Online
Special Workshop
Donation – $10-25

Rara is a unique form of festival that overlaps with the Carnival Season in Haiti that typically starts on January 6. At its core, it is a religious ritual that encompasses processions, street events, music and feasting. The tone or ambiance of Rara parading is loud and carnivalesque. Often a Rara band goes out into the streets playing, stopping at specific sacred sites and performing to honor a specific spirit or family of spirits. Instruments used in band are a set of cylindrical bamboo trumpets called vaskin and metal trumpets called kone made from recycled metal. Sounds of the festival are typically of deep spiritual, cultural and sociopolitical significance. This Haitian Kanaval workshop will uncover the sacred movements performed in Rara to learn dances performed to honor Lwas and the long tradition of Rara in Carnival. 

Alexandra Jean-Joseph is a dancer, educator and choreographer. Her passion for the beauty of Haiti’s culture led her to dance giant Mikerline Pierre, with whom she began her formal training of Haitian Folkloric Dance. Alexandra continued feeding her love for dance and soon became a principal dancer in Pierre’s company. In addition to her work with the Mikerline Dance Company, Alexandra continued her studies under Haitian dance master Julio Jean, who studied with Lavinia Williams and was a company member of Katherine Dunham at the National School of Arts in Haiti. Alexandra has performed and collaborated with notable Haitian master instructors Nadia Dieudonné and Peniel Guerrier in addition to Jessica St. Vil Ulysse’s KaNu Dance Theater and Adia Whitaker’s neo-folkloric Ase Dance Theater Collective. In 2018, Alexandra co-founded Imamou Lele, an ensemble of dancers, vocalists and percussionists sewn together in the spirit of Haiti to promote and preserve the folkloric works of the island. As artistic director of Imamou Lele, Alexandra actively engages and collaborates with community partners to uplift and promote healing through offerings of dance and drum classes, workshops and performances.