AYIBOBO!!!
Rara Tou Limen (RTL) has performed at festivals as well as cultural and academic institutions throughout the Bay Area including: The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, The Black Choreographer's Festival, The Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival, The San Francisco Black Film Festival, the deYoung Museum, Ashkenaz, CubaCaribe Dance & Music Festival, Hastings to Haiti Celebration, San Francisco Carnival, Hamlin School, Mills College, University of California at Berkeley, California State University at Chico and the Berkeley Public Library.
Haitian Flag Day Celebration with RTL
Accompanied by dancers, vocalists and celebrated musicians, the company brings to the stage a wide spectrum of diverse Haitian dance forms, from vibrant rituals of Vodou, the turbulent legacy of political struggle, to the celebratory and festive dances of Carnival, Rara Tou Limen is at the cutting edge of the evolution of Haitian dance and music in the Bay Area. The use of traditional rhythms, chants and movement integrates the grace, strength, fluidity and precision of Haitian folkloric dance.
Established in 2004 by Artistic Director Portsha Jefferson, Rara Tou Limen has continually offered Bay Area residents, as well as people from all over the United States, the opportunity to experience Haitian music, dance and culture through classes, workshops, performances and educational events in both the United States and in Haiti. Our mission is to educate audiences about the richness of Haitian culture through artistic expression, while building and enhancing working relationships with other Haitian cultural groups in the U.S. and Haiti. The company is carrying on the long legacy of creating strength and solidarity within the Haitian community, while actively raising awareness (and funds) for Haitian organizations.
Our objective is to help nurture and grow Haitian dance and musical traditions in the Bay Area. The company is committed to showcasing the best of folkloric dance and music, which carries in it the stories, struggles, and spirit of the first free Black Republic in the world. Rara Tou Limen continues to uplift a country whose culture has increasingly sustained the Bay Area's artistic community and beyond.
[click on image to see Rara in Festivity!]
Rara Tou Limen's artistic and educational work has been supported by grants and awards including:
Theatre Bay Area - CA$H Grant (2011)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2011)
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Living Cultures Grant (2008, 2010, 2012)
Zellerbach Family Foundation (2008, 2009, 2011)
The Eastbay Community Foundation (2007)
Theatre Bay Area - CA$H Grant (2011)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2011)
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Living Cultures Grant (2008, 2010, 2012)
Zellerbach Family Foundation (2008, 2009, 2011)
The Eastbay Community Foundation (2007)
Rara Tou Limen performs "REBIRTH" at the
SF Ethnic Dance Festival
Laila Tov, Gerlanda Gelin, Leah Kimble-Price, Tracee Henson, Akua Jackson, Karen Kirshclin, Heather Easley-Kasinsky, Lalin St. Juste, Taji Maalik, Shemica Watkins, Daniel Brevil, Guy de Chalus, Portsha Jefferson, Josh Piagentini,Tossie Long, Tamika Harris, Latanya Tigner, Halima Marshall
   | "The dance (Yanvalou) often featured powerful waves traveling up and down the dancers' spines. Footwork and a ritual that could be followed like a story, but it was the way those women were convulsed by simultaneous convex and concave bends of the body that stays keenest in the memory."
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Oakland ♥ Haiti!
