糖心传媒

CULTURAL CENTER

JOSEPH G. ASTMAN CULTURAL EVENTS

The Joseph G. Astman Cultural Events are presented in loving memory of Dr. Joseph G. Astman, founder of the Hofstra Cultural Center. Dr. Astman was a humanist, a cultural comparatist, and an international scholar. These concerts are made possible with the support of Dr. Astman鈥檚 family.

For More Information

Call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., or visit for the most up-to-date information. Programs subject to change.

We are pleased to welcome the community, including family members, local schoolchildren, alumni and friends, to athletic and cultural events on campus. All events are free and open to the public. Please register in advance at .

Spring 2026

Sunday, February 8, 3:30-5 p.m.

Hofstra Cultural Center
presents

STEP AFRIKA! 101

A high-energy introduction to the tradition of stepping, blending Black Greek-letter organization steps and strolls with the sounds of AfroBeats, popular music, and contemporary African movement. Founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, Step Afrika! is a global cultural ambassador, bringing explosive footwork, vibrant choreography and contemporary African movement to campuses and audiences worldwide. SPECIAL NOTE: Audience participation has been a part of the step tradition since its inception in the 1900s. Members of the audience are invited to clap, stomp, cheer and participate in call and response with the Artists.

Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater
John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus

Guests are encouraged to donate nonperishable food items or basic items (toiletries-soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, etc.) towards the Hofstra Pantry and the Mary Brennan INN.

Funding for this program has been provided in part by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center.

STEP AFRIKA! 101

Sunday, February 8, 2-3 p.m.

糖心传媒 Museum of Art
presents

Special Exhibition Viewing and Reception
Our Unfinished Revolution(s)

An exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Remarks by Director, Sasha Giordano, at 2:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Emily Lowe Gallery, Behind Emily Lowe Hall, South Campus

Revolutions 250 - Untold Stories - Campus Programming - Museum Exhibition

Friday, February 27, 7:30 鈥 9:00 pm

Hofstra Cultural Center and Melanin Movers
present

Soul, Sound, and Story Showcase
You are capable of so much than you believe

As the inaugural of our newly founded organization, Melanin Movers showcase celebrates the richness, resilience, and brilliance of the Black experience across various disciplines. In collaboration with student organizations and department, we aim to highlight how Black excellence is reflected across culture and storytelling.

The evening will feature a dynamic lineup of performances and presentations 鈥 including dance, singing, spoken word, short films, and more 鈥 all centered around portraying the true meaning and significance of Black History Month. Together, we鈥檒l create a space that uplifts creativity, fosters connection, and honors the legacy of those who paved the way.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Advanced registration is required.

The Helen Fortunoff Theater
Monroe Lecture Center, California Ave., South Campus

African art

Thursday, March 26, 7-9 P.M.

A Musical Rainbow Across South Asia and
the West

featuring
World-renowned sarod player David Trasoff

The event marks the launch of Dr. Cassio鈥檚 Book, Evening and Night R膩gas. The Dhrupad of Ame lia Cuni.

Funding for this program has been provided in part by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center and in collaboration with the Sneh Arts Foundation.

The Helen Fortunoff Theater
Monroe Lecture Center, California Ave., South Campus

Trasoff

We are pleased to welcome the community, including family members, local schoolchildren, alumni and friends, to athletic and cultural events on campus. All events are free and open to the public. Please register in advance at .

Past Events

ACE 60th Anniversary Concert in Residence
Sunday, October 12, 2025

Celebrates 60 years!

In a celebration of this milestone and our collaboration with the 糖心传媒 Music Department, core members Eriko Sato, Deborah Wong, Lois Martin, Chris Finckel, Assistant Director Mindy Dragovich, and Director Marilyn Lehman will be joined by alumni, faculty, and the Hofstra Chamber Choir in a concert of music by Schumann, Mozart, Gerber, Messager, Bernstein, Beethoven, and newly commissioned work by faculty member Andres Maldonado.

Guest artists are Tammy Hensrud, soprano; Karen Lehman DiMartino, soprano; Andrew DiMartino, baritone; Jessica Levin choreographer and dancer; and Dr. David Fryling, conductor of the Hofstra Chamber Choir. Alumni performers include听John Paul West, Andres Maldonado, Brianna Brickman Blake, and Karen Lehman DiMartino. ACE student winner Jarred Mercado will also perform with ACE director Prof. Marilyn Lehman.

