Rasanblé/Rasanblaj: Call & Response

@ Join us for an evening of call and response between Portsha Jefferson, dancer and artistic director of Rara Tou Limen, and artist-scholar Gina Athena Ulysse. Jefferson will offer a Haitian dance response to Redwoods Rasanblaj: Origins & Disentanglements and screen her short film IMAMOU: Hotô to Shore… Agbe | Agwe, and Ulysse will read from her memoir, Loving Haiti, Loving Vodou. A dialogue between Jefferson and Ulysse will follow. Portsha Terae Jefferson has a 25 year history of performance, choreography, research & travel passionately rooted in African/Caribbean dance, drumming and spiritual traditions. Hailing from a blazed Dance trek, her Dancestory is truly emblazoned by that of Ancestral commission. She began her formal training at the age of six at the Marsha Woody Dance Academy. From Beaumont, Texas to the Bay Area, Ms. Jefferson also revered as, “Zetwal Ashade Bon Manbo” has cultivated a trajectory of Dance excellence, dynamic performance and a cultural legacy of training, education and cultural exchange. Often nurtured by Bay Area Dance luminaries Lynn Coles and Blanche Brown to name a few, to Haitian Dance Masters such as Pioneer Vivianne Gauthier with consistent training at Ecole Nationale de Artes , transcended through the establishment of Rara Tou Limen Haitian Performing Company in 2004. As a cultural practitioner and visionary, 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 its Rada (kingdom of Dahomey) heritage. Ms.Jefferson’s visionary Artistic leadership and RTL Company’s unforgettable presentations, classes, workshops, festivals, cultural exchange trips, and retreats, have garnered her the attention as respected colleague and established cultural gatekeeper, forging new trailways through ancient traditions — staying true to the sojourn carving pathways for many to flourish crossing boundaries and dimensions in the Dance. She has presented at the Black Sacred Arts Conference at Yale University, the KOSANBA Conference in Miami, and the Rex Nettleford Conference in Kingston, Jamaica. Her teaching spans internationally, including the University of Panama, while her embodied practice has led her to Cuba, and Jamaica, where she has shared Haitian dance within community and cultural spaces. Her work is further enriched by ongoing cultural exchange and research in Haiti, Cuba, and most recently, Benin. Ms. Jefferson has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and with the Conservatory for Contemporary Dance Arts, and as an artist-in-residence across Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and San Francisco Unified School Districts. A passionate advocate for...