Tag: Jean Appolon Expressions

  • A new home for Haitian dance and folklore opens in Roxbury’s Nubian Square

    Jean Appolon Expressions, the Haitian folkloric and contemporary dance organization, celebrated the grand opening of its new dance center in Roxbury’s Nubian Square on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

    The JAE Dance Center, a 2,846-square-foot studio and black box performance space on Washington Street, is the group’s first permanent location. For co-founder and Artistic Director Jean Appolon, “it’s a dream come true.” 

    The opening marks the completion of “phase one” for JAE. “Phase two” will introduce full theatrical lighting and the ability to use projection art, said Meg McGrath, executive director and company dancer. 

    JAE focuses on sharing the “liberating power of Haitian-folkloric dance to cultivate hope and healing towards a more expressive and socially just world,” according to the group’s website. 

    Co-founder and Artistic Director Jean Appolon and Meg McGrath, Executive Director and Company Dancer celebrate the opening of the JAE Dance Center on Tuesday. Kelly Broder photos

    The group has centered Haitian folklore, Black expression and immigrant stories through dance since 2013, when Appolon incorporated the organization as a nonprofit to his summer dance institute in Haiti. JAE puts on about 25 shows per year and has grown to include five full-time staff members and 15 part-time dancers and drummers.

    As a Haitian immigrant, Appolon said his mission is to represent Haiti’s legacy of hope, resilience and freedom. “The biggest thing for me is to have a home where I can share Haiti with a lot of people. Now it’s happening.”

    City Councillor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune, interim city arts and culture chief Kenny Mascary and Haley House Executive Director Reginald “Reggie” Jean celebrated the new center as a “home” for dancers and Haitians as well as a physical space to practice art as healing. 

    “What we’re celebrating is more than just a ribbon cutting,” Mascary said. “It’s an invitation to young people to find joy, to find culture, to find a place to call home. History is being erased, history is being retold, but it’s going to take a lot more for Roxbury and the Haitian community to not stand together.” 

    Live traditional Haitian folkloric drumming, played by Arnaud Lauture and Josil Rebert, and homemade soup greeted the more than 30 attendees before they watched a dance performance.

    Appolon said he hopes this new space is used by young people, with whom he hopes to share Haitian culture and history. 

    “My idea is really for the young kids that always wanted to do something with movement, to know that they have a center where they can come in and experiment,” he said. 

    The center can be a place for young people to learn how to run lights, build choreography and create art to emerge as artists with the skills to sustain their passion, McGrath said. “This new home is not just for us,” she said. “This is for everyone in Boston. We view this space as an incubation space for JAE.”  

    JAE members hope the space gives young dancers a new setting where they can freely express themselves. 

    “This is an opportunity for people that didn’t really have chances like this. Spaces like this, as an artist and a dancer in the city, this is like major,” said Mcebisi “Bisi” Xotyeni, JAE’s artistic manager. 

    Xotyeni, who has been dancing since 2016, performed at the ribbon-cutting alongside Velouse Joseph in a two-minute excerpt from “Traka,” or “Troubles” in Haitian Kreyòl. The dance premiered at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art in May 2022. 

    JAE offers a weekly Haitian folkloric dance class with drumming as well as a “Liberation Drumming” class. Prior to the center’s opening, classes were taught at The Dance Complex in Cambridge. 

    Funders and partners of the new center include the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, the Barr Foundation, D/R/E/A/M Collaborative, the Klarman Family Foundation, the Mass Cultural Council, New Atlantic Development and the Yawkey Foundation. 

    “When we invest in our people and we invest in our community, everyone wins,” Reggie Jean said. 

    Louijeune said Haitian culture is something to be celebrated, not erased or silenced.

    “Today,” she said, “let it be marked in history that in Nubian Square, we are affirming that Black expression, that Haitian culture and immigrant communities are essential to Boston’s past, present and future.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism. This story is also posted at our companion site, BostonHaitian.com.

  • Free Culture Access Surges: Boston Family Days Program Triples in Size

     Mayor Michelle Wu announced an expansion of the Boston Family Days program last month that will provide more students and families free entry to multiple cultural venues this fall.

    City officials say the program has grown each year since it was introduced as BPS Sundays in February 2024. That first year, six cultural institutions were open on the first and second Sunday of each month. Today, students and families may visit 23 venues. Last year, 65,000 people were provided free access to cultural events and performances. The Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Huntington Theatre plan to provide more than 2,500 tickets this fall.

    Sage Morgan-Hubbard, director of learning and management at The Museum of African American History, said the program and experiences have resonated with young people.

    “We’ve had more young people come out, and our Juneteenth was probably our best visitation day,” she said. “We had like 450 people … of all different ages.”

    As one of the smallest museums in the program, Morgan-Hubbard said the additional traffic will advance the organization’s effort to spread a message of empowerment through education. Tours begin at the Abiel Smith School, the nation’s oldest public school to educate African American students exclusively. Among other exhibits, visitors can explore the African Meeting House, where prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass spoke to crowds, and abolitionist and writer William Cooper Nell attended school.

    When the Museum of African American History joined the initiative last year, it incorporated performing arts into its programming. The museum partnered with dance group Jean Appolon Expressions, and the Front Porch Arts Collective – a Black theater group, as well as others.

    “I think there’s nothing more transformative than having live arts because you know all your senses are engaged,” said Morgan-Hubbard. “They’re just much more interesting ways for young people to learn about different topics and be exposed to different art forms than sometimes a regular tour.”

    The Boston Family Days program was originally open only to Boston public school students and their families. Private school students and families are now eligible.

    Bostonians gathered on a recent Saturday at RoboBoston, Mass Robotics’ annual block party, held this year in the Seaport District. The free event showcased robotics from more than 50 institutions and companies throughout the city. While separate from the Boston Family Days program, the event attracted technology enthusiasts, families and students, including Jovie Slagle, a mother from Quincy, who said she was vaguely familiar with the city-sponsored program. But it sounded interesting.

    “I’d like to see some arts too,” said Slagle, who mentioned that disciplines such as math and science are important to childhood education, but creative expression is another powerful way to open their minds.

    The Huntington Theatre is tucked between the neighborhoods of Fenway, Back Bay and the South End. The theater joined the city program as part of the expansion, which staff members say is a continuation of an investment in Boston’s art scene.

    “It was pretty easy … we want in,” said Meg O’Brien, the theater’s director of education.

    Huntington staff members and representatives of other performing arts venues met with city officials last summer. The goal was to integrate theaters into a program originally designed for museums.

    The working group faced challenges. Museums allow visitors entrance at any time, while theaters operate with a fixed number of seats and specific performance schedules.

    A plan to expand the program was unveiled this spring. In May, the Huntington Theatre hosted two family days for “The Light in the Piazza” directed by its Artistic Director Loretta Greco. The events fueled optimism for the fall, according to O’Brien.

    To accommodate theaters, the city will release a rolling schedule of upcoming performances instead of set times throughout the fall. That way, families can decide when they are free rather than schedule an event in advance. “The goal is to make it feel as inviting and as welcoming as possible so that they actually do come out and spend the time with us,” O’Brien said.

    The city will continue the program through June 2026, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

    “I would want to see more programming at the institutions themselves,” said Sam Fidler, director of administration and finance in the mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. “I think that is something also that we’re in the process of working on.”