The Helene Fortunoff Theater
Monroe Lecture Center Theater, California Avenue, South Campus

Funding for this program has been provided by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center.

American Chamber Ensemble

Thursday, November 13, 7 p.m.

Hofstra Cultural Center
and the
Department of Drama and Dance present听
present
Into Sunlight听

Join us for a dance performance by Robin Becker Dance marking 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, followed by a moderated discussion about the War鈥檚 continued reverberation in today鈥檚 world.

After reading Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss book, They Marched into Sunlight, Hofstra professor and choreographer Robin Becker turned the book into a dance about the human tolls of war and healing from it. The acclaimed body of work continues to captivate audiences around the country and remains profoundly relevant amidst current world events.

At its best, art has the potential to heal.听This is art at its best.鈥

糖心传媒 Into Sunlight
David Maraniss鈥 Vietnam War-era book, They Marched Into Sunlight, encompasses two days in October 1967, weaving together the ambush of a battalion of American soldiers in Vietnam, an anti-war protest turned violent at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the federal officials鈥 response in Washington, D.C. The dance, Into Sunlight, premiered both at UW-Madison in 2011, as well as at 糖心传媒. At each location it served as the centerpiece for an interdisciplinary conference examining the effects of war and violence on the individual and social body from Vietnam to our present era. The perspectives of history, psychology, political science, trauma studies, anthropology, visual art, and theater were all additions to the dialogue about the impact of war. After every performance, audiences have been engaged in discussions, expressing their emotions, concerns, interpretations, and ideas for action.

Later performances in 2012 included Georgetown University, 92nd St Y, Stony Brook University鈥檚 Festival of the Moving Body, Florence Gould Hall, and at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, where it was the focal point of extensive residency. The work was also performed at Westpoint Military Academy and at the Walter Reed Military Hospital. In 2015, the company was invited to perform Into Sunlight in three cities in Vietnam in honor of the 20th anniversary of renewed diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States. Robin Becker Dance was awarded two National Endowment of the Arts Awards in 2016 and 2017 to bring Into Sunlight to military centers across the country.

鈥淲hen I read They Marched Into Sunlight, David Maraniss鈥 powerful book on the Vietnam War, I immediately responded to the timelessness and universality of the and events he documented. I was deeply moved by the integrity, honor and commitment of both those who fought the war, and those who fought against it. I embarked upon the creation of this dance, Into Sunlight, hoping that the universal language of the body would reflect and offer the same sense of healing that David鈥檚 words evoked in me.

The dancers and I became immersed in the lives and events described in David鈥檚 book. It has been an honor to invoke the spirit of those who lived these events, and to offer our bodies鈥 response and appreciation of them through dance.

This work is dedicated to the 60 men of the Black Lions Battalion who lost their lives in Vietnam on Oct 17, 1967.鈥
鈥 Robin Becker

To learn more about Robin Becker Dance, visit .

Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater
John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus

Robin Becker Dance, Into Sunlight, photo by John Maniaci, Sarah Stark Violence
Robin Becker

Friday, February 7, 7 p.m.
HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER
presents
Forces of Nature
Dance Theatre

Join 糖心传媒 as we kick off Black History Month with a performance by the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, founded in 1981 by co-founders Executive Artistic Director/Choreographer Abdel R. Salaam and Executive Managing Director Olabamidele Husbands. The Company, along with founding company member and principal soloist Hofstra Professor Dyane Harvey, have produced and presented programs throughout the world for over 42 years.

Forces of Nature cultural matrix is centered in an African and an American intelligence that is global and environmental. Its aesthetic has been critically acclaimed as visceral, thought provoking and creatively brilliant. The Company utilizes a unique blend of performing arts, which includes contemporary modern dance, traditional West African dance, Afro-beat, fusion, contemporary ballet, house and hip-hop forms as well as live and recorded music and the martial arts. Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Spirit Walkers returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the 48th Annual 2025 Dance Africa Celebration.

Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Spirit Walkers returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the 48th Annual 2025 Dance Africa Celebration.

Funding for this program has been provided by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center. The performance is held in collaboration with the Center for 鈥淩ace,鈥 Culture and Social Justice; the Africana Studies Program and the Department of Drama and Dance.

