Simpson-Litke’s current research explores rhythmic interactions between music and dance, focusing on the Latin social dances she has taught and performed for over 20 years. Her salsa research is published in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory (for which she was awarded the 2020-21 David Kraehenbuehl Prize) and the forthcoming edited collection Making Music Together (Oxford University Press). She has also published on tango in The Cambridge Companion to Tango.

Simpson-Litke’s RITMO lecture is titled “Shifting Temporal Spaces: Exploring (Hyper)Metric Interactions Between Music and Dance in Salsa.” While salsa takes many forms within individual dancing communities, two fundamental styles have developed and spread worldwide—“On-1” and “On-2”—so-named after the metric location of changes in direction in the basic dance step. Practitioners note the differing movement qualities and debate the artistic merits of each style. Dr. Simpson-Litke’s lecture will address the question of why these styles produce such contrasting effects—a question that has not yet been sufficiently addressed.

The lecture will be streamed live, starting at 7:15am on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. See the following for more information: https://www.uio.no/ritmo/english/news-and-events/events/ritmo-seminar-series/2025/simpson-litke/

As she has progressed in the first-of-a-kind Métis fiddling class at the University of Manitoba school of music, she’s found the tunes are helping to carry her.

Alexson, a graduate student in Indigenous studies, said Tuesday that when she’s stuck writing her thesis on the inherent leadership systems of the Plains Cree, or feeling “a little off” after researching colonial records, she grabs her bow and draws it across the strings.

To read the entire story, please visit the link here with the Winnipeg Free Press.