Mojuba Dance Collective & Imamou Lele Dance and Drum Ensemble

The Continuum: Drum, Song and the Dancing Body

Abstract

In collaboration, Mojuba! Dance Collective (Cleveland, OH), an African Contemporary dance company dedicated to sharing the stories, culture, and embodied knowing of the African Diaspora to cultivate rich and transformative community experiences and Imamou Lele (New York, New York), an ensemble of dancers, percussionists, and vocalists sewn together in the spirit of Haiti to uplift, preserve, and promote the traditional works of the island will present traditional drum rhythms played by master musicians along with ritual dances and invocation.

We are interested in actively engaging through an embodied ritual experience which connects altar building, song, and dance in a tapestry of spiritual collaborative encounter. We plan to share a performance piece which would incorporate spiritual elements such as traditional Vodou songs of invocation, drum patterns, ritual dance, and colors that the audience would first experience collectively through lecture demonstration. This effort to tell the stories of people of the African Diaspora strategically employs spirituality in a digestible way which will be translated through performance in its actual ritual form. In combining altar set up, libation, and brief lecture, the audience will be taken through a hands-on ritual experience which will then be carried out throughout the performance. There is potential for transcendence and spiritual connection, and certainly greater understanding and community activation through this transformative experience.

Bio

Alexandra Jean-Joseph is an educator, dancer, choreographer, and priestess of Haitian Vodou. She studied Psychology with a focus on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies at New York University. As a performing artist, she has studied under, performed, and collaborated with notable Haitian master instructors Mikerline Pierre, Julio Jean, Nadia Dieudonné, Peniel Guerrier, Jessica St. Vil Ulysse, and Adia Whitaker. In 2018, Alexandra co-founded Imamou Lele, to promote and preserve the folkloric and traditional works of Haiti. As Artistic Director, Alexandra actively engages and collaborates with community to uplift and promote healing through offerings of dance and drum classes, workshops, and performances. She strives to preserve the connection between Haitian Dance and Vodou rites and to promote dance as an experience where spirit and art meet. As a practitioner of Haitian Vodou, specifically a manbo (priestess), Alexandra practices with her spiritual family at Le Temple D’Olohoum in Queens, New York.