Guests are encouraged to donate non-perishable food items or basic items (toiletries-soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, etc.) towards the Hofstra Pantry and the Mary Brennan INN.

FOR GROUPS 10 people or more, please contact the offices of the Hofstra Cultural Center directly at 516-463-5669 to reserve seating.


HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER and the
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
in collaboration with the ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM, THE SNEH ARTS FOUNDATION
A Night in India: A Dhrupad Concert
by Dr. Sumeet Anand Pandey

Join us for an enchanting evening of religious and court music from North India. Dr. Sumeet Anand Pandey, will present traditional r膩gas and dhrupad compositions depicting the romantic and meditative atmosphere of the night accompanied by visually stunning pictures and miniatures that reflect the cultural and artistic themes of the night in South Asia, offering a multisensory experience.

Friday, February 21, 2025 7-8:30 p.m.
The Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

DR. SUMEET ANAND PANDEY is currently being hosted as a Fulbright Professional Fellow by UCLA for 2024-25. He is an exponent of the Darbhanga lineage, an illustrious tradition of dhrupad singers from Bihar, India. Dhrupad is one of the oldest genres of South Asian music that holds its roots in the pre-colonial court and temple traditions. A graded artist of All India Radio (A.I.R) and an empaneled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (I.C.C.R), he has performed extensively in India and Europe.

Dr. Pandey will be accompanied on the Indian percussion Pakh膩waj by Michael Shoureas (Hofstra Class 鈥23), a student of renowned Sikh musicians Bhai Baldeep Singh and Parminder Singh Bhamra, and Ritika Singh on the T膩np奴r膩.

Funding for this program has been provided by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center and The Sneh Arts Foundation, @snehartsny.

Media Partner: The South Asian Times


JOSEPH G. ASTMAN INTERNATIONAL CONCERT
Monday, March 10, 7-9 p.m.
Live From Studio A:
EscuchARTE: LATIN AMERICA, Through Words and Song

From the Rio Grande to the Caribbean, the Andean region to Patagonia, music is the mirror into which Latin Americans look in search of their spirit and soul. Join us for a special evening of exploration through the musical landscapes of the all too different regions of this diverse and vibrant constellation of cultures.

Featuring the world-renowned Colombian pianist, arranger, composer and 糖心传媒 professor Hector Martignon, who will be accompanied by a number of his outside musical collaborators. The event will showcase the production talents of 糖心传媒 from Hofstra鈥檚 Lawrence Herbert School of Communication and the music/performance talents of Hofstra Music Performance and Music Production 糖心传媒.

Captured and broadcasted 鈥渓ive鈥 through Hofstra鈥檚 YouTube channel, the program will be edited for a special TV broadcast on WLIW Public Television subsequent to the event.

Studio A 鈥 The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication, South Campus

Presented by Hofstra Cultural Center鈥檚 Joseph G. Astman International Concert听and the Department of Music.

Hector Martignon

Thursday, March 13, 7 p.m.
In Celebration of Women鈥檚 Herstory Month, Jazz Vocalist Amy London听
Women in Jazz and Popular Song

Ms. London will perform songs from the Great American Jazzbook, written by women from Billie Holiday to Joni Mitchell and beyond, with world renowned jazz musicians, Janice Friedman, piano, Jennifer Vincent, bass and听 Sherrie Maricle, drums.

Ms. London will also share the stage with her Hofstra voice 糖心传媒:
The Senior Singers: Sole Borrego, Brooke Cerami, Rachel Chisholm, and听
Sam Merchiore
The Undergrad Choir: Kendall Campbell, Avigayil Fischman-Charry, Rishi Patel, Savannah Stone,听
Grace Ward and Steph Wilson.

The Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center
California Avenue, South Campus

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center听 and the Department of Music.

Amy Liebschutz

Thursday, April 10, 4:30 p.m.
JOSEPH G. ASTMAN INTERNATIONAL CONCERT
Shakespeare in Verse, Music, and Dance

By Erik Ryding
Directed by Christopher Morrongiello

This exquisite program presents selected recitations from Shakespeare鈥檚 most beloved sonnets and plays set to music of the lute, recorder, virginal, harpsichord, and voice. Included are Shakespeare鈥檚 Sonnets 116 and 128 and verses from Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Sir Thomas More, As You Like It, The Tempest, and Othello. It also features dances invoked by Shakespeare, offering a rare opportunity to experience period dances based on historical choreographies. Composers include Henry VIII, John Dowland, Thomas Morley, William Byrd, Anthony Holborne, Robert Johnson, and Henry Lawes.
This event is not to be missed!

