Gasali Adeyemo | Fibers
Nigerian-born Gasali Adeyamo is a world-renowned indigo fiber artist known for his work in batik, tie dye, and cassava paste resist methods. Beginning in1990, he carried out six years of intensive training and teaching at the Nike Center for Arts and Culture in Osogbo, Nigeria. Adeyamo has taught workshops at the World Batik Conference (Boston), Cross Culture Collaborative Inc. (Ghana), Snow Farm (Williamsburg), and the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (Española).
Akeem Ayanniyi | Drums & Drum Making
Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi, an acclaimed drum maker and drummer, is from the Western Nigerian town of Erin Oshun, near the historic art center of Oshogbo. The “Ayan” prefix of his name indicates that he can trace his family lineage back 700 years to the Yoruba deity of drumming, Ayan Agalu. Ayanniyi is the ninth-generation member of his family to play the traditional Yoruba talking drum, having performed since the age of five. His fame as an artist and performer has led him to tour much of Africa as well as Germany, Brazil, Sweden and the United States.
Sue Schroeder & Core Dance | Contemporary Dance
In more than 40 years of work in the arts, Sue Schroeder has created 110 original dance works for theaters, museums, green spaces, architectural works, and water environments. Her work has appeared throughout the United States as well as Mexico, Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Georgia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Iceland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Guatemala, and Hungary. Schroeder is recognized as a leading arts activist and mentor, and the founding artistic director of Atlanta-based Core Dance. As a contemporary artist and dance maker, Schroeder focuses on the creative process, movement research & exploration, and dance-making as a catalyst for social change.
Gasali Adeyemo and Akeem Ayanniyi: Student Workshop #1, Adire Cloth Making and Drumming Workshop
April 5, 2022 | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | McAlister Hall 311
Akeem Ayanniyi and Core Dance Public Performance: Planetary Dance for Community Renewal
April 6, 2022 | 4-5 p.m. | Win Thompson Hall Lawn (west side)
The Planetary Dance, is a participatory dance that everybody can do. To the steady beat of drums, participants run, walk, or simply stand in a series of concentric circles, creating a moving mandala. Each step upon the earth becomes a prayer for healing.
Gasali Adeyemo and Akeem Ayanniyi: Public Workshop #2, Adire Cloth Making and Drumming Workshop
April 6, 2022 | 6-8 p.m. | McAlister Hall 311
Public Performance: “The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life” featuring Gasali Adeyemo, Akeem Ayanniyi, and Core Dance
Apr. 7, 2022 | 1:40 pm | Harding Fountain, UCA (Rain Location: Student Center Ballroom 205A)
Using patterns in movement, music, and African textile design, this interactive performance will be a celebration of people, music, color, and all that connects us as a community.
Dinner and Informal Conversation with the Artists
April 7, 2022 | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | Fireplace Room, McCastlain Hall
“Facilitating Pandemic Healing through the Arts”
In response to a changed and ever-changing world since COVID-19 entered our lives, this project brought together textile art, drumming, and dance/movement as tools to teach, to question, to connect, to inspire and, ultimately, to heal through the arts. Ever aware that more than two years of isolation, anxiety, frustration, and grief over lost loved ones have passed, Sue Schroeder and Core Dance propose a series of workshops and public performances designed to assist teachers and students as well as essential workers in the healthcare professions—occupational therapists, and physical therapists—learn how to decompress through arts-based experiences and how to celebrate our humanity. During March 28-April 8, 2022, this project brought a trio of national and international artists to the UCA campus: Nigerian fiber artist Gasali Adeyemo, Nigerian drum maker and drummer Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi, and Core Dance led by choreographer Sue Schroeder.
These flags were created by BOST consumers under the guidance of Arts at BOST Creative Coordinator and Artist Cathy Mason and are utilized in thePlanetary Dance event at Ft. Smith and The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life performance at UCA.
Artists in Residence worked with students at several local schools, including Morrilton High School, who took part in this Earth Run, taught and led by Sue Schroeder and Core Dance.
Akeem Ayanniyi and Core Dance Public Performance: Planetary Dance for Community Renewal
April 6, 2022 | 4-5 p.m. | Win Thompson Hall Lawn (west side)
The Planetary Dance, is a participatory dance that everybody can do. To the steady beat of drums, participants run, walk, or simply stand in a series of concentric circles, creating a moving mandala. Each step upon the earth becomes a prayer for healing.
