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.
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 continues to further the company’s vision, to Uplift, Inspire, & Inform in our community work and studies locally and abroad. Each year offers new opportunities to learn, stretch, and grow through RTL Vodou Voyage, a research/study travel excursion to further artistic growth, and aid in both personal and professional development. RTL Vodou Voyages have included Haiti (2014), Montreal, Canada (2016), Havana Cuba (2017), NOLA (2018), and most recently, Benin, West Africa, to gain an ethnographic perspective of Benin’s dances and drum rhythms, Vodoun ceremonial practices in relation to those of Haiti and its diaspora.
Rara Tou Limen presents:
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Rara Tou Limen presents:
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photo credit: Juan Gomez
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photo credit: Juan Gomez
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YBCA and SKIN World Wide Present:
“Radical Ancestry”
A Closing Finale of Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Arts Exhibit
Rara Tou Limen present:
Evolution x 9
To celebrate the closing of the exhibition "Radical Presence", SKIN World Wide and YBCA present "Radical Ancestry", a dance floor journey through sound, art, tradition, and folklore. We invite you to this gorgeous, visceral celebration that weaves through the African and Latin-American diasporas. Featuring a mixture of live performances, dance, visual art, and DJ’s, we pay homage to our common bonds of ancestry and rhythm.
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Rara Tou Limen's artistic and educational work has been supported by grants and awards including:
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Apprenticeship Program (2020)
AKONADI Foundation (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 23)
American Folklore Society (2015)
FOKAL - Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète (2014)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2011, 2012, 2013)
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Living Cultures Grant
(2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 23)
Zellerbach Family Foundation
(2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Theatre Bay Area - CA$H Grant (2011)
The Eastbay Community Foundation (2007)
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Apprenticeship Program (2020)
AKONADI Foundation (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 23)
American Folklore Society (2015)
FOKAL - Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète (2014)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (2011, 2012, 2013)
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) - Living Cultures Grant
(2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 23)
Zellerbach Family Foundation
(2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Theatre Bay Area - CA$H Grant (2011)
The Eastbay Community Foundation (2007)
Rara Tou Limen performs "ReBIRTH" at the
SF Ethnic Dance Festival
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"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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Portsha Terae Jefferson - Founder & Artistic Director
Portsha Terae Jefferson is a professional dancer and choreographer trained in Ballet, Modern, Jazz and African derived styles, who specializes in Haitian Folkloric Dance. She began her formal training at the age of six at the Marsha Woody Dance Academy in Beaumont, Texas. Established in 2004, Ms. Jefferson is the founder and artistic director of Rara Tou Limen (RTL), an arts organization that presents Haitian music, dance & culture through classes, workshops, and performances.
A passionate believer in education and youth development, she has worked
for several youth organizations including The Young Performers Theater, The San Francisco Arts Education Project, Westlake School of the Arts, Opera
Picolla, DanceVersity, Swivel Arts, and most recently, Music In Schools Today (MUST). Ms. Jefferson has taught creative movement and Haitian Folkloric dance in schools, universities, community centers and dance studios for twenty years.
Ms. Jefferson was a principle dancer and vocalist with Group Petit La Croix (1996-2003) under the leadership of veteran dancer and educator Blanche Brown. She has been fortunate and blessed to grace the stage with Reconnect, Ase Dance Theater Collective, Feet of Rhythm and El Wah Movement. In Haiti, she has had the privilege to perform with Compagnie Culturelle Des Arts and Ayiti Dans Ansanm (ADA). Guest performances with Afro-Cuban companies include: EMESE: Messengers of the African Diaspora, along with Jose Francisco Barroso & Obakoso.
Ms. Jefferson's dedication and exploration of Haitian culture have brought her to Haiti, where she has traveled throughout the country to research regional dance, rhythms and musical traditions since 2003. Specific interest and concentration of study took place in Gonaives at Lakou Badjo, where Nago (Yoruba) traditions are preserved, and at Tanp Souvenance Mistik, a Vodou community that celebrates it's Rada (ancient kingdom of Dahomey) heritage. Further studies at Ecole Nationale des Arts (ENARTS), Vivian Gauthier's School of Dance and Artcho Danse, the official dance school of internationally renowned dance troupe Ayikodans, provided a rich foundation into the Folkloric aspect of Haitian culture. Lynn Coles, Blanche Brown, Peniel Guerrier, Cadet Jean Evens, Emmanuel Louis, Metayer Frantz, Ramses Pierre, Lee Hetelson and Daniel Brevil, among others, have played a key role in her artistic growth.
