Join us for this day long event centered around fostering restoration and wellness within the African Diaspora, in collaboration with Cumbe Dance.
Lakou is a Haitian Kreyòl term referring to a traditional communal living arrangement in Haiti, where extended families or neighbors live in close proximity, sharing resources and supporting one another.
Given this context, this event offers workshops throughout the day that will focus on addressing various aspects of healing within the Lakou, including workshops, vendors, modalities, DJ, a panel discussion and words from our keynote speaker, Dr. Nathalie Guillaume.
7000 Coils will DJ throughout the day.
Workshops (From 1-3:30 PM):
1 - 2 PM: Rhythm of the Drum led by Okai Musik - Explore Haitian drum patterns and its connection to the African Diaspora. (Participants are welcome to bring their own drum.)
2 - 2:30 PM: Mindful, Meditative, Movement led by Stephanie Pierre - A blended session of three types of yoga, Asana, Pranayama, and Dhyana. (Bring a yoga mat.)
2:30 - 3:30 PM: Haitian Dance led by Julio Jean - Haitian dance class will take you on a journey to the nanm, meaning “soul”.
Click below to learn more about each workshop.
Modalities (Throughout the Day):
Healing Happy Hour with Dr. Nathalie Guillaume - fosters holistic well-being and inner harmony for all who seek transformative wellness through acupuncture, herbal medicine, and the integration of Dr. Guillaume’s avant-garde musical concept “Vodou Alchemy”
Storytelling w/ Cuidate Collective & The Melanin Project - collective healing by sharing the intergenerational and societal ills within our community. This activity doubles as a conduit for cathartic release. (Journals and tea will be provided.)
Healing the Lakou Keynote & Panel Discussion (4-4:45 PM):
Panelists will focus on addressing various aspects of healing within the Lakou, which could include physical health, mental well-being, social cohesion, environmental sustainability, cultural preservation, and economic empowerment.
This is a holistic approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of various aspects of well-being and seeks to empower community members to take an active role in their own healing and development.
Moderator:
Dr. Nathalie Guillaume
Panelists:
Stephanie Pierre, The Melanin Project
Lalin St. Juste, 7000 Coils
Merelis Catalina Ortiz, Deep Routes
Arlene Casimir, Lakay Lune
Click below to learn more about each of our speakers.
Vendors (Throughout the Day):
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Of Haitian origin, born and raised in Switzerland, Tatiana is the director and choreographer of Passion Fruit Dance Company, a street dance theater and educational company she founded in 2016. The company has performed in venues such as The Guggenheim, ADF, The Apollo Theater, Summerstage, Jacob's Pillow, the New Victory Theater, BAAD!, Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival, 92Y, and abroad.
Teaching and mentoring since 2005, she developed her teaching method, "Technique Within Your Groove". She taught as adjunct professor and guest artist in several universities (Harvard, Mount Holyoke, the 5 colleges,Hunter college, Connecticut College, American University, Keene University etc.).She is currently adjunct professor at Springfield college and is also a faculty member of 92NY.
Tatiana recently started a new creative journey in the art of jewelry making, creating necklaces made out of crystals, rocks and stones. She creates unique intricate pieces, inspired by meaningful conversions, locations, moments, music, dance and loved ones. Tatiana will offer her art during "Healing the Lakou" with hope to bring to others as much inner peace as she feels while making them.
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Okai is a vocalist/percussionist who embodies all the music of the African Diaspora. Brooklyn born with Haitian descent young Okai was beating on anything that he could get his hands on to help his imagination grow. His ears became infected with the hard boom bap drum loops of Hip Hop, and roots music from the Caribbean. Those sounds led him on a musical path to find rock, Jazz, samba, salsa, rumba and pretty much anything that involves percussion. Okai began his path of percussion on the trap set playing for various churches. He then played Congas for his High School band for several years. Once he was introduced to the West African Djembe he concentrated on that for more than 10yrs.
Aside from being an accomplished percussionist and producer, Okai is also an achieved Emcee that has worked with various Artists and has a couple of solo albums "Deconstruction of the Mind" produced by Ayatollah and "Okai's Odyssey".
Okai's cultural background shaped him into being the full round artist he is today. He is Currently the lead singer and percussionist of Brown Rice Family who won “The Battle of the Boroughs” in NYC in 2012. Okai is also co-founder of Strings N Skins who are currently finishing an album to be released in the fall. He is an active percussionist in New York always sharing his voice and energetic rhythms.
Vending specially painted conch shells by Haitian Diasporic artists that visually represent the musical expression of Haitian Vodou rhythms and electronic music.
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Arlène Elizabeth Casimir is the owner of Lakay Lune which is a healing and wellness venture that honors her ancestral lineage. Lakay means home in Haitian Creole and Lune is the nickname that Arlène's mother gave her. Lune means moon in French. Arlène sees her healing and wellness venture as a sacred space to engage with her inner child.
Arlène comes from a long line of herbalists, people who had their hands in the dirt and who used herbs to make medicine. She pulls from a multitude of ancestors, loas, spirit guides, studies, research, and her grandmothers’ wisdom as well as her grandfathers’ courage to conjure healing products, events, and services for the body, mind, and soul.
Lakay Lune was established on February 1, 2020 with intuitive herbal loose teas, tea ceremonies, tea tastings, and meditation circles. Now it is expanding to represent the many healing modalities that Arlène incorporates in her life, practice, and teachings.
As a first-generation Haitian-American, Arlène recognizes the power of community, herbalism, literacy, and spiritual resilience to help others live with personal integrity, transcend their circumstances, and author their own lives.
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The Melanin Project is a boutique experiential and creative design agency specializing in the creation of culturally informed spaces and stories that inspire action. Not only do we create our own, but we also serve as creative placemakers - leveraging the power of compelling storytelling strategy to support the work of community based organizations, brands, and small businesses. We are especially eager to serve the BIPOC community.
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7000 Coils is a record label and holistic wellness movement rooted in the diaspora's ritualistic sound alchemy, with a focus on black and queer ownership. We amplify the voices of overlooked artists and are fueled by our ancestors as we pursue our wildest dreams. From nothingness, we carve new pathways and sound portals, bridging the past and present. Committed to illuminating the way for fresh beginnings, we defy & WE REBEL within the industrial complex OF OPPRESSION.
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Deep Routes is an educational project that uplifts the foodways of African and Indigenous diasporas via Workshops/Classes, Educational Materials, and Media. Their table will have copies of their latest multimedia publication An Manje: A Celebration of Haitian Foodways available for sale along with limited edition aprons and totes. Additionally, An Manje contributor Merelis Catalina will have her organic, essential oil based, and love-infused vapor rub Vidaporú for sale.
Lakay se Lakay
This event is part of CCCADI’s Lakay se Lakay.
Lakay se Lakay, which translates to Home is Home in Haitian Kreyòl is a year-long homage that celebrates the legacy of Haiti, Our Black Nation, Lakay se Lakay is a cultural odyssey through which we dedicate much of our programming. Using the lens of Haitian arts and scholarship, CCCADI explores home as a space for refuge, building family and community, preservation of traditions, a foundation for cultivating joy, and the roots of sovereignty.
You can support this work by making a donation to CCCADI. Help us advance Pan-Caribbean and Pan-African connections so that together we may build a brighter AfroFuture.