Crane Latin Ensemble 'Frenzy!' Concert Features CaribFunk Dancer

A'Keitha Carey Dances On Stage Alongside Crane School of Music Students at SUNY Potsdam Concert

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A’Keitha Carey, assistant professor of dance at SUNY Potsdam, will perform alongside the Crane Latin Ensemble on May 6.

POTSDAM, NY (05/03/2011)(readMedia)-- The Crane Latin Ensemble will feature dancer A'Keitha Carey in the program "Frenzy!" in concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 6 in Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall. The program will feature a mix of Palladium classics, Latin jazz and original compositions by band members, including Eric Berg's "El Vestido Negro."

Directed by faculty member Marsha Baxter and student directors Drew Coles and Chad Weinheimer, the Crane Latin Ensemble will perform alongside guest dancer A'Keitha Carey, as well as guest trombonist Michael Wilkinson.

The program will select from a variety of works by Latin music luminaries and Crane student composers alike, as Carey dances on stage.

The Crane Latin Ensemble musicians are currently participants in a project called "For the Love of the Mambo." The project will attempt to document, through multiple media, the experiences of both veteran musicians who played for decades under Tito Puente and young performers of the Crane Latin Ensemble, many whose first in-depth Latin musical experience began as undergraduate students at SUNY Potsdam. The project hopes to weave the two story lines together and promote the education of Latin music, its culture and rich history for years to come.

In May 2010, the ensemble performed as featured young artists hosted by the University of the Americas and the Mexican Tourism Bureau in Puebla, Mexico. They have also performed in concert with legendary Latin jazz trombonist Chris Washburne and Spanish Harlem Orchestra's baritone saxophonist Mitch Frohman.

A'Keitha Carey, Bahamian dance educator, performance artist, choreographer and scholar, is on the faculty of SUNY Potsdam in the Department of Theatre and Dance. She attended Florida International University where she completed her bachelor's degree in dance and later received an M.F.A. in dance from Florida State University. Her dance experience extends beyond performing movement from the African Diaspora to classical ballet and contemporary forms.

She is founder and artistic director of Cari Danco, and a member of Cynthia Oliver's COCo Dance and the Kristin McArdle dance companies. She currently teaches CaribFunk, a style she developed fusing contemporary ballet and modern with traditional dance forms of the African Diaspora -- Congolese, Haitian, Afro-Cuban and Caribbean -- in addition to fitness and somatic principles layered with dynamic and sensual rhythmic tones.

For more information about the interdisciplinary arts performances featured every semester at SUNY Potsdam, visit www.potsdam.edu/newsandevents.

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Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011.

-www.potsdam.edu/crane-