Ms. Jefferson has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Conservatory for Contemporary Dance Arts (CCD) and is an artist in residence for Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and SF Unified School District. In addition, she is an instructor at East Bay Dance Center, Dance Mission Theater and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. She also serves as a Cultural Arts Specialist with Oakland Parks and Recreation where she continues to share her love of dance with Oakland youth. Ms. Jefferson is a recent grant recipient from the American Folklore Society to continue her fieldwork in Haitian Folkloric Dance & Musical Traditions.
A passionate believer in education and youth development, she has worked
for several youth organizations including The Young Performers Theater, The San Francisco Arts Education Project, Westlake School of the Arts, Opera
Picolla, DanceVersity, Swivel Arts, and most recently, Music In Schools Today (MUST). Ms. Jefferson has taught creative movement and Haitian Folkloric dance in schools, universities, community centers and dance studios for twenty years.
Ms. Jefferson was a principle dancer and vocalist with Group Petit La Croix (1996-2003) under the leadership of veteran dancer and educator Blanche Brown. She has been fortunate and blessed to grace the stage with Reconnect, Ase Dance Theater Collective, Feet of Rhythm and El Wah Movement. In Haiti, she has had the privilege to perform with Compagnie Culturelle Des Arts and Ayiti Dans Ansanm (ADA). Guest performances with Afro-Cuban companies include: EMESE: Messengers of the African Diaspora, along with Jose Francisco Barroso & Obakoso.
Ms. Jefferson's dedication and exploration of Haitian culture have brought her to Haiti, where she has traveled throughout the country to research regional dance, rhythms and musical traditions since 2003. Specific interest and concentration of study took place in Gonaives at Lakou Badjo, where Nago (Yoruba) traditions are preserved, and at Tanp Souvenance Mistik, a Vodou community that celebrates it's Rada (ancient kingdom of Dahomey) heritage. Further studies at Ecole Nationale des Arts (ENARTS), Vivian Gauthier's School of Dance and Artcho Danse, the official dance school of internationally renowned dance troupe Ayikodans, provided a rich foundation into the Folkloric aspect of Haitian culture. Lynn Coles, Blanche Brown, Peniel Guerrier, Cadet Jean Evens, Emmanuel Louis, Metayer Frantz, Ramses Pierre, Lee Hetelson and Daniel Brevil, among others, have played a key role in her artistic growth.
Ms. Jefferson has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Conservatory for Contemporary Dance Arts (CCD) and is an artist in residence for Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and SF Unified School District. In addition, she is an instructor at East Bay Dance Center, Dance Mission Theater and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. She also serves as a Cultural Arts Specialist with Oakland Parks and Recreation where she continues to share her love of dance with Oakland youth. Ms. Jefferson is a recent grant recipient from the American Folklore Society to continue her fieldwork in Haitian Folkloric Dance & Musical Traditions.
"To dance was at once to worship and to pray...
the gods themselves danced, as the stars dance in the sky
...and to dance is therefore to imitate the gods,
to work with them, perhaps to persuade them to work in the direction of our desire...
Havelock Ellis, Dance of Life
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Minokan - RTL Report Back from Haiti - Photo Credit: Yuri Kasinsky
Mizik Se Lanmou!
Sponsored by SKIN
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Rara Tou Limen embodies a deep and cherished legacy, developing strength and solidarity within its Haitian communities...
Rara Tou Limen continues to uplift a country whose culture has increasingly sustained the Bay Area's artistic community and beyond!
Cultural Exchange to Haiti participants (2009)
Our objective is to help nurture and cultivate Haitian dance and music traditions in the Bay Area through building & enhancing working relationships between artists promoting Haitian culture across the U.S. and in Haiti.
In keeping with this tradition of exchange, Rara Tou Limen, in partnership with Daniel Brevil, conducted its first cultural exchange tour to Haiti with 10 members in April '09 and 3 subsequently after the Earthquake in Haiti, to further investigate & research Haitian cultural traditions. [click pic 4 video]
A Historic Anniversary Celebration/Concert Performance was RTL's latest milestone envisioned in partnership with Artistic Director, Portsha Jefferson, and Musical Director, Daniel Brevil accompanying Rara Tou Limen to Haiti, in celebration of their 10th Anniversary. Aug./ Sept. 2014.
