South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center Presents Haiti’s Acclaimed Dance Company Jean-René Delsoin’s Compagnie De Danse
MIAMI – Compagnie de Danse Jean-René Delsoin, Haiti’s acclaimed dance company under the direction of Jean René Delsoin, performs choreography that captures Haiti now-raw and refined, spiritual and powerful.
Traveling from Haiti as part of Center Stage, a U.S. State Department program, the Company will perform a one-evening public engagement at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC) on Saturday, October 20 at 8pm.
The Company will be in Miami in advance of the show to conduct FREE community outreach and open dance classes for the public on Thursday, October 18, 7pm-8:30 pm at the Little Haiti Cultural Center (212 NE 59th Terrace) and on Saturday, October 20, 10am-11:30am at SMDCAC (10950 SW 211 Street Cutler Bay).
Tickets for the show are $25-$10 ($5 tickets available through cultureshockmiami.com for ages 13-22). Buy tickets online at www.smdcac.org or call the Box Office at 786-573-5300. The Center is located at 10950 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay. FREE parking is available.
To RSVP for the FREE community dance classes at Little Haiti Cultural Center and SMDCAC the public should contact Carla Hill, 786-573-5319, [email protected].
The Company will also engage in additional outreach including a special dance class for Homestead Senior High Students and a Random Act of Culture event at Southland Mall. In addition, SMDCAC has arranged a master class for the Company with acclaimed choreographer and dancer Peter London in the Martha Graham style of modern dance.
Compagnie de Danse Jean-René Delsoin, like its founder and mastermind moves through the many worlds that intersect in Haiti: the rough-edged and vivacious rural dances and ceremonies, the refined social dance of the cities, and the vivid yet stark lines of contemporary global dance.
Bold swaths of color alternate with somber, focused intensity. The earthy, expressive voices of traditional drums and other music interweave with the precise grace of classical ballet.
Modern dance aesthetics and a deep love of popular moves meet beats that migrated from West Africa to Haiti: They all come together effortlessly in bold, emotionally resonant moments that will open doors to a better, more nuanced interaction and understanding between Americans and Haitians, between the artists and their American viewers and counterparts.
“Dance is my prayer,” Delsoin explains. “I want everyone in the audience to be touched by the colors and the rhythms, and to feel the energy and spirit of the Company. I can’t imagine a more powerful way to promote understanding between us.”
“The Haitian community is an important part of the cultural fabric of Miami,” said Eric Fliss, General Manger of SMDCAC. We are thrilled to be presenting this company to our Haitian audiences and equally excited to expose the larger community to this outstanding dance company.”
Impeccable performers and evocative artists, the company of four dancers and three musicians has cultivated a distinctively nuanced, sophisticated view of Haitian culture and movement traditions, drawing on ballet and modern dance techniques in dialogue with Haiti’s plethora of traditional rhythms and sounds.
In October and November 2012, the Company tours the U.S. as part of Center StageSM (www.centerstageus.org). An initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Center Stage brings compelling contemporary artists from Haiti, Indonesia, and Pakistan to the United States to engage the American people in cultural diplomacy as a way to create opportunities for greater understanding.
