Every culture on earth has at one time or another danced. From tribal times forward people have danced to socialize, express themselves creatively, and promote societal unity. The borders that separate us came much later in human development. It is time to return to our roots and dance, dance, dance. That is because dance has the unique ability to unite a person’s mind, body, and soul. In his capacity as a touring bassist, Jimi Calhoun witnessed thousands upon thousands of people lose themselves in dance. Suddenly, ethnic, racial, and religious differences disappear. Borders, on the other hand, divide religious communities, races, and nations. Human conflict is perpetuated by these boundaries. What is written within these pages will show you ways to dance across divisions by means of a choreography of altruism. This is a book that invites you to dance to the rhythms of grace that result in true harmony and unity.

Every culture on earth has at one time or another danced. From tribal times forward people have danced to socialize, express themselves creatively, and promote societal unity. The borders that separate us came much later in human development. It is time to return to our roots and dance, dance, dance. That is because dance has the unique ability to unite a person’s mind, body, and soul. In his capacity as a touring bassist, Jimi Calhoun witnessed thousands upon thousands of people lose themselves in dance. Suddenly, ethnic, racial, and religious differences disappear. Borders, on the other hand, divide religious communities, races, and nations. Human conflict is perpetuated by these boundaries. What is written within these pages will show you ways to dance across divisions by means of a choreography of altruism. This is a book that invites you to dance to the rhythms of grace that result in true harmony and unity.

Frank Reed is a contemporary Prufrock, a man who has lost his moral and emotional centers under the weight of the social and moral disintegration pervasive in society. Dispatched from his Boston-based company to the Mexican border with orders to negotiate a deal that would put profits in American pockets, Reed finds himself on a personal odyssey deep into the Mexican interior. Toma's characters "both major and minor" are complex, ambiguous, and multifaceted. Frank's despair and moral confusion, his tendency to sentimentality, and his ethical imprecision are convincingly etched. Toma's portraits of the Mexican functionary, Garcia, and his family are masterfully nuanced though drawn in broad strokes. As the focus shifts from Boston to Mexico and back, the narrative is propelled by parallel involvements of the major characters: Frank's rediscovery of passion with the young Mexican woman, Socorro, is balanced at home by his wife's attraction to a neighborhood butcher and by their daughter's growing interest in a brilliant but alienated young emigre student. As Frank struggles to reinvent the man he has become, he becomes swept up in the plans of the young Mexican woman, who is desperate to cross the border into what she perceives as a land of wealth and opportunity. The extent of his middle-aged angst is matched by the reach of her hope. In this biting, though often humorous, first novel, the American dream turns harsh.

One of the first anthologies to focus on Mexican dance practices on both sides of the border

Dancing Across Borders presents formal and non-formal settings of dance education where initiatives in different countries transcend borders: cultural and national borders, subject borders, professional borders and socio-economic borders. It includes chapters featuring different theoretical perspectives on dance and cultural diversity, alongside case narratives that show these perspectives in a specific cultural setting. In this way, each section charts the processes, change and transformation in the lives of young people through dance. Key themes include how student learning is enhanced by cultural diversity, experiential teaching and learning involving social, cross-cultural and personal dimensions. This conceptually aligns with the current UNESCO protocols that accent empathy, creativity, cooperation, collaboration alongside skills- and knowledge-based learning in an endeavour to create civic mindedness and a more harmonious world. This volume is an invaluable resource for teachers, policy makers, artists and scholars interested in pedagogy, choreography, community dance practice, social and cultural studies, aesthetics and interdisciplinary arts. By understanding the impact of these cross-border collaborative initiatives, readers can better understand, promote and create new ways of thinking and working in the field of dance education for the benefit of new generations.

This volume is the second Annual of the Konitsa Summer School in Anthropology, Ethnography and Comparative Folklore of the Balkans containing the proceedings of two years, 2007 and 2008. It includes papers written by members of the teaching staff, papers delivered as lectures or especially prepared for the Annual, papers written by students based principally on their fieldwork exercise in Greece and Albania, presentations of ongoing PhD theses and, finally, the syllabi of the subjects of instruction.