Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company

Iris Rosa Santiago, Director

Choreography by Iris Rosa Santiago in collaboration with the dancers

Costumes, Photography & Projections by Kelvin Burzon

Graphic Design by Kelvin Burzon & Hannah Crane

Music & Audio Editing by Hannah Crane

Featuring guest performance by Allure Dance & Fitness Salsa Pro Team, Directed by Ashley Donaldson

Part I: Opening the Doors

Bara su  wayo  omo  (n) ya la wana

Vital force who far and wide appears;

Child that separates splits and divides the road

Ko mama kena   irawo  e

Do not cut the Initiates  mat of goodness

O Bara wayo  Eke e Esu   Odara -  omo  (n) yalawa na

Vital force who comes to deliver (us), Forked Stick

Esu performer of wonders

Child that separates splits and divides the road

Ko mama kena   irawo e

Do not cut the Initiate’s mat of goodness

Musician: Andre Rosa-Artis

Dancer: Jayna Ratcliff

Music: “Elegua” by Okonkolo

Part II: Desplegando el Camino / Unfolding the Path

Owner of all roads, the crossroads, opens and closes doors to the pathways of our lives.

You who guards the entrances and exits of the earth,

the roads that cross, the winds that blow, the eyes that see all corners of the world.

Elegua pregunta

quales son los caminos en tu vida?

Which pathways are the ones in your life

and have you ever asked yourself why you follow a certain camino or pathway?

The garabato, hooked stick, that separates the bush to clear the path.  

Setting eyes ahead and not looking back,

reaching to the heavens for illumination

Dancers: Entire company

Music:  “Alumbanche – traditional” by Pan Afrikan Dance Ensemble

Part III: Living in the Crossroads

Living in the crossroads

Is it temptation, tragedy, opportunity, influence, or trust?

Ambitions, success, curiosity or is it just us looking for that pathway that illuminates our desires, needs or diversions.

Can we find gratitude, grace, and growth?

A new awakening, for freedom, and safety lives in finding the road to

your destiny and fate

Dancers: Entire company

Music: “Tomorrow Never Comes” by Rishi & Harshil

Part IV: Fate and Destiny

Ayudame encontrar mi camino

Help me find the pathway best suited for me. 

Help me find the pathway best suited for me. 

Obatala, creator of wisdom, mentor me 

Oya, help me survive the tempest. 

as I dream of new beginnings and the realms of possibilities

Dancers: Camille Beck, Kelvin Burzon, Hannah Crane, Cherese Dillman, Amelia Smith, Jiang Xu 江凝旭 

Music: “Elegua (A Prayer for The Children)” Featuring Gregorio Bento, Gwen Bunn, Nick, Hakim & William Gittens

Part V: Ibeji

Ibeji

Twins

Duality of humans

One spirit, two bodies that can be

compatible, cooperative, obliging 

One spirit, two bodies that can be

Opposites like

Day and night

Right and left

Up and down

Strong and weak

Independent and interdependent

One cell split into two but share the essence of Ibeji, you both are connected.  Representing two sides of living

Elegua, Elegua, you are the combination of opposites, but you also are the balance of opposing forces.

Come retrieve your children and teach them how to be stable and maintain equilibrium between the two sides of the looking glass.

Dancers: Entire Company

Music: “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku:  Ku-Ka-Ilimoku for Percussion” by The Concordia Orchestra & Marin Alsop

Part VI: Ancestors

I had a dream.  I was in the clouds.

Elegua on one side of me and one of my ancestors on the other side of me

The road opened for safe passageway.

Our ancestors, through their experience, they leave us history, because they have walked this earth and now want to guide us through the pathways.

We sing, we dance to invoke the spirits of those who have left us gifts.

These gifts are a testament to what we can do with their guidance and counseling to keep their spiritual essence alive

What do ancestors mean to you. 

How do you connect with your ancestors?

Dancers: Allure Dance & Fitness Salsa Pro Team - Ashley Donaldson, Amanda Martinez, Kiara Rodriguez-Nuñez, Joely Santiago

Music: “Flor de Mayo” by Celia Cruz

Part V: Finding the Way

Each decision that you make comes with consequences.  It’s free will.

Have you made your decision on one which road to take?

Life is a balance, the yin and the yang.

Opposites

Anger and happiness, the low and the high, lo bueno y lo malo, the good and the bad

Puertas abriertas……Find the open doors and look for harmony to create your own purpose in life.

Elegua, guardian of the crossroads, will be present to lead and help you navigate your chosen camino to your limitless possibilities in life.

Dancers:  Entire Company and Allure Dance & Fitness Salsa Pro Team

Music: “Elegua” by Nic & N’Taya

Cast Bios - Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company

Guest Bios - Allure Dance & Fitness Salsa Pro Team

Director’s Notes, Iris Rosa Santiago

I am a Professor Emerita in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University and former director of the Indiana University African American Dance Company (1974–2017). I founded Iris Rosa Dance Studio and Seda Negra/Black Silk Dance Company in Indianapolis in 2022. My dance background is in contemporary modern dance, jazz, and various dance traditions from Africa, Caribbean, and South America.  My specializations include teaching dance techniques, history, and choreography from the perspective of the African American and African Diaspora.  My creative work bridges contemporary modern dance, jazz, and African Diaspora dance forms and styles to create new artistic works that speak to cultural, historical, political, and social issues.

 “Cruces/Intersections” is a seven-part choreographic piece that centers Elegua, an Orisha of Ifa, an African spiritual system of the Yoruba people that was syncretized in the New World with the Catholic religion during the slave trade. Orishas are spirits/saints that play an important role in the African Diaspora, in Caribbean and Latin American countries, and is a spiritual system that is tied to nature. This work centers on what happens when people reach the crossroads and will illustrate symbolically what happens when we go down one chosen road as opposed to another.  I aim to engage audiences in relatable stories about navigating different pathways in life.  Do we walk alone and select our path?  Do we follow others in the path, or do others follow an individual?  There will be a mixture of contemporary modern and jazz dance expression and several movements inspired from the traditional dance expression of the Orisha Elegua, as well as using the garabato as a symbol in modern times. 

Orishas are spirits/saints that play an important role in the African Diaspora, in Caribbean and Latin American countries, and is a spiritual system that is tied to nature.  In this pantheon of saints, Elegua is the Orisha of the crossroads, of chance and uncertainty, a trickster and lurks in doorways and gateways.  There is specific music, colors, and tools that describe each Orisha’s personality and designated job.  The tool that Elegua utilizes is called a garabato, which is a hooked stick that is used in the dance to symbolize the spreading of the bush to open roads.  There will be repeated patterns, connections, re-connections to illustrate what does it mean to cross paths with others or by oneself.  My questions of crossroads also focus on the individual and collective. 

As an Afro Latina/Puerto Rican woman, I create works to which audience members can relate. I think it is imperative to bring new audiences to view creative dance expressions to see themselves represented in the story. I chose the title “Cruces/Intersections” which is partly in Spanish to speak to my heritage and many others in the Latino community.  In addition, it is important to be inclusive of the city’s Black and Brown population to encourage dialogues about their own lived experiences, which can be achieved through artistic mediums such as the dance discipline. This causes me to continue to be innovative to produce works that speak to human nature, as well as the historical, cultural, political, social, and racial perspectives that we encounter daily.