In keeping with this tradition of exchange, Rara Tou Limen, in partnership with Daniel Brevil, conducted its first cultural exchange tour to Haiti with 10 members in April '09 and 3 subsequently after the Earthquake in Haiti, to further investigate & research Haitian cultural traditions. [click pic 4 video]
A Historic Anniversary Celebration/Concert Performance was RTL's latest milestone envisioned in partnership with Artistic Director, Portsha Jefferson, and Musical Director, Daniel Brevil accompanying Rara Tou Limen to Haiti, in celebration of their 10th Anniversary. Aug./ Sept. 2014.
"Veve Sessions"
COMPANY MEMBERS
LAKISHA ASHLEY
“My goals as a dancer are to grow, create, reflect, and share my inner self through dance poetry, always with passion, always on purpose.”
Lakisha Ashley’s love for dance started at a young age but her formal training began at Skyline High School in Oakland, CA. She continued to perform in college and has studied Modern, Jazz, Haitian, Hip Hop, Ballet, Afro Samba and Praise. Her dance journey reflects her way of thinking and navigating her surroundings: varied, complex, diverse, always searching, reaching and exploring new ways to be a better version of self. She discovers life and understands the world through her lessons in dance. Her professional experience started with NUBA Dance Theater. She later joined Dance Theater of the Gospel and Xalt where she learned to infuse dance with the passion and purpose. Lakisha has taught classes danced in productions including Black Nativity at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco and in the stage play “Touched” inspired by one woman’s battle with Breast Cancer.
Lakisha was connected to Haitian folkloric dance during her studies at San Francisco State University where she was encouraged to take Portsha Jefferson’s class at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts. After sneaking into the back of the class off and on for years, Lakisha joined Rara Tou Limen in 2018. She has enjoyed performing with company and being inspired by the beauty, grace and experiences of its members. She appreciates learning about Haitian folkloric dance and a powerful culture and history that allows her to use dance to connect, stretch, and share the context of a world that is so much bigger than the bubble that many are limited to.
Lakisha Ashley’s love for dance started at a young age but her formal training began at Skyline High School in Oakland, CA. She continued to perform in college and has studied Modern, Jazz, Haitian, Hip Hop, Ballet, Afro Samba and Praise. Her dance journey reflects her way of thinking and navigating her surroundings: varied, complex, diverse, always searching, reaching and exploring new ways to be a better version of self. She discovers life and understands the world through her lessons in dance. Her professional experience started with NUBA Dance Theater. She later joined Dance Theater of the Gospel and Xalt where she learned to infuse dance with the passion and purpose. Lakisha has taught classes danced in productions including Black Nativity at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco and in the stage play “Touched” inspired by one woman’s battle with Breast Cancer.
Lakisha was connected to Haitian folkloric dance during her studies at San Francisco State University where she was encouraged to take Portsha Jefferson’s class at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts. After sneaking into the back of the class off and on for years, Lakisha joined Rara Tou Limen in 2018. She has enjoyed performing with company and being inspired by the beauty, grace and experiences of its members. She appreciates learning about Haitian folkloric dance and a powerful culture and history that allows her to use dance to connect, stretch, and share the context of a world that is so much bigger than the bubble that many are limited to.
ASATU MUSUNAMA HALL
Asatu Hall is a seasoned performer, choreographer and founding member of Emesè: Messengers of the African Diaspora, a collective of artists founded in 1998 with a mission to promote and present the rich cultural traditions of the African Diaspora. Her background in dance incorporates over 25 years of various genres including Ballet, West African, Congolese, Haitian, Brazilian. She has had the honor of studying and performing with a number of master artists in the Bay Area and abroad, in particular, her mentors Mestre Carlos Aceituno founder of Fogo Na Roupa Grupo Carnavalesco Cultural and Regina Califa, Jorge Alabe, Blanche Brown, Titos Sompa, Malonga Casquelourd, Jose Francisco Barroso, Juan De Dios Ramos, Linda Faye Johnson, Isaura Oliveira, and others. She feels blessed and very honored to have the opportunity to deepen her study of Haitian dance, music, and culture with the Rara Tou Limen family. Asatu currently teaches Afro Cuban and Afro Brazilian dance in Oakland and Alameda.
VALENCIA JAMES
Valencia James is a Barbadian freelance performer, maker and researcher interested in the intersection between dance, theatre, technology and activism.
