Crossroads: Traditional Song and Contemporary Performance
Dr. Luis Rincón Alba and Dr. Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 | 03:30 pm - 05:30 pm
Theatre X | Popejoy Hall
203 Cornell Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106
About:
This event brings together Professors Luis Rincón Alba (NYU Tisch) and Alejandro Tomás Rodriguez (UNM) in a dialogue at the intersection of traditional song, performance, and cultural transformation. Professor Rincón Alba will present excerpts from his performance-film Chant Down, a work created with Camila Falquez and collaborators that investigates the rebellious energies embedded in Caribbean chants and the anticolonial legacies carried through rhythm and voice. Professor Rodriguez will share fragments from Cántame, Trevor Meier’s documentary on his ensemble Casa Talcahuano which explores the vibrational power of ancient songs and their potential for inner transformation and community building. Together, these screenings and discussions open a conversation on how traditional singing resonates within contemporary performance practices, and how song can activate memory, belonging, and collective transformation.
Luis C. Rincón Alba Ph.D, is an artist and scholar whose work investigates the political and social significance of Caribbean and Latin American festive practices. His research explores histories of rebellion and insurrection and how they influence contemporary art. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Public Policy at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he is developing a book on carnival, riots, and radical mutuality. As an artist, he combines historical materials with media like performance, film, sound, and writing to explore rebellion’s unspoken lineages. Recent art works include the performance “Chant Down” and the installation “The Voice does Go Up,” shown at Hannah Traore Gallery and Sovereign Futures.
Notes:
This event is free and open to the public.
