Arts in the Renaissance: Palestrina

Bruce Heim, a University of Louisville music professor, discusses and demonstrates key characteristics of Renaissance music including counterpoint and homophony. The segment concludes with the Louisville Brass performing an arrangement of Renaissance composer Palestrina's "Sicut cervus."

Arts in the Renaissance: Upon a Summer's Day

Instructor Jennifer Rose teaches students a Renaissance dance, Upon a Summer’s Day, from John Playford’s book The English Dancing Master. They perform the dance’s three figures and chorus. Rose relates that this was still danced in Appalachia in the 1920s and explains dance’s role in social interaction in the Renaissance.

Arts in the Renaissance: About the Bransle

Carrie Nath, director of education for the Kentucky Arts Council, explains the purpose and structure of the Maltese Bransle, a country dance that was popular in the courts of England and France during the Renaissance.

Arts in the Renaissance: Bransle

Kentucky students perform the Maltese Bransle (pronounced brahwl), a country dance that was popular in the royal courts of France and England during the Renaissance. The segment was recorded by KET in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Shakespeare. Kentucky Shakespeare also provided the costumes worn by the dancers.

Accessibility features: Caption

Arts in the Renaissance: About the Pavane

Carrie Nath, director of education for the Kentucky Arts Council, explains the purpose and form of the Pavane, an Elizabethan processional dance.

Arts in the Renaissance: Pavane

Kentucky students dance the Pavane, a processional dance from the Renaissance. The segment was recorded by KET in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Shakespeare. Kentucky Shakespeare also provided the costumes.

Accessibility features: Caption

Arts in the Renaissance: Scene from Hamlet

Actor Kevin Hardesty performs the famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Act III, Scene I of the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. Hardesty opens the segment with an introduction to the scene.

Accessibility features: Caption

Arts in the Renaissance: Scene from Much Ado About Nothing

The main plot in Much Ado About Nothing revolves around Claudio and Hero. This scene features the more mature lovers from the play—Beatrice and Benedick. Hero’s character has been defamed, causing her fiancé, Claudio, to reject her at the alter. Enraged, Beatrice urges Benedick to kill Claudio.

Acting in Vocal Performance

In this video adapted from Broadway or Bust, a young singer works with a coach on the Dreamgirls song “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.”

Accessibility features: Caption

African/African-American Culture: Anansi's Rescue from the River

In this video, storyteller Nana Yaa Asantewaa performs the story “Anansi’s Rescue from the River.” The Anansi tales are told by the Ashanti people of Ghana, West Africa, and have been passed down through the generations by oral tradition.

African/African-American Culture: E Sin Mi D'Africa

Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre performs a welcome dance that combines movements from several traditional dances of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

African/African-American Culture: Gue Pelou

Moha Dosso, a professional stilt dancer and musician from the Mahouka tribe in Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, performs the Gue Pelou dance from the Ivory Coast.The Gue Pelou is a sacred rite used to honor and communicate with the spirit world and can be danced to protect the village.

African/African-American Culture: Hambone

Folk singer John McCutcheon demonstrates the hambone, an African-American rhythm technique that uses the whole body as a “drum set” to produce different sounds.

African/African-American Culture: Kou Kou

Moha Dosso, a professional stilt dancer and musician from the Mahouka tribe in Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, performs the Kou-Kou dance from the Ivory Coast.Kou-Kou is a communal recreational dance, often used to teach kids how to dance. Moha Dosso performs with the Kyene Drum Ensemble of Louisville, Ky.

African/African-American Culture: Manjani

The Imani Dance and Drum Company of Louisville, Ky., perform the Manjani, a West African dance that celebrates an important event such as the harvest (as in this performance), a wedding, or a naming ceremony.

Accessibility features: Caption

African/African-American Culture: Music of Mali

Yaya Diallo, a musician from Mali, talks about how he came to live in Kentucky, the healing properties of music, and his interest in new forms of African music that com¬bine the music of the elders with that of young people.

African/African-American Culture: Plantation Dance/Ring Shout

The Plantation Dance/Ring Shout represents a style of dance and music found in African slave communities on plantations in the southern United States, Caribbean Islands, and other locations.

African/African-American Culture: Sohu

Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre performs Sohu, a ritual cleansing dance from Togo.

African/African-American Culture: Zudio

This African-American game song is sung to movements described in the lyrics and demonstrated by the children in the audience. Many African-American music and dance styles emphasize rhythm and self-expression, both evident here.

Ancestors Talk Through Drums

In this segment from EGG:the arts show, meet Camilo Gaetan who is becoming a master drummer.

Accessibility features: Transcript