She believes in the power of the arts to inspire change. In 2013 Valencia co-founded the AI_am project, which explores the application of artificial intelligence in dance. The project has been presented at several international forums such as TEDxGoteborg in 2015 and premiered their first evening-length work in Budapest and Gothenburg in 2017. Valencia also creates solo works which explore stereotypes and colonial narratives. She has performed extensively in Hungary, Romania, Poland, France, Israel, Sweden, Argentina, and Canada. After a decade in Hungary, Valencia is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is excited to dance with Rara Tou Limen.
ABEJE MAOLUD
Abeje Maolud is one of three of Rara Tou Limen’s newest company members, joining the Haitian Folkloric Dance Company in 2018. She hails from the San Francisco Bay Area where she began her lifelong dance training with notable dance teachers such as Mama Naomi Diouf (of Diamano Coura West African Dance Company)
and the late Ms. Alicia Pierce (of Wajumbe Dance Collective).
Since such early exposure to dance, Abeje has embarked on a lifelong journey of studying various forms, locally and abroad, ranging from Tango to Tahitian dance. Her experience includes modern dance techniques, emphasizing in Dunham Technique, as well as studying and working with The San Francisco Ballet School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s summer youth program, Ailey Camp, Columbus Ohio’s Ballet Met, Headlong Dance Theater out of Philadelphia, and such local dance companies as The Zari Le’on Dance Theater and Eloi Movement,
Abeje holds a BA in Dance from Denison University. Her experience extends beyond the velvet curtain to costume design, set design, and stage management.
and the late Ms. Alicia Pierce (of Wajumbe Dance Collective).
Since such early exposure to dance, Abeje has embarked on a lifelong journey of studying various forms, locally and abroad, ranging from Tango to Tahitian dance. Her experience includes modern dance techniques, emphasizing in Dunham Technique, as well as studying and working with The San Francisco Ballet School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s summer youth program, Ailey Camp, Columbus Ohio’s Ballet Met, Headlong Dance Theater out of Philadelphia, and such local dance companies as The Zari Le’on Dance Theater and Eloi Movement,
Abeje holds a BA in Dance from Denison University. Her experience extends beyond the velvet curtain to costume design, set design, and stage management.
HALIMA MARSHALL
Halima Marshall is a recent recipient of the 2020 Alliance of California Traditional Arts (ACTA) Apprenticeship with mentor Portsha Jefferson. She was first introduced to Haitian dance at St. Mary’s College in 1995 by Blanche Brown, Haitian dance instructor and director of then Group Petit La Croix. Years later, her desire to learn more technique, rhythms, and the intricacies of their connection led her to Dance Mission in San Francisco where she took classes with instructor Michelle Martin.
In 2007, Halima first performed with Portsha Jefferson at the inception of Rara Tou Limen (RTL) prior to joining the dance company. Since that time she has performed the colorful and emotion-filled storytelling of RTL throughout the Bay Area at San Francisco Carnaval, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Black Choreographers Festival, multiple performances at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, the University of Oklahoma for the Neustadt Festival honoring a Haitian literary great, Edwidge Danticat, and internationally with Mapou Ginen Haitian Folkloric Dance Troupe in Montreal, Canada. Halima also celebrates the opportunity to teach dance classes in the Bay Area because of these diverse experiences over the years, her skills as an educator, and most importantly, because of her love of Haitian dance and culture.
A 2014 Cultural Exchange Trip to Ayiti was the pinnacle of her experiences as past knowledge was given life through the witnessing of Vodou on the soil of Ayiti. She brings reverence for the spirit of Vodou and acknowledgement of the fullness of culture of Ayiti to her own dance and teaching experience.
In 2007, Halima first performed with Portsha Jefferson at the inception of Rara Tou Limen (RTL) prior to joining the dance company. Since that time she has performed the colorful and emotion-filled storytelling of RTL throughout the Bay Area at San Francisco Carnaval, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Black Choreographers Festival, multiple performances at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, the University of Oklahoma for the Neustadt Festival honoring a Haitian literary great, Edwidge Danticat, and internationally with Mapou Ginen Haitian Folkloric Dance Troupe in Montreal, Canada. Halima also celebrates the opportunity to teach dance classes in the Bay Area because of these diverse experiences over the years, her skills as an educator, and most importantly, because of her love of Haitian dance and culture.
