Viva The Culture Spring Program

The spring program launched Folk Arts and

dance class with contemporary approaches
to public folklore and traditional arts. Youth
participants learned the story behind the fol-
lowing dances:
Bullerengue is a music genre and dance
style with origins in the Colombian Caribbe-
an Coast, with a strong relationship and im-
portance to the development and history of
the Cumbia genre in the country.
Panamanian Cumbia Darienita dance has
roots and expressions of African music
brought by slaves during the Spanish coloni-
zation of Central America.
.




Congratulation to the participants of
Congratulations to the participants of
the Educational Series About Latin
America Spring Program.

Dance can have many purposes includ-
ing expression, communication, educa-
tion, therapy, recreation, or entertain-
ment. For us at Avenue D, it also
brings a healthy component as a re-
placement for gym activities with crea-
tive movements. Most important is
that dance brings our community to-
gether.

The year-round Educational Series
includes exhibitions, performances,
crafts and other collaborative endeavors
with community partners. The program
also provides leadership and growth oppor-
tunities for at-risk children and healthy
living and mentoring as we partner with
Girls Coalition, an organization that pro-
motes leadership. We target neighbor-
hoods that are below the poverty level and
having this program in Avenue D R-Center
engages disadvantaged youth outside the
typical school day.

Viva the Culture 2014 Spring Program
Community Participation

Picture from Community Dance Celebration at Tango Cafe
Special points of interest:

90% of our participants live in
extremely poor neighborhoods
Avenue D dancers represent a
diverse population: approxi-
mately 40% identified as His-
panic or Latino, 50% as Afri-
can American, and 10% as
Caucasian.
The spring programhas im-
pacted over 10,000 people
through classes, assemblies,
and performances including
public school students, their
parents, teachers and local
communities.
Our volunteer participation
increased 20% for the spring
season with 25 multigenera-
tional participants. All are
minorities.
This programhelps to "fill the
gap" in an area with unequal
access to arts education
May 2014 Volume 2 by Evelyn Cassano
A T A V E N U E D C O M M U N I T Y C E N T E R , R O C H E S T E R N Y
Educational Series About Latin America
2014 At Rochester public Market
2013 Racs Annual Mulcultural day
2014 Community Dance Celebraon
at Tango Cafe
Senior student also done their critical and creative
thinking skills as their dance skills develop and they
become instructors
Here is an example on how awesome is our
program: Grandmother, Daughter and Grand-
daughter have the opportunity the
perform together. Comment by Ileana Graves
senior participant.
2014 North East 5K El Camino walk
2014 Lilac Parade Parcipaon
2014 Puerto Rican Fesval main stage
2014 Fiesta de Pentecostes at
St. Louis Pisford Church
2014 NY Folks Society presents
2014 Lano Night at Monroe
Community College








Our volunteer community
is amazing!
Many hours are invested
by a group of very creative
and talented members of
our community who
worked behind the scenes
and helped us tremen-
dously with a variety of
items like sewing, painting,
shopping, and dancing. We
are tremendously thankful
and incredibly fortunate to
have their support!


We thanks all our
contributor specially to
Rochester Association
Of Performing Arts, Inc.
and the Rochester
Youth Foundation
For their generous sup-
port for the expansion
of our program
Lets make the world
we imagine a reality.
Gracias

Volunteers behind
the scenes
Program coordinators:

Cynthia Rochet
200 Avenue D, Rochester NY 14621
Phone: 585.428.7934
E-mail: Rochetc@CityofRochester.gov

Evelyn Cassano
Grupo Cultural Latinos En Rochester
Phone: 585.329.9671
E-mail: info@gcler.org
Volunteers are needed year-round to provide: performance assistance, administrative support,
special event assistance, mentoring for children, arts and craft classes.
Awesome media coverage:
Educational Series About Latin America
& A V E N U E D A F R O - L A T I N O D A N C E G R O U P S P R I N G S E A S O N 2 0 1 4
Program partners:
Sacha Ros
Ibero-American Development Corp
Project HOPE coordinator
Phone: 585.467.6410 ext.30
E-mail: srios@iberodevelopment.org
AvenueD dancers represent a diverse popu-
lation: