Davalois Fearon Dance to Celebrate Jamaican Independence Day in Bronx

Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD), in partnership with the Baychester Branch of The New York Public Library and JASA, will celebrate Jamaican Independence Day with a free afternoon of music, dance, poetry, and storytelling on Thursday, August 6.

The event will take place in the Riverbay Room at the Baychester Library in the Bronx. Doors open at noon, with performances and programming beginning at 12:30 p.m.

The celebration will honor Jamaica's rich cultural heritage while bringing together artists, community members, and local organizations through live performance and conversation.

As part of the program, DFD Artistic Director Davalois Fearon will discuss her recent research trip to Jamaica, including her participation in Dancehall Mecca, and share how the experience is informing her current artistic practice.

The event features artistic direction, choreography, and concept by Fearon, with music direction by Mike McGinnis. Performers include bassist Elias Bailey, dancers Davalois Fearon and Tess Montoya, clarinetist and saxophonist Mike McGinnis, and drummer Adriel Vincent-Brown.

Fearon is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, dancer, educator, and artist-scholar whose interdisciplinary work draws from Dancehall, reggae, Caribbean social dance, contemporary dance, and improvisation to explore African diasporic histories, embodied memory, and community. She is currently a lecturer in dance at Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts and founded Davalois Fearon Dance in 2016.

Since its founding, Davalois Fearon Dance has presented work at venues including The Joyce Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harlem Stage, BAAD!, and the New Victory Theater, while receiving support from organizations including Dance/NYC, the MAP Fund, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and New Music USA.

The free Jamaican Independence Day celebration will take place Thursday, August 6, at the Baychester Branch of The New York Public Library, located at 2049 Bartow Avenue in the Bronx.