Sultry Salsa, electrifying Afro-Haitian, and slammin’ roller skate jammin’ are just three of the global dance forms set to illuminate SF State’s McKenna Theatre at the World Cultures Dance and Music Celebration on Saturday.

The celebration is a concert put on by the School of Music and Dance that has been an annual event for more than 30 years. The purpose of the event is to showcase different music and dance forms from across the world, according to Ray Tadio, who is directing the celebration for the first time this year.

“World culture is global,” said Tadio, who instructs numerous dance courses at SF State. “And it doesn’t discriminate as far as dance styles are concerned.”

According to Tadio, what makes the concert unique is that both art forms, dance and music, are performed live on stage together. While some of the dance pieces will be performed to recorded music, most will be with live musical accompaniment. The concert will feature approximately nine acts with a jam session finale.

This year, dance styles performed by students, staff and faculty will include Filipino kulintang, Brazilian capoiera, Hungarian military, Navajo Hoop and Latin dancing in the forms of Salsa and Flamenco. Also included in the dance portion is a student named Reggie Dickerson, who will be performing “roller skate jammin’.” Tadio adds that his performance will be a piece that incorporates tap dancing with roller skating.

Dr. Jerry Duke, who taught various forms of dance within the program before his retirement last year, said he will be returning this year to perform a Hungarian military dance called Verbunk, as well as a couple’s dance with his wife, Jill, derived from the Transylvanian region of Mesozeg.

For the music portion of the concert, Latin jazz, Persian daf frame drums, Filipino kulintang, Brazilian berimbao rhythms and Navajo drums are some of the acts scheduled, Tadio said.

While many of the acts set to perform are affiliated with SF State, Tadio said that organizers tried to encourage outside groups to participate as well. For example, this year’s organizers enlisted Clog America from South Jordan City, Utah. The group will give attendees a sample of clog dancing, as well as Navajo hoop dancing.

According to the group’s Web site, clogging is an American dance form with origins in the Appalachian Mountains. Its steps are influenced by European settlers from England and Holland, as well as Native American Indians and African slaves. The dances are performed with special taps on their shoes, in order to hear the movement the steps being taken.

“Is that fascinating or what?” said Tadio, after reciting the background information from Clog America’s Web site during a recent interview.

Prior to Tadio’s arrival at SF State, the celebration was orchestrated by Dr. Duke. The concert originally started in the mid-50s as a class project by Professor Anatol Joukowsky for an international folk dance class, Duke says. After Joukowsky’s retirement, Duke was hired and took over the responsibilities for the concert in 1978.

Professor Susan Whipp, who has worked at SF State for 25 years as an instructor and coordinator, said she believes the theme of the concert’s cultural inclusiveness has some correlation with the SF State student strike of 1968. The strike, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on Nov. 6, focused on securing equal rights and equality for all. Its end result was the founding of the ethnic studies department.

Because of the spirit of activism for equality on campus, Afro-Haitian dance was incorporated into the dance curriculum in the late 60s, according to Whipp. “It became this philosophy that we are not just [teaching] ballet and modern [dance], but we are embracing the whole [spectrum of the art in all its forms],” Whipp said.

With Tadio at the helm of this year’s concert, he said he is very eager to unveil a celebration that carries on the original themes from years past.

“I hope people take away appreciation of world cultures no matter where it’s from,” Tadio said.

World Cultures Dance and Music Celebration will take place in McKenna Theatre in SF State’s Creative Arts building on Nov. 15. at 8 p.m. Admission is $15 general and $8 for students and seniors.