La Troupe Makandal channels the power of traditional Afro-Haitian music and dance to represent Haiti’s history and culture in theaters and schools. Much of the company’s repertory derives from the sacred music and dance of Vodou, widely known in the United States as “voodoo,” a term loaded with mis-conceptions that generate mis-representations of Haiti in the mainstream culture. The Troupe’s performances and workshops educate, entertain, and heal racial and cultural divisions. La Troupe Makandal creates dynamic music and dance experiences one does not soon forget.
Please visit our website at http://www.makandal.org/
History
In 1973 a group of young artists from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, formed La Troupe Makandal, naming it after a renowned eighteenth-century revolutionary and mystic. They created a repertory that drew from Haiti’s revolutionary legacy, and from oral tradition around the figure of their namesake. The company left Haiti in 1981 and regrouped in New York City, where it attracted new artists, both Haitians and friends of Haiti who are inspired by the company’s dedication to black history and culture. La Troupe Makandal incorporated in the State of New York in 1984 and won its not-for-profit status a year later. The company has distinguished itself in the United States for its theatrical representations of Vodou, a powerful but poorly understood form of Afro-Haitian spirituality. Under the direction of Master Drummer Frisner Augustin, an NEA Heritage Fellow (1999), the company has produced performances that link Haitian history and culture, challenge ingrained stereotypes, and preserve and develop the remarkable music and dance traditions of Haiti and the Haitian community of New York City.
