Dance Haiti!
The magic that happens at Dance Haiti! is too good to keep to ourselves. Here's what happened this year.
2013 Report Back
The 2013 Jean Appolon Summer Dance Institute was hosted by the Hotel Oloffson, located in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti from June 29 – July 26, 2013. The 2013 Institute was a tremendous success, and provided approximately 50 young Haitian dancers with free, intensive and high quality dance education based on a comprehensive curriculum. The Institute concluded with a Final Performance that honored Haitian music and dance legend, Emerante de Pradines. The students performed seven original choreographies by Jean Appolon for an audience that included their family members and friends, as well as Haitian and foreign dignitaries. Click here for a video of the Final Performance.
Some of the information gathered about the students who participated in the 2013 Institute is as follows:
- 53 students enrolled
- Ages ranged from 10 – 36
- Average student age was 22
- 33 girls and 20 boys participated
- 38% had participated in the Institute in a prior year(s)
- 43 students received completion certificates
Each weekday, from Monday – Friday, the students participated in the following:
9 – 10am: Yoga
10 – 11:30am: Modern dance
11:30 – 12:30pm: Lunch
12:30 – 2pm: Haitian folkloric
2 – 4pm: Repertoire (rehearsal of choreography)
Some numerical outcomes of the Institute are as follows:
- 120 free hours of high quality yoga and dance instruction were provided
- 1200 free lunches were provided
- 7+ Haitian staff were employed: 1 carpenter (+assistants), 4 percussionists, 1 Assistant, 1 PR Coordinator
- 200 guests attended the Final Performance, including the students’ families and friends, as well as leaders from the cultural, non-profit and government sectors, and from foreign embassies
- Total cost of the Institute = $20,000 (all JAE staff from Boston donated their time/services)
- “Per student cost” = $20 per day
The 2013 Jean Appolon Summer Dance Institute was covered in the following Haitian media outlets:
- Télé Ginen
- Radio Caraïbes
- Canal 11
- Television National d’Haiti
- Télé Super Star
- Two feature articles in Le Nouvelliste
JAE networked with individuals from the following organizations and institutions:
- JPHRO
- US Embassy
- FOKAL
- Haiti’s National Office of Ethnology
- Digicel
The 2013 Institute was made possible through the generous contributions of Lunise and Richard Morse, Nicole Lumarque and JAE’s 2013-2014 supporters. JAE is already planning for The 2014 Jean Appolon Summer Dance Institute to take place at Hotel Oloffson during July 2014.