16229: Wilcken: LA TROUPE MAKANDAL IN BROOKLYN'S PROSPECT PARK (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lois E Wilcken <makandal-ny@juno.com>

For immediate release

Contact:  Lois Wilcken, 718-953-6638, makandal-ny@juno.com

LA TROUPE MAKANDAL CELEBRATES THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION WITH MUSIC AND DANCE
IN BROOKLYN'S PROSPECT PARK

La Troupe Makandal presents its fifth annual Bwa Kayiman.  Celebrate the
historic gathering that sparked Haiti's Revolution in 1791.  Participate
in a drum-and-dance drama based on the testimony of nineteenth-century
Manbo (priestess) Dedée Magritte.  Produced by Executive Director and
musicologist Dr. Lois Wilcken.  Music and artistic direction by
award-winning Master Drummer Frisner Augustin, whom the New York Times
called "a spectacular drummer."  Choreography by Director of Dance and
former Groupe RAM member Mikerline Pierre.

A unique blend of narrative and music and dance numbers will take the
audience from the injustices of slavery through the dramatic rites that
triggered a massive insurrection to the birth of the world's first
enduring black republic.  Magritte tells her story because "Those who
forget the past sell their future to the highest bidder."  With the
critical vision of the soothsayer, she asks, "We made our Republic in
1804, but have we tasted freedom?"  A final dance number that includes
the audience pays tribute to the Haitian peoples' enduring struggle for
liberty.

Admission is FREE.  Date and place: Saturday, 16 August, 4 pm, Prospect
Park Gran Bwa, Brooklyn, New York.  Enter the Park at the intersection of
Parkside Avenue and Ocean Avenue; walk about 150 yards straight to
lakeside.  Q local subway to Parkside Avenue (Parkside/Ocean exit); or
the 12 or 16 bus to Ocean and Parkside.  Bring blankets or lawn chairs.

This program is sponsored, in part, by the Community Arts Re-Grant
Program of The Brooklyn Arts Council Inc., which is made possible with
public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; in
part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; and, in part,
by a Puffin Foundation grant.

La Troupe Makandal would like to thank the Prospect Park Alliance for
helping to make this celebration possible.

Further information: 718-953-6638; makandal-ny@juno.com; www.makandal.org