Bio:

Sydney Hutchinson received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from New York University with a dissertation entitled Merengue típico in transnational Dominican communities: Gender, geography, migration, and memory in a traditional music. The author of various articles on Latin American music and dance as well as the award-winning book From quebradita to duranguense: Dance in Mexican American youth culture (2007), Hutchinson was recently a Humboldt Fellow at the Berlin Phonogram Archive in the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, Germany. When not working on her book, she attempted to learn German, and she also yodelled and played the occasional mbira. Sydney joined the faculty of the Department of Art and Music Histories at Syracuse University as Assistant Professor of ethnomusicology in Fall, 2010.

You can download my CV below!

My music:

I received a Bachelor's of Music degree in classical piano performance from the University of Arizona way back in 1996. After that, I quickly switched over to salsa piano, which I played with my own band, Cafe Combate, at Indiana University, and later with a number of different groups in New York City, the longest-lasting of which (in different incarnations) is likely J&V Mix (Jíbaros y Vallenatos). I then sung backing vocals and learned a bit of accordion for a New York vallenato group, also short-lived. In 2001, I began to learn merengue típico accordion, first in New York and then, since 2004, with master musician Rafaelito Román in Santiago, Dominican Republic. I also play a bit of tambora and güira in the same musical genre, as well as some palos drumming, which I learned from Grupo Mello in the same city.

During my many moves, I became involved in a variety of other musics at one time or another. I was musical director for the University of Arizona India Club for some years, with which I arranged and performed Hindi film music on various instruments (my favorite was harmonium). I played gamelan (mostly bonang panarus) in Tucson and in Berlin. I played mariachi (guitarrón) at Indiana University. At NYU, I participated in the Afro-Colombian ensemble and played Irish piano and accordion with the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra. After moving to Berlin, I took up yodelling, which I studied for two years under Ingrid Hammer, and learned a little mbira, too. Who knows what I'll be up to next?

My dancing:

I've been an avid dancer throughout my life. In my early years, I took ballet, tap, jazz, and participated in my high school's modern dance performance troupe. I then took up bellydancing, which I performed semi-profesionally for five years. In college, I continued to take ballet and jazz and also became involved with a variety of Indian dances. With friends, I performerd film dance and regularly participated in Gujarati folk dances (garba and raas) at Indian holidays and religious festivals. In Indiana, I went so far as to join the university's bhangra competition team as well as a local modern dance troupe. I also studied bharat natyam, Indian classical dance, for four years in Arizona and Indiana.

In accordance with my musical interests, I got most involved in the area of salsa dancing, which I taught in Indiana and New York City, and some of its relatives. I took intensive workshops in Afro-Cuban dance in Havana and in Berlin. I trained in New York Style salsa with Ivan Rivera and with Razz M'Tazz Mambo Company, which I joined as company member for a year and a half, only quitting when I returned to school for my Ph.D. Although I haven't danced as much since my second knee surgery, dance is still a central part of my research. I can still occasionally be found dancing salsa or merengue, or even at the odd contra dance.