This course invites participants to explore dance styles from around the world, celebrating the diversity of rhythm and movement. Participants will journey through Afro-Cuban, African dance (traditional and modern), and Afro-Caribbean dance styles. Each session will highlight cultural context, rhythm patterns, and expressive movements, encouraging participants to connect with the music and find joy in shared cultural expressions.

Noel Staples Freeman is a resident of Pittsfield, MA. She was raised in Dorchester, MA. She is a 1987 graduate of Emerson College holding a BS in Children's Theatre/Performing Arts and Dance. Sis.Noel has been teaching and performing in the community and abroad for over 40 years in the Boston and Lowell Public Schools. She also served as an advocate and liaison for students and parents in alternative middle school settings in Dorchester in the 90s. Sis. Noel's formal training started at age 11 at The Billie Pope School of Dance in Roxbury followed by The Boston Conservatory of Music, The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, The Art of Black Dance and Music and Koumpo West African Dance Company. In 2022 Sis. Noel served as a community panelist for the webinar From Racism to Covid-19: Black Women in Community for the Ongoing Public Health Crises Program at Harvard Medical School. For the webinar, she represented Common Good Co-operative, an urban farm in Dorchester, founded by Kafi Dixon. Sis. Noel graduated in 2023 from the Community Health Workers Engaging in Integrated Care (COHERE) program at Tufts University School of Medicine.

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