Beats that Move Us: Mambo Music and Migration

Explore the music, dance, people, places, and culture that gave birth to, and continues to breathe life into the salsa scene in California’s San Francisco Bay Area. Learn how the cultural traditions of the Latino and African American individuals who migrated to Oakland and San Francisco for work and new opportunities during the second world war first melded into an entirely new expression, and then exploded into the national consciousness. Students will be asked to examine how immigration and cultural exchange can bring together diverse cultures into a single community, as well as the impact that music and dance can have on both individuals and society at large.