A Passport to Haiti: A Vodou Reboot with Lena Blou

Performance
Léna Blou

Dominique Desplan

The Haitian American Museum of Chicago
4410 N Clark Street
Chicago, US 60640
April 22, 2023 | 1 - 5pm CDT
Register
Join the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC) in its second A Passport to Haiti event with a special performance by Villa Albertine Resident Lēnablou, a dancer, choreographer and doctor in dance anthropology that has dedicated her career to Gwoka, the traditional Guadeloupean dance, that has long inspired her choreographic writing.

During the event, you will learn about veves through a new art installation at HAMOC and an artist talk with Dr. Petrouchka Moïse, watch and engage with dance, movement and music with Lēnablou, Linda Isabelle Francois Obas, and Julio Cesar Montaño, and listen to a panel discussion on how Vodou continues to make a positive influence in culture, moderated by Dr. Mario LaMothe. This event is in collaboration with five talented artists, scholars and professors from the Midwest, Haiti and Guadeloupe, including:

Dr. Petrouchka Moïse

Dr. Moise is an Assistant Professor and Cultural & Community-based Digital Curator at Grinnell College Libraries, artist, and scholar that focuses on cultures in the Carribean.

Lēnablou

Lēnablou is a dancer, choreographer and doctor in dance anthropology that has dedicated her career to Gwoka, the traditional Guadeloupean dance, that has long inspired her choreographic writing.

Linda Isabelle Francois Obas

Linda Isabelle Francois Obas is a Haitian Artist, Choreographer, Dancer, whose Contemporary Signature, is essentially sourced in Haitian Vodou Culture.

Dr. Mario LaMothe

Mario LaMothe (Ph.D., Performance Studies, Northwestern University) is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Black Studies and Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research focuses on embodied pedagogies of Caribbean arts and expressive cultures, and the intersections of queer lifeworlds and social justice in Haiti. He is a performance artist and Haitian LGBT Rights Advocate.

Julio Cesar Montaño

Julio Cesar Montaño formed Ecos del Pacifico Afrocolombia, a Chicago-based group created in 2006 and steeped in the Afro-Colombian music and dance traditions of the Pacific coast of Colombia.

In partnership with

Lafabri'k
Lafabri'k espaces des arts en mouvement, Les Abymes

LAFABRI'K was born under the presidency of Mrs. Marie-Laure Poitout and has for vocation to make the dreams of the CDEC.

LAFABRI'K is a choreographic and cultural space to train children, neophytes, amateurs and professionals, in the values of excellence and authenticity so that together they handle the art of movement, to transform themselves into artisans, artists, creators of the Dance!