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By Deirdre Towers/Follow @deirdre.towers on Instagram
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Published on October 1, 2024
"Belongó." Photo: Roulette
Together for the First Time
Choreographers: LaTasha Barnes Jazz Continuum and the Continuum Collective, Amanda Castro, Arielle Rosales, Brinda Guha
Dancers: LaTasha Barnes, Imani Arrington, Ray F. Davis, Le’Andre Douglas, Reyna Nunez, Amanda Castro, Arielle Rosales, Brinda Guha
Composers: Soles of Duende, R. Stanbury, O. Musik, A. Jagannath, R. Momi, Arturo O’Farrill, Jim Seeley, Adam O’Farrill, Frankie Beverly, Tito Puente, Astor Piazzolla
Musicians: Jasper Dutz, Jim Seeley, Rafi Malkiel, Bam Rodriguez, Vince Cherico, Reinaldo de Jesus, Carlos Maldonado
Date: September 28, 2024
Cover image: Arturo O’Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble with LaTasha Barnes Jazz Continuum and the Continuum Collective
“Let me see your hands,” commanded Arturo O’Farrill, the charming pianist and Artistic Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. ”Mind your manners, this music is hot,” he warned. “I know you are going to like this next one, Ceviche.”
Almost as an aside to himself, he said, “We seem to have a lot of references to food in this program.”
Maybe Belongó could tour culinary schools? Combining all the ingredients of jazz, tap, flamenco, kathak, hip hop, waacking, and lindy-dance, this program performed at Roulette, in Brooklyn on September 28, 2024 feels like something only a crazy New York chef would try.
These 16 dancers and musicians play together like sandbox pals who have known each other since kindergarten. They are kindred souls that speak the same language, and revel in the same puzzles. Yet this joyous and spicy collaboration marked the first time that the Afro Jazz Latin Ensemble, LaTasha Barnes Jazz Continuum and the Continuum Collective, and the Soles of Duende had worked together.
Barnes is a fluid mover who snaps out of a deep plié with panache. Her company members have strong personalities. Each in a primary color, they flow together in an irresistible way. Sensing that the audience could wait no more, they invited us to join their line dance.
“Tradition-bearer of Black American Social Dance,” Barnes lightly shifts sides on her sneakered feet while dancer Reyna Nunez dazzles us with her rubber neck, undulating torso, hips, and sash-swaying hands.
Contrasting the lateral and vertical currents of Barnes’ Continuum Collective, the black-clad dancers of the Soles of Duende have a downward thrust. For years, this flamenco-tap-kathak trio have taken their small percussion boards to the streets to let their feet talk to each other a cappella (aside from sirens and car horns). Amanda Castro, Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican (tap); Arielle Rosales, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Jew (flamenco), and Brinda Guha, a barefoot Bengali Indian (Kathak) bring out the sting, crackle and pop in their unisons. Their brief solos
adhere to their individual cultural preferences: Guha, making speedyspirals around her head with her fingers pressed together, ankle bells jingling with every stamp; Rosales striking her feet, swooshing a mantón, or castanets; Castro sighing from her chest as her white tap shoes flap out a ball change.
The program alternated between music interludes and live accompaniment for Continuum Collective and Soles of Duende, closing with a jam for all. More than what met the eye and the ear was the message to the heart, Belongó’s commitment to belonging, to being free and deeply rooted. Yes, ancestral traditions, of a vast range, can be honored with contemporary creativity.
