Second Thursday Lecture Series

May 9 (6PM): – Sara Ann Harris “The Dance Halls of Spanish Louisiana ”. Held inside the New Orleans Jazz Museum - 400 Esplanade Ave. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact 504.523.3939.

The Dance Halls of Spanish Louisiana available for purchase at the 1850 House Museum Store 523 St. Ann St. or http://bit.ly/DanceHallBook . "The Isleños of Louisiana, Spanish Canary Islanders who immigrated to Louisiana in the late-eighteenth century, are one of the most unique ethnic groups in the American South. They also compose one of the best preserved immigrant cultures in the United States, having safeguarded their way of life into the 21st century.

Author and cultural historian Sara Ann Harris spent years as an observer in the Isleños community of Lower St. Bernard parish in Louisiana before deciding to document this amazing culture that has withstood the encroaches of other nationalities and the ravages of time. Her descriptions of the dance halls that form a cornerstone of the cultural identity of a vanishing people is a fascinating glimpse into one of the best-preserved immigrant cultures in the United States.

The dance halls in Harris’ narrative are filled with characters from courting couples to long established partners, and speckled with the reminiscences of the heyday of the Dance Halls of Delacroix, known simply as the Island. Through the eyes of a keen observer, Harris relates her dialog on cultural traditions including Spanish Louisiana foods, the flavors of Spanish wines, the Isleños dialect, and the decimas or Spanish Louisiana folk songs. The rich and multilayered stories of the dancers and their community portray the vestiges of a proud and ancient heritage preserved forever in these pages."