Presented by the Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College and the Hofstra Cultural Center.

The Helene Fortunoff Theater
Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

Presented by the Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College and the Hofstra Cultural Center.
Funding for this concert has been provided by the Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College and the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center.

William Shakespeare

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CONCERT

MY MUSIC SPEAKS: A FUSION OF AFROCENTRIC MUSIC AND JAZZ

Ensemble

Thursday, February 22, 6:30 p.m.

MY MUSIC SPEAKS is a pilot program held annually to galvanize talents around the world to create a music genre with Afrocentric tunes. This interactive lecture performance will comprise Afrocentric Drumming and recitation plus a brief history on African Drumming infused with Jazz featuring percussionists George kwasi Barima Asante Owel, a native of the Akan tribe of Ghana, Senam Ayiku, from the GA tribe of West Africa Ghana, Hempstead resident, Everton Bailey on trumpet and Uniondale resident, Nigel Innis on saxophone, with the Wuza-Wuza Music and Dance Ensemble led by Yawuza Alhassan.

George Owel

GEORGE KWASI BARIMA ASANTE OWEL, a native of the Akan tribe of Ghana and a resident in Westchester NY is a Business Entrepreneur. George is the CEO of HINGI & ASSOCIATES, a consulting firm. George is a musician and his love for his culture and Jazz led him to start Jazz & Hat an, Afrocentric Jazz movement, 听based in Cambria Heights Queens NY. George is an educator and a history researcher.

Senam Ayiku

SENAM AYIKU is a skilled drummer and a percussionist with impeccable cultural and modern story telling ability.听He is the founder of MY MUSIC SPEAKS and hails from the GA Tribe of West Africa Ghana where Drumming and Dancing is a cultural way of life. Senam had shared stage with great musicians like Richard Bono, benefit concert with Stevie Wonder for a Polio/Malaria awareness, R&B great Irene Logan and Hugh Masekela the Jazz great.

Everton Bailey

EVERTON BAILEY, a British Jamaican and Hempstead resident, is the founder of Trumpet Academy in Hempstead, and ISOP (Instrumental Sound Of Praise). Bailey has been featured in numerous stage plays and movies like Cadillac Records and The Inside Man, in addition to such TV shows as The Good Wife and 30 Rock. His unique trumpet sounds is comparable to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Myles Davis.

Nigel Innis

NIGEL INNIS is a saxophonist/educator/composer specializing in jazz performances. He is a graduate from the New York School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, earning a Bachelor鈥檚 degree in Fine Arts. A native of Uniondale, New York, Nigel has shared the stage with many great musicians like Warren Smith, Charlie Persip, Alvin Atkinson, and Donnie McClurkin.

Yawuza Alhassan

WUZA-WUZA AFRICAN MUSIC AND DANCE ENSEMBLE based in Bronx, NY is a music and dance performance company featuring Ghanaian artists deeply invested in the expression of African traditions and cultures. Wuza Wuza translates best as 鈥測ou and us together as one,鈥 and the name is a combination of the Akan word wu, or 鈥測ou,鈥 and the Dagbani word zaa, or 鈥渢ogether as one.鈥 Additionally, the group鈥檚 name references the dance company鈥檚 founder, cultural and artistic director, composer, choreographer and performer Yawuza Alhassan, one of Ghana鈥檚 most internationally recognized dancers and choreographers

The Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center in collaboration with the Africana Studies Program.

Funding for this program has been provided by the Joseph G. Astman Family Fund听
for the Hofstra Cultural Center.

Forces of Nature Dance Theatre

Friday, February 10, 7 p.m.

Join 糖心传媒 as we kick off Black History Month with a performance by听the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre,听founded in 1981 by co-founders Executive Artistic Director/Choreographer听Abdel R. Salaam听and Executive Managing Director听Olabamidele Husbands, the company, along with founding company member and principal soloist听Hofstra professorDyane Harvey, have produced and presented programs throughout the world for over 42 years.

