SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 8:00 PM
CELEBRATION OF WOMEN
A Dance & Theater Evening Curated by Oxana Chi & Layla Zami, Co-Curators of Dance

PROGRAM

MOVING SPIRITS: “!” is a click of the tongue used in the African diaspora to express resistance, disagreement or disapproval. This performance honors the integrity, strength and ongoing influences of those we lost, through a lively mix of West African, African-American, Afro-Brazilian and European dance forms.

CHRISTIANE EMMANUEL: Lumina...one day is a powerful dance solo tribute to the courageous Caribbean woman Lumina Sophie, and also known as Surprise, who was called the “flame” of the 1870 revolt on the island of Martinique.

OXANA CHI & LAYLA ZAMI: Killjoy is a lecture-performance inspired by the French artist-activist Claude Cahun (1894-1954), and her partner Marcel Moore. Oxana Chi performs a graceful and avant-garde solo blending ballet, hip hop dance theater and Afro-German expressionist dance to comment on human rights in the 20th and 21st century. Layla Zami introduces the piece with a presentation and spoken words.

LORETTA D. FOIS: With only the clothes on our backs (dance-theater) explores immigration rhetoric and policies in the United States throughout history, juxtaposing it with the work of Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval composer whose work hinges on mercy and acceptance.

The evening is presented in cooperation with Pratt Institute's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & Black Lives Matter Pratt.

BIOS

Oxana Chi (GERMANY/NIGERIA) is an internationally praised choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, curator, author and mentor. Based in Brooklyn, she is listed in The Dance Enthusiast's A to Z of People Who Power the Dance World (2018). As the Founder and Director of Oxana Chi & Ensemble Xinren (since 1991), she created 19 productions, including two commissioned works for Humboldt-University. Awards, grants and residencies include Ambassador of Peace (DOSHIMA 2016), Berlin City Council, Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, Abrons Arts Center AIRspace Grant for Performing Artists. Chi studied and performed on the five continents. Killjoy has been performed at venues including NYU Jack Crystal Theater, Schlosstheater Rheinsberg , BAAD!, Dixon Place, Technical University Berlin, Ballhaus Theater Berlin. www.oxanachi.de

Dr. Layla Zami (FRANCE/MARTINIQUE) is Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. Her work orbits around topics of memory, performance, and diaspora. She holds a PhD from the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, Humboldt-University (Berlin, Germany), funded by the ELES Scholarship Fund Talents Program (Federal German Ministry of Education and Research), and is the author of Contemporary PerforMemory. A former staff member of Christiane Taubira at the French Parliament, she was 2018-2019 Assistant Producer at IHRAF, and currently serves on multiple committees at Dance/NYC. Zami studied saxophone at the Conservatoire du Mans, and tours internationally as a Resident Artist & Scholar with Oxana Chi Dance. www.laylazami.net

Loretta D. Fois (ITALY/USA) is a performing artist, choreographer and teacher. She holds an MFA in Choreography from Ohio State University and a BA Theatre/Chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross. She is Artistic Director of Espressione Corporea Project, where she works with movement, music and language, leading Expressive Arts classes and workshops for adults and children throughout the world. She received a 2017 and 2011 NJSCA Choreography Fellowship and a NYFA Grant. Her work has been performed at venues including Joe’s Pub, DUMBO, Ailey Theatre, Dixon Place, Greenspace, and Cunningham. She is Director of Dance at Raritan Valley College. www.corporea.org

Christiane Emmanuel (MARTINIQUE) is a dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue based in Martinique. She is President of the largest performing arts venue Tropiques-Atrium Theater, and Chair of the Cultural Committee at the Regional Council of Martinique. Emmanuel founded the Experimental Group of Contemporary Dance (GEDC) in 1989, now called Compagnie Christiane Emmanuel. Since 2010, she is Founding Director of the dance center Maison Rouge/Maison des Arts. She performed internationally, and received the “Utopia” Prize for Choreographic Creation for her work. Past collaborations include Bruce Taylor, Bebe Miller, Marianela Boan. She graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) in La Havana, Cuba, and the Académie Internationale de la Danse (AID) in Paris, France.

Tamara Williams (USA) (Assistant Professor of Dance, UNC Charlotte) created Moving Spirits, Inc. in 2011: a contemporary arts organization dedicated to performing, researching, documenting, cultivating, and producing arts of the African Diaspora. She earned her BFA in Dance from Florida State University and her MFA in Dance from Hollins University in collaboration with The American Dance Festival, The Forsythe Company, and Frankfurt University. She recently completed A Comprehensive Manual to Silvestre Dance Technique. Grants and fellowships include the Dance & Performance Institute in Trinidad, the Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall Fund for New Work, Brooklyn Arts Council, UNC Charlotte’s Diversity Fund. www.movingspirits.org