A 2014 Cultural Exchange Trip to Ayiti was the pinnacle of her experiences as past knowledge was given life through the witnessing of Vodou on the soil of Ayiti. She brings reverence for the spirit of Vodou and acknowledgement of the fullness of culture of Ayiti to her own dance and teaching experience.
KARIAMU ERYKA NADREAU
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and raised in Los Angeles, Ca. Ms. Nadreau has studied various dance styles from Africa and the diaspora including Afro Brazilian, Afro house, Waacking and Haitian folklore. In addition to dance she has also studied sound design, fashion as well as Earth and Environmental sciences.
Her work has been seen on national TV, theater and featured in music videos.
MICHELLE PEACOCK
Michelle Peacock is originally from Los Angeles, CA and enthusiastically began training 22 years ago in various dance forms. High School is where Michelle was accepted into a prestigious performing arts school, The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where she studied with various well studied teachers and continued to perfect her skills. After graduating high school she went on to further her training in dance while getting her B.A in Broadcast communications at San Francisco State University.
After graduating college and entering into the work force, dance, her one true love and passion was calling out to her, so she sought out classes until she stumbled upon Portsha’s Haitian dance class on a bright Sunday and thus began her love affair with Haitian dance.
Michelle has been a member of Rara Tou Limen since 2011, where she has engrossed herself into Haitian folklore, with a willingness to continue to train and study as much as she can about Haitian culture through myriads of classes, workshops, performances and traveling to different countries with the company, showcasing the vibrant spirit of the Haitian culture.
“Dance is a conversation between Body and Soul”
After graduating college and entering into the work force, dance, her one true love and passion was calling out to her, so she sought out classes until she stumbled upon Portsha’s Haitian dance class on a bright Sunday and thus began her love affair with Haitian dance.
Michelle has been a member of Rara Tou Limen since 2011, where she has engrossed herself into Haitian folklore, with a willingness to continue to train and study as much as she can about Haitian culture through myriads of classes, workshops, performances and traveling to different countries with the company, showcasing the vibrant spirit of the Haitian culture.
“Dance is a conversation between Body and Soul”
YOLANDE STERLING
A lover of all forms of dance, Yolande Sterling has been an avid student of Haitian folkloric dance since 2008. She has studied and danced with veteran dancers and educators such as Blanche Brown, Michelle Martin and Portsha Jefferson. Ms. Sterling has traveled to Haiti on several occasions to experience the culture first hand by traveling to various parts of the country as well as learning from dance and song instructors at the Ecole Nationale des Arts (ENARTS).
Ms. Sterling joined Rara Tou Limen (RTL) in January 2014 and has been fortunate enough to travel and perform with the company both in the Bay Area and internationally in Haiti and Montreal Canada. She also participated in the 2017 cultural exchange tour to Havana Cuba where RTL collaborated with a renowned Cuban Folkloric company to explore the connection between Haitian and Cuban-Haitian dance. In 2019, Ms. Sterling had the opportunity to visit Benin West Africa with RTL and witness first hand the connection between the Beninese and Haitian cultures through dance, song and Vodou.
In keeping with her love of folkloric dance, Ms. Sterling has performed with the Afro-Cuban folkloric company Grupo Nago Experimental under the guidance of Artistic Director Temistocles Fuentes Betancourt. She has also studied with and danced in San Francisco Carnaval with Afro-Brazilian dancer/choreography Tania Santiago, Artistic Director of Aguas da Bahia Dance Company. Yolande is passionate about Haitian dance as well as the rhythms and rituals that embody the culture.
Ms. Sterling joined Rara Tou Limen (RTL) in January 2014 and has been fortunate enough to travel and perform with the company both in the Bay Area and internationally in Haiti and Montreal Canada. She also participated in the 2017 cultural exchange tour to Havana Cuba where RTL collaborated with a renowned Cuban Folkloric company to explore the connection between Haitian and Cuban-Haitian dance. In 2019, Ms. Sterling had the opportunity to visit Benin West Africa with RTL and witness first hand the connection between the Beninese and Haitian cultures through dance, song and Vodou.
In keeping with her love of folkloric dance, Ms. Sterling has performed with the Afro-Cuban folkloric company Grupo Nago Experimental under the guidance of Artistic Director Temistocles Fuentes Betancourt. She has also studied with and danced in San Francisco Carnaval with Afro-Brazilian dancer/choreography Tania Santiago, Artistic Director of Aguas da Bahia Dance Company. Yolande is passionate about Haitian dance as well as the rhythms and rituals that embody the culture.
