Music
Amistad Caribbean Arts Camp (ACAC) connects students with local musicians and guest artists from Cuba, Brazil, and Puerto Rico in a multi-week summer camp setting to learn how different Afro-Caribbean instruments, singing styles, music genres, and musicians have all been shaped throughout the African diaspora. We also host musical performances that are accessible to the local Cleveland community.
Dance
As a part of the African diaspora culture, dance in the Caribbean is integral to the music, ritual, religion, and social life. ACAC students learn to articulate movement in their body through warm-ups, rhythmic exercises, interacting with the drums, and learning social and folkloric dances. Students learn how dance transmits and fortifies Afro-Caribbean cultural heritage by studying Afro-Caribbean dance genres through movement classes and video presentations.
Visual Arts
Visual arts as an expression of Afro-Caribbean culture are explored through hands-on creation based on traditional methods and techniques, supplemented by audiovisual presentations of notable Afro-Caribbean artists and their works.
Bucket Drumming
ACAC students learn several rhythms of the African diaspora culture on buckets. After 15 days of camp, students know specific techniques of bucket drumming and more than 45 percussion patterns from 47 countries of the African diaspora culture.
African Diaspora History Class
The Amistad Caribbean Arts Camp curriculum provides students with a comprehensive understanding and strong appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of the African Diaspora culture and its remarkable impact on music and arts in the United States and other parts of the world.
Click on the link below to learn more about our curriculum.
Guest Artists and Masterclasses
Sammy Deleon | ACAC 2018, 2019, 2020
Matt Dudack - Steel Drums
Artistic Director Of The University Of Akron's Steel Drum Band, Matt Dudack has been with the band since 1996 and has been artistic director since 1998. Matt shared his experience with the students when he traveled to Trinidad to get a first-hand look at the home of the pan. Students learned specific steel pan techniques on the bucket drums and practice mostly the music repertoire from Trinidad. Matt also shared his experience performing as executive director for “Hammer on Steel,” a DVD and PBS broadcast recorded in Trinidad which was nominated for 8 Emmy awards.
Sammy DeLeon & Ray Guzman
These two Puerto Rican musicians have been playing music together professionally for decades. Their chemistry and enthusiasm as instructors of Puerto Rican music are as infectious as their energy and presence on stage. They led the history lesson for Puerto Rican day using the video & curriculum material from Cultural Resources LLC. The students were able to learn rhythms specific to Puerto Rico as well as how dancers interact with the drummers and infer many of the intricacies of these rhythms with their movements.
Matt Dudack | ACAC 2020
Okan | ACAC 2019
Okan
Okan fuses Afro-Cuban and other global rhythms with jazz, folk, and classical forms. Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne, the two Cuban women behind Okan, now reside in Toronto, Canada, and are both composers and multi-instrumentalists.
Their workshop focused on traditional chants and rhythms played on the bata drums. Students learned about each of the three bata drums and their significance to the structure of the rhythmic patterns. They learned about the story behind each chant and how to sing the chants while playing these different rhythms. They also taught vocal harmony and techniques specific to each instrument to help them understand the Cuban sound. The students were able to rehearse ‘El Manisero’ with Magdelys on congas and Elizabeth on vocals and violin.
Rosa Cruz | ACAC 2019
Rosa Cruz, Dance, and Movement
Rosa Cruz is a local Cleveland dancer and instructor who has her own youth dance company called ‘Latin Dance Rebels’, named such as they use the traditional dance techniques while adding their own contemporary twists.
Rosa led the students every morning for the second week of camp in a warm-up and dance lesson. The students learned the cha-cha and salsa and Rosa choreographed movements for the Potpourri de Cha Cha the students performed. This gave the students the opportunity to maintain the rhythm in their bodies as they played their instruments and helped develop their stage presence.
Check out the new ACAC masterclasses in 2021: