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Saravanda: Dances of New Spain with Ensemble Origo (Storrs, CT)

  • Von der Mehden Recital Hall, University of CT 875 Coventry Road Storrs, CT, 06269 United States (map)

Though the sarabande and the chaconne were stylized sections of courtly suites by Baroque composers such as Scarlatti and Bach, their origins are far removed from any European court, stemming instead from New Spain. At least one surviving song — a villancico for Christmas — links it with enslaved Africans, suggesting that both populations were involved in the creation of the genre. This program, which is related to one Ensemble Origo presented in 2023, a dancer joins the ensemble’s instrumentalists to demonstrate both the seventeenth-century courtly dances in relation to early dances from New Spain. The program aims to bring what is known of the genres’ lost—or suppressed—histories to light, thus rethinking Eurocentric notions of these distinctive musical genres, their history, and their trajectory.

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September 29

Zafarán at Berklee (boston)

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October 15

Wednesday Night English Country Dance (Arlington, MA)