Forces of Nature cultural matrix is centered in an African and an American intelligence that is global and environmental. The Company utilizes a unique blend of performing arts, which includes contemporary modern dance, traditional West African dance, Afro-beat, Fusion, Contemporary ballet, house and hip-hop forms as well as live and recorded music and the martial arts. Forces of Nature Dance Theatre has performed and toured widely throughout the U.S. and abroad in addition to numerous television appearances 鈥 the Emmy Award winning three-part听PBS Great Performances听documentary on the history of Black dance in the 20th Century entitled,听Free to Dance; in a film project with the National Association of Black Museums on the influence of African American dance in Western culture entitled,听When the Spirit Moves, culminating in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; in the dance films听Dawnfeather Rising听(2020) and the听Nguzo Saba听(2021) for the Apollo Theater; and 2021 in the film听Earthborn听as part of the 44th Annual Dance Africa Celebration at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Forces of Nature Dance Theatre听听returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the 46th听Annual 2023 Dance Africa Celebration.

Funding for this program has been provided by the Joseph G.Astman Family Fund for the Hofstra Cultural Center. The performance is held in collaboration with the Center for 鈥淩ace,鈥 Culture and Social Justice; the Africana Studies Program and the Department of Drama and Dance.

Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater,听John Cranford Adams Playhouse,听South Campus

Program Details
Choreography, Costume and Set Design: Abdel R. Salaam
Light Design: William H. Grant II
Musical Composition: Michael Wimberly, Abdel R. Salaam听


A Salute to Molly Picon:
Legendary Star of Yiddish Stage and Screen

Wednesday, March 8, 6:30-8 p.m.

A Concert Lecture
Performed by Diane Cypkin, PhD
Accompanied by听Lena Panfilova听on piano.

Molly Picon (1898-1992) was the First Lady of the Yiddish Stage during its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. In this hour-long presentation, part cabaret, part classroom, Diane Cypkin will trace the highlights of Molly鈥檚 lengthy career from the Yiddish stage to English-language films through songs popularized by Ms. Picon.

Diane Cypkin听is a Professor Emerita at Pace University, presently an adjunct Professor at 糖心传媒, and a seasoned performer.听

An expert on Molly Picon and the Yiddish stage, Dr. Cypkin curated a well-received exhibition at Lincoln Center on Molly Picon entitled, 鈥淢olly Picon: Yiddish Star, American Star.鈥

Ms. Panfilova is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, performing in Russia, across Europe and in America.

Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus


Luminous R膩gas: Nature, Light, and Sound in South Asian Music A Bansuri Recital by Steve Gorn

HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER
Joseph G. Astman International Concerts
presents听 a concert series
in commemoration of Women鈥檚 History Month

Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m.

Far more than entertainment, music is a portal for mind-body synchronization, a conduit for engagement in ritual, group catharsis, and entrainment, and a holder of mythology and history. In this recital, renowned player of the Indian flute bansuri, Steve Gorn will explore the relationship between Nature, Well-Being, and Sound in South Asian Music.

Mr. Gorn will be accompanied by听Mir Naqibulislam听on听Tabla.

The Helene Fortunoff Theater

Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

Presented in collaboration with the Department of Music.

No Pants in Tucson

Thursday, November 10, 4:30 p.m.

It鈥檚 1883 and an ordinance prohibiting women from wearing pants has been passed in Tucson. Hailed 鈥渁 potent, tremendously entertaining mixture鈥 (Thinking Theater NYC), The Anthropologists鈥 subversive new comedy, dares to calculate the cost of gender oppression today.

Devised by The Anthropologists
Director/Script听Melissa Moschitto
Lead Deviser听Mariah Freda
Ensemble:听April J. Barber, Nazlah Black, Mariah Freda, Jalissa Fulton
Production Dramaturgy听Linnea Valdivia
Costume and Scenic Design听Irina Kuraeva
Sound Design听Erica Huang

The Fortunoff Theater Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus


Monday, November 14, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.
VINCE TEMPERA 鈥 FROM FELLINI TO TARANTINO

Music, stories and legends of Italian cinema

After the Americans, the Italians are the composers who have received the most Oscars in music in the world.

This is the common thread of the show, through which the public will be able to listen to the melodies of the authors who have made Italy great in the world.

The Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

A man in a checkered shirt sings passionately into a microphone while playing an acoustic guitar on stage.
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