Public Performance: “The Colors of Love/The Colors of Life” featuring Gasali Adeyemo, Akeem Ayanniyi, and Core Dance
Apr. 7, 2022 | 1:40 pm | Harding Fountain, UCA (Rain Location: Student Center Ballroom 205A)
Using patterns in movement, music, and African textile design, this interactive performance will be a celebration of people, music, color, and all that connects us as a community.
Poems Used for the Public Performances
Novel Strain, Novel Hope by Chauncey E. Williams-Wesley
Blessed beyond measure
it is a pleasure to stand
with you
arms and cognizance intertwined
flocking in unison; heart beats vein forth
the blood of ancestry
and snare rhythmic solutions of clarity
into malleable minds, birthing
new melodies, new causes
for celebration, new cures to heal
broken nations, new methods
of innovation – resurrecting
our world from apathy
and healing
the scratches, cuts, nicks
countless losses caused
by COVID
and senseless war.
We are sore, seeking refuge
as we ride wave lengths
of pulsating strings plucked
poignant by angels’ finger tips
played by essential workers
harping in the key
of sacrifice
as leaves rustle, tumbling into
new shades as the change-winds
croon in whispered syllables:
We will survive
Watch us thrive
We will survive
Watch us thrive
Selah!
TO THRIVE by Gayle McMillan
I may have had much taken
But I still have much to give
Every kind deed I can possibly do
Gives life meaning, to live
To live beyond my sorrow
To be the best that I can be
The painful things, the hard things
Only made a stronger me
They added depth and character
They revealed what lies inside
The will to live, to love, to rise
When I let my heart be my guide
I opened up my heart to see
Expanded my whole world
When my life; Like a rosebud
Became unfurled
Now I live to see
To thrive, to be
To reach for dreams
Untethered and free.
I Dream A World by Marcus Montgomery
I Dream a world
Where there’s no Travon Martin and no George Floyd
I Dream a world
Where people really mean it when they call on the Lord
I Dream a world
Where fathers are stars
I Dream a world
Where there’s no need for cars
I Dream a world
Where countries where at peace
So there’s no need for wars
I Dream a world
Where there were no terrorists
And there was no drama
I Dream a world
Where young boys grows up in house holds
With a daddy and not only a momma
I Dream a world
Where the truth outweighs the lie
I Dream a world
Where the world responds to the hurting people’s cry
I Dream a world
Where we can reach Stevie Wonder’s
Ribbon in the sky
I Dream a world
Were the sun was just about to rise
And you could see the light of hope shine on your dark skies
I Dream a world
Were the sun was still shining
And giving me the motivation to keep on rhyming
I Dream a world
Like Ray Charles
Where people see the truth
And use the light of love as a guide for our youth
I Dream a world
Where people graduate high school
And as freshmen enter college not knowing that over the next four years they’ll acquire much
more than merely book knowledge
I Dream a world
Were all of God’s children weren’t pushed to conform
I Dream a world
Were hate was abnormal
And love is the norm
I Dream a world.
Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director and UCA Artist in Residence in collaboration with:
- Akeem Ayanbisi Ayanniyi acclaimed drum maker and drummer and UCA Artist in Residence
- Gasali Adeyemo, World renowned fiber artist and UCA Artist in Residence
- Core Dance Artists: Humlao/Shawny Evans, Iman Siferllah-Griffin, Jaqueline Hinkson
- Marcus Montgomery & Chauncey E. Williams-Wesley, Spoken Word Artists
Alongside students from:
- UCA ‘s Gender, Race, and Class: Philosophical Issues taught by Dr. Taine Duncan
- UCA’s Honors Core IV: Theatre and Social Justice taught by Professor Adam Frank
- UCA’s Music Appreciation: Music for Social Change taught by Jaimee Jensen-McDaniel
- Morrilton High School Spanish IV class and officers of the Latino Student Association
- Morrilton High School Band, Percussion Section
Indigo flags created by Dr. Trina Harlow and Gasali Adeyemo
Puppets are on loan from Ozark Living Newspaper Theatre Company
This project is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Additional funding is provided by the Arkansas Arts Council, Delta Kappa Gamma Kappa State Education Foundation, and the UCA Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Ayanniyi and Adeyemo are supported by UCA Arts Fees through the Artists in Residence program administered by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
This project is generously funded by Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Additional funding is provided by the Arkansas Arts Council, Delta Kappa Gamma Kappa State Education Foundation, and the UCA Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Ayanniyi and Adeyemo are supported by UCA Arts Fees through the Artists in Residence program administered by the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.