members Peter J. Saleh y Mike Ramsey and veteran member Andy Beall are joined by special guest artists Victor Pablo Garcia and Dmitry Ishenko.
Accompanies them From the Howard Project, founded in 2003 by the artistic director Christian by Howard. He is dedicated to the pursuit of artistic excellence and the availability of the arts to all, bringing contemporary dance works from New York to other parts of the United States and abroad.
With him come the dancers Samantha Barriento, Jamaal Bowman, Bree Breeden, Johnny Chatman II, Tracy Dunbar, Divine Garland y Alrick Thomas.
This Monday, November 22, both groups will dictate percussion and dance workshops to students of the University of the Arts, in Guayaquil.
On Tuesday 23 they will attend a cultural meeting with artistic groups specialized in marimba, on the island of Trinitaria.
They will also offer a percussion and dance workshop to former grantees of programs supported by the United States Embassy and Consulate; will congregate in the Ecuadorian North American Center of Guayaquil.
On Thursday 25 they will train students from the Private Technical University of Store (UTPL) and people with disabilities from a municipal care center.
Finally, on Sunday 28 they will be presented at the International Festival of Living Arts, as the number that closes the program. It is tradition that it is the guest of honor next year, and the United States will be in 2022. This year, the FIAV guest country was France.
The play that will be staged at the Benjamín Carrión Theater (20:00) is called Trascending Boundaries: A Celebration of Music and Contemporary Dance. Artistic direction is by Saleh and Von Howard. (AND)
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