MIAMI – Following in the footsteps of Modern Dance Pioneers, Katherine Dunham & Pearl Primus, Afua Hall will return to her ancestral roots of Jamaica, W.I. and while the island nation celebrates it’s 47th Independence Day on 8/8/09, she will study with former Miamian L’Antoinette Stines’ L’Acadco Dance Company.
Ms. Hall’s residency is funded by the Miami-Dade Dept. of Cultural Affairs’ Artist Access Grant – a competitive grant program designed for “working individual artists to take advantage of specific, professional development, skill-building opportunities to advance their work, technical abilities and careers. Applications are evaluated based on evidence of serious professional commitment and on the presented experience’s contribution to the artist’s professional growth.”
There is an African proverb- Sankofa- that means “look back to go forward” that resonates with Afua Hall, and, after several years of dancing professionally in Philadelphia & NYC, inspired her move back to Miami. While freelancing in NYC and as a company member with PHILADANCO (The Philadelphia Dance Company) Ms. Hall enjoyed many edifying opportunities working with luminaries in Modern & Contemporary Dance such as Ron Brown, Urban Bush Women & Carmen DeLavallade. These combined experiences taught her the importance of being deeply rooted in ones cultural heritage so as to renew ones unique voice and contribute to the vitality & diversity of Dance as an art form.
Ms. Hall, was born in Negril, Jamaica and immigrated to the US when she was 2 years old. At the age of 9 she returned to Jamaica and attended Belair Prep & High School in Mandeville before attending the Rosella Hightower Centre de Danse Internationale in Cannes, France; Walnut Hill School in Boston, Ma and finally graduating from New World School for the Art’s High School & College in Miami, Fl. Ms. Hall currently is a dance teacher with the Miami Conservatory/Thomas Armour Youth Ballet where she teaches Ballet to under-served youth in Little Haiti. She is also an independent choreographer and freelance dancer currently working with Ife-Ile Afro-Cuban Dance Company.
Afua’s choreography was most recently presented in April 2009 at Miami Dade College-Kendall Campus where she was Artist in Residence, and in the December 2008 Florida Dance Festival Winterfest. Additionally her work has been presented in NYC at Dixon Place, BAAD, Lower East Side Settlement, and White Wave; in Philadelphia at The Painted Bride and the CEC; and in Miami at Camposition Studios/The Field. She was also a recipient of a Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO Grant. Her choreography for theatre includes Off-Off Broadway productions of For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered When The Rainbow Was Enuf, Black Girl and original plays by Kayhan Irani and Suzette Azariah Gunn. Her work can be seen at 8:00pm on July 25, 2009 at Teatro Abanico, Arts and Mind Center. Ms. Hall will be performing her signature solo “Afreeka!”.
Afreeka! is an ode to the women of the dancehall– dancers and dj’s alike- who have thrown away all western conventions of femininity to stand bold faced in their paradoxical glory. Presented without judgment or condemnation, Afreeka is also a wakeup call to remind us of the impact of a mother & father’s presence in a child’s life as well as the influence of the media on children.
Ms. Hall is the proud mother of 2 and a half year old Xalimon Truet Summerhill Akbar.
