JUTTA & THE HI-DUKES

Balkan Beats (tm)
Explorations of World Music for Orchestras, Bands, and Music Appreciation classes

Actively increasing awareness of the world and culture through ethnic music

One of the most popular jazz recordings ever made, Take Five, was written by Dave Brubeck after his visit to Bulgaria, a country known for asymmetrical time signatures like 5/8. Since that time, World Music has played an increasingly influential role in most areas of Western music, be it Classical or Pop.

On that note, Jan Delgado, 2012 Music Resource Teacher of the Albuquerque, NM Schools’ Fine Arts Department, understands that a well-rounded music education today should include some practical, hands-on exposure to the rhythms and scales of non-Western music.

Thus, after seeing Jutta & the Hi-Dukes do a four-day music and dance residency at the L.B. Johnson School, she was so impressed by the band’s “wholistic methods of teaching” which “incorporate so many different intelligences”, that she brought the Hi-Dukes back to the APS system to do a Teachers Inservice Workshop and a series of introductory Assemblies.

After seeing the Hi-Dukes do a four-day music and dance residency at the L.B. Johnson School, Jan Delgado (2012 Music Resource Teacher of the Albuquerque, NM Schools’ Fine Arts Departmen) described the Hi-Dukes program as “amazing” and arranged for the band to do a five-day series of assemblies because she was impressed with the band’s “wholistic methods of teaching” which, as she pointed out, “incorporate so many different intelligences” and because she saw that Albuquerque students benefit from experiencing the incredible scales and rhythms of the Balkan music and dances the band presents. In promoting the program to the schools, she wrote: “They are exceptional folk dance teachers and the band is really good (especially with 7/8 and 9/4 meters!)”

Appropriate for the 4th Grade through College.

Taught by experienced Dancers and Teachers

For over two decades Jutta Distler and Terran Doehrer have been developing and refining a dynamic method of teaching dance which helps students internalize the rhythms so that the dances quickly come alive.

Doehrer and Distler teach folkdance at Chicago’s Arcturus Waldorf Teacher Training Program and taught ethnic and ballroom dance classes at the Chicago Waldorf School for six years.

The two also present “Ethnorobics,” an all-ages dance program hosted by homeschooling groups, churchs, and private folks.

The two full-time musicians play various traditional ethnic instruments, like the Bulgarian end-blown flute, Greek baglama, Middle-eastern drums, and the world-famous ocarina. Doehrer and Distler are the core duet of Jutta & the Hi-Dukes, an Evanston, IL World Music band founded in 1990 that tours in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The band has a CD released on the Root-Blues record label, Earwig Music.

Our Mission

When young people learn ethnic dances they gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the world in which we live. The Hi-Dukes believe this is essential to civilization. Their goal is to encourage participants from all walks of life to explore the arts of cultures other than their own while they concurrently develop their physical abilities and social skills.