Session D: Creative Expressions - Musical & Dance Performances

Rhythms of Resistance is a captivating poetic dance performance that combines oral presentation and storytelling to weave movement, spoken word, and Afro-Colombian rhythms to narrate the intertwined stories of resistance, joy, and cultural survival. This artistic performance embodies the collective memory of Afro-Colombian communities, celebrating their resilience and honoring their rich traditions. Through a blend of traditional dance forms such as Chirimía and Mapalé with contemporary movements, the performance explores themes of identity, freedom, and belonging, providing a visceral experience that speaks to the power of the body as a vessel of history and hope. Through its innovative blend of traditional and contemporary dance forms, spoken word, and vibrant Afro-Colombian musicality, Rhythms of Resistance delves deeply into the collective memory of a people and their enduring fight for freedom and belonging. At its core, this performance is a celebration of the Afro-Colombian spirit—a tribute to the resilience of communities that have navigated centuries of hardship while preserving their cultural heritage. It uses the universal language of dance and poetry to highlight the interconnectedness of history, identity, and self-expression. Each movement, beat, and word becomes a narrative thread, weaving a tapestry of shared experiences, struggles, and triumphs. Each step and gesture carries the weight of history, yet the incorporation of modern movements ensures that the performance speaks to today's audiences. The choreography becomes a vessel for storytelling, conveying narratives of resistance and joy that words alone cannot express.

How can I explore my early childhood experiences as a Guyanese American using theoretical and practical methodologies? How can I incorporate creative modalities to communicate my stories? Utilizing autoethnography methodology, I reflected on life-changing events during childhood. Using Bronfenbrenner’s childhood ecological systems theory (Paquette & Ryan, 2001), I contextualized key themes that emerged from my data analysis and reflected each ecological layer. For example, the chronosystem, which describes life transitions, is aligned with themes of loss, hope, and immigration. During my analysis, I noticed that I practiced dance to cultivate hope during life transitions, especially migration. Dance became a practical processing tool during my childhood years and beyond. Tikvah Tozi La’or, Hebrew for hope prevails, is a dance creation process influenced by theoretical and practical approaches from reimagining patterns to creating choreography in artistic and educational settings. My classical dance performance tells my story of hope and, in turn, celebrates creative storytelling in academic spaces. This five-minute performance utilizes ballet and modern dance techniques and, a classical music selection composed by YoungMin You, and a musical piece I composed titled “Hope & Lights.”

This 15-30 minute performance will place the audience in a time capsule through history via rhythmic teleportation with the drum as our rocket ship.