Nadia Issa, dancer and educator with JAE, also felt the deep impact of working with the students in the DR. Watching our girls confidently integrate, share, and collaborate with the students from the DR made it worth the extremely hard work it took to plan for and execute a free international arts education program. She took it upon herself to support our girls from Haiti with extra translation and by going above and beyond to make them feel welcome at Kalalú. There was one student in the program from the DR, who is of Haitian descent and speaks fluent Spanish and Creole. It was a gift that had been a long time in the making. When I saw all of their faces in person on the street in Santo Domingo, I was honestly in a moment of shock that I was actually about to hug them all. “I have been continuously impressed by our five students in Haiti who have been working virtually with us for over a year now.” Meg recounted, “These girls were always so dedicated to getting on zoom with us each Friday, even when extreme weather, spotty wifi, violent armed gangs, and gas shortages sadly got in the way. Coming to the DR this year tied so many critical pieces together from JAE's world.”īeing able to connect with the dance community in the DR and have our teen apprentice guests directly from Haiti is something JAE has not been able to do in several years, so to be able to have had the opportunity to dance together this year was truly special for the team. Since 2018, we have not been able to travel to Haiti, due to the ongoing social and political unrest, paired alongside the pandemic.
I saw that shine through in the Dominican Republic.
“There is something truly magical that comes alive in Jean Appolon when he is teaching in Haiti and it becomes expansive, affecting those around him in such a positive way. “I have had the honor of traveling to Haiti four separate times in years past, to help lead JAE's Summer Dance Institute in Port Au Prince,” says Meghan McGrath, Executive Director of JAE.
We will hear from each of their perspectives on their experience in the DR today! Jean Appolon, Meghan McGrath, Nadia Issa, Mcebisi Xotyeni, and our partner Raphaëlle Francois. This journey would be impossible without our staff on the ground in the DR.
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