‘Shut Up and Dance’ Show to Celebrate Free Speech
Jan. 16, 2019
FLORENCE, Ala. — “Shut Up and Dance,” an engaging and irreverent concert celebrating free speech through music, is coming to the University of North Alabama Monday, March 18, 2019.
The show will be presented in the Norton Auditorium at 6 p.m., and admission is free.
“Shut Up and Dance” is a new program of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and its 1 for All, a national, nonpartisan program designed to build understanding and support for the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.
A thoroughly entertaining and stirring concert with multimedia and narration, the “Shut Up and Dance” show tells the story of America’s social struggles and progress through pop, rock, gospel, soul, country and hip-hop music.
“The ironically titled ‘Shut Up and Dance’ celebrates the opposite, illuminating for audiences the pivotal moments when artists were told to be quiet and instead spoke up,” said Ken Paulson, the writer and narrator of the show. “‘Shut Up and Dance’ tells the story of how America has become a more perfect union by addressing injustice through free speech and song.”
The “Shut Up and Dance” band is made up of extraordinary young musicians who have appeared with the likes of Eminem and Kacey Musgraves, or on The Voice or American Idol. “Shut Up and Dance” features contemporary songs by Beyoncé, Lorde, Macklemore, Common and Taylor Swift, alongside vintage anthems by Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn.
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‘Shut Up and Dance’
Paulson, the former editor of USA Today and a First Amendment scholar, founded 1 for All in 2007. He is now dean of the Middle Tennessee State University College of Media and Entertainment and director of the university’s Free Speech Center. 1 for All founding partners included journalists, educators, First Amendment lawyers, librarians and artists, with the aim of educating the public on the vital importance of First Amendment freedoms.
UNA Department of Communications
The UNA Department of Communications is housed in the College of Arts & Sciences and offers programs in Journalism & Digital Media Production, Public Relations, Cinematic Arts, and Communication Studies. More information about the department is available at https://www.una.edu/communications/.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA
The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Tuscumbia, Sheffield and Muscle Shoals. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I’s ASUN and Big South Conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age or national origin.