October 13, 2004
Black Cultural Center ensembles to showcase Puerto Rico experience
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Members and directors of the four arts ensembles at Purdue University's Black Cultural Center will present "a work-in-progress" showcase to be created from personal experiences and information gathered during their research trip to Puerto Rico during October break.
The Black Voices of Inspiration, Haraka Writers, Jahari Dance Troupe and New Directional Players will blend their talents and their media to create and perform the show at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Black Cultural Center at 1100 Third St. The performance is free and open to the public.
The original show will be based on the historical and cultural experiences of freedmen and Africans who escaped enslavement in Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. About 40 performers and directors are collaborating on the production.
"During the research tour to Puerto Rico, all four performing arts ensembles took a series of master classes in various art forms, including the bomba and the plena, two Puerto Rican dances," said center director Renee Thomas, who traveled with the group. "The master classes were instructed by the Ayala and Cepeda families who are committed to preserving history, culture, art, music, dance and other Black Puerto Rican expressions. In addition to the master classes, students toured the Museum of Our African Roots in Old San Juan and attend a scholarly presentation on the "African Influences on Latin America."
The showcase performance is a preview showing of the work-in-progress and leads up to the cultural arts festival that will take place in December, Thomas said. William P. Caise, director of the New Directional Players, is directing the showcase.
Four Black Cultural Center artists-in-residence have been discussing the project since before the start of the semester, Caise said.
"The title of the finished product that will be performed in December is 'Donde Esta Loiza' (Where is Loiza)," Caise said. "Loiza is a small town on the northern coast of Puerto Rico that was formed by freedmen and escaped slaves. We will be retracing some of the steps of the freedmen and escaped slaves in Puerto Rico and in some Puerto Rican communities in the states. We're closest to Chicago, so some of us have been doing research there."
Caise said members also gained valuable insight from Felipe Luciano, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent and identity, when he was recently at Purdue to make a presentation.
"While in Puerto Rico, we visited San Juan and Old San Juan, the town of Loiza and also the rain forest (El Yunque)," Caise said. "We had workshops and learned the bomba and the plena."
The showcase will last about an hour, and the full show on Dec. 3 will be about two hours long. Caise said both shows will be entertaining and will be unusual displays combining research and creative expression as a collaborative effort among students and faculty.
"There are not many places – professional or otherwise – that will take a group of students to a destination, do intensive research and then create a show out of it," he said. "With these two shows, the community has the opportunity to be a part of that process here at the Black Cultural Center at Purdue. The commitment and quality of work on the part of the students who participate is phenomenal. They're always up for it."
Writer: Reni Winter, (765) 496-3133, rwinter@purdue.edu
Sources: Renee Thomas, Black Cultural Center director, (765) 494-3091, rathomas@purdue.edu
William P. Caise, (765) 494-4630, wpcaise@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Related release:
Black Cultural Center lineup focuses on Afro-Latino culture
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