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and celebratory multi-ethnic, multi-generational festival. As Dance/USA Fellow and guest judge Muisi-kongo Malonga said in 2019, “Drum is the first code and these dances, these movements, have been done before.” The third installment of AfroRooted is set for spring 2024 in Oakland, California. It will follow a similar for- mat as before, with a community “battle” exploring the question of where our freestyle dances evolved from? What happens when we strip down genres to the foun- dational drum patterns? How can we connect what was done to what is still practiced today, to how these freestyle
forms continue to evolve? The cypher, where we tell our stories…the connections and exchanges we do in “bat- tles” and “cyphering,” it’s all interconnected. And more importantly, how the drum is the first code. KARLA “KARLITA” FLORES is a dancer, community leader, and DJ based in Oakland, California. Breakin was her first entry into the dance world and since then she has explored other styles such as rock dance, waacking and salsa. She’s traveled internationally as a dance mentor with All The Way Foundation, and as a hip hop cultural diplomat with Next Level. Through her creativity, she always centers her roots from Nicaragua and the Bay Area.
THE CYPHER, WHERE WE TELL OUR STORIES...THE CONNECTIONS AND EXCHANGES WE DO IN "BATTLES" AND "CYPHERING," IT'S ALL INTERCONNECTED.
In 2020, AfroRooted evolved further, forming part- nerships with Afrobeats Oakland, Elements and Dimen- sions Dance Theater. The festival was held at the historic Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, a major cul- tural arts center and home to many African diasporic dance companies and master teachers such as Diamouna Coura
West African Dance Company, SambaFunk! and Fua Dia Congo. The format was set as a 2 v. 2 open styles battle format danced to Afrohouse, afrobeats and other genres from Africa. The cyphers happened in between the battles and the event wrapped up with live African drumming. During those two years, AfroRooted became a healing
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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