Sandy Silva
Body Percussion

Body Percussion body drum feast Just as Aaron Copland and Bela Bartok took traditional tunes and interwove them into refreshingly new musical genres, Sandy Silva does the same with percussive dance. Body percussion fundamentals are taught through a vocabulary of sonic movements for creating a visual and rhythmic body drum feast. Body percussion choreography is created using the body as an instrument, with or without music accompaniment. An exploration of many world dance and rhythm styles, including Spanish flamenco, American tap, Hungarian legenyes, Celtic stepdance and Appalachian buckdance (a precursor of tap) lets you discover what they reveal about the cultures from which they have emerged. This is accompanied by discussions of the history, anthropology, immigration patterns and other influences on the dance. Classes are adapted to accommodate age level, context in which the class is offered and cultural backgrounds of students.