by Kelly Broder
Special to the Reporter
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 photo
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.