An Indianapolis dance instructor is using movement to bridge cultures and educate the community.

She’s doing this through her unique fusion of modern dance with African and African American traditions.

At Iris Rosa Dance Studio, movement is a language that speaks across generations and cultures.

A choreographer, Rosa Santiago is a longtime educator at Indiana University Bloomington’s department of African American and African diaspora studies. She blends modern dance with influences from the African diaspora, including Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin styles. She opened her dance studio in 2022 to expose the community to the diversity of dance and music.

Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company is one of Rosa’s dance groups within the dance studio. The dancers tell political, social and cultural narratives. Dancer Amelia Smith says she likes Rosa Santiago’s style, and how she includes her students in the creative process.

Rosa Santiago says its important for dancers to branch out and learn more than one dance genre. She says travelling and learning about culture through dance is life-changing. “It makes you appreciate dance more, but it really opens up your mind, it gives you more of a world-view and a perspective that if you were only in one genre, then you’d only know that.”

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