Diversifying the contemporary dance landscape since 2014

Photo of dancer Joyce Edwards performing during the January work in progress show for Griot.
Photo: Cameron Ousley. Dancer Joyce Edwards

FREE IN-PROGRESS SHOWING

Rejoice is excited to share our work-in-progress for our upcoming production - GRIOT. You can help us shape this work by attending and providing feedback! Come with a curious open mind. We’ll be testing scenic designs, costumes, lights, choreography and more.

  • Sunday, June 1, 2025
  • 4:30pm doors | 5pm showing
  • Reed College Performing Arts Building
  • RSVP required

To premiere in fall 2025.

RSVP Here

2025 Production - GRIOT

This project examines the role of griots. As keepers of oral tradition, they significantly impact their communities, lineages, and cultures. We are exploring how this living archive of tradition exists in a diasporic context. Through movement, music, and text, we will connect the West African griot to Black elders in the Diaspora. We aim to create a dance that merges history with the present. One that highlights the living history of the griot. This show will draw connections between artistic communities in Senegal, Brazil, and the United States. We will shine a light on the diversity of Black communities in Oregon and around the world.

To premiere in fall 2025.

Photo: Jingzi Photography | Design: MGalen Design
Co-creators Oluyinka Akinjiola and Michael Galen dancing, weaving through the word Griot.

2024 Dance Fashion Show Recap

What an amazing night! Our first ever dance fashion show was an incredible success. Set in the sunken ballroom of the Portland Art Museum, everyone left with hearts full and cheeks throbbing.

Video by Man the Cam Media

Art as Activism

Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater seeks to diversify the contemporary dance landscape with untold stories and under-told perspectives of communities of color. Grounded in values from the African Diaspora we use our art as activism. Rejoice! celebrates and cultivates community through artistic engagement, performances, and dialogue, weaving stories of hardship and triumph.

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