BY TANYANIKA SAMUELS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, September 29th 2011, 4:00 AM



Video still courtesy BronxNet

Sita Frederick, choreographer and artistic director for Areytos, at a rehearsal for the "Batey y Macorix: Senderos de Carbon" performance at Hostos Community College.

Two Afro-Caribbean dance traditions from the sugar farms of the Dominican Republic converge on stage this weekend at the Repertory Theater at Hostos Community College.

In "Batey y Macorix: Senderos de Carbon," dancers and musicians take on gagá and guloya.

Characterized by energetic drumming and colorful costumes, gagá and guloya were first popularized by Haitian and West Indian migrant workers who harvested sugar cane in the San Pedro de Macoris region of the Dominican Republic.

For choreographer Sita Frederick, "Batey y Macorix" is a study of how cultures converge and differ.

"I want to open a dialogue about Dominican identity, what it is and what it isn't," said Frederick, artistic director of Areytos Performance Works.

The hour-long show - which features original works by musician Desmar Guevara and dancer Genaro Ozuna - includes nine traditional and contemporary dances, as well as poetry and musical performances.

It is part of the ongoing Young Roots Performance Series at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, which features emerging artists experimenting with various Afro-Latino art traditions.

The series has really helped bring young artists together, said Project Director Jane Gabriels.

"We didn't want it to be just two nights of performances and that's it," Gabriels said. "We wanted the artists to form a true network that would help move them forward into other things."

"Batey y Macorix: Senderos de Carbon" runs tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Repertory Theater, Hostos Community College, 450 Grand Concourse.

Tickets are $15 ($7 for students and seniors). For more information, call (718) 518-4455.

Art retrospective

The works of Spanish artist Antoni Muntadas goes on display today at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

"Muntadas: Information \>\>Space\>\>Control" explores the artist's fascination with how information is spread and how it shapes public opinion and political events.

The exhibit also features an installation called "On Subjectivity," which includes five Bronx photographs and invites visitors to write their own captions. Each day, the museum will put some of these captions on display.

"Muntadas: Information \>\>Space\>\>Control" is on display through Jan. 15 at the Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse. For more information, visit bronxmuseum.org.

A novel debut

Charles Rice-González, who heads BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, has penned his first novel, "Chulito".

Published by Magnus Books, the book will be released Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day.

"Chulito" is billed as a coming-of-age love story about a Latino man who falls for his best friend, and the one of the first novels to detail gay Puerto Rican experiences in the city.

Rice-González will hold a book signing and reading at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at Barnes and Noble, Broadway at 82nd St. in Manhattan.

tsamuels@nydailynews.com



Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/09/29/2011-09-29_dancers_exploring_converging_cultures_at_hostos.html#ixzz1Zp3KlksT

"I want to open a dialogue about Dominican identity, what it is and what it isn't," said Frederick, artistic director of Areytos Performance Works.

I hate it when people make blanket statements about what is Dominican identity, using a foreign influenced, regional cultural phenomena and calling it "Dominican" as though it were an all-encompassing, one size fits identity for the majority of Dominicans.

guillermone, I understand your point of view.
I feel the same way; It seems that many non-criollos (and 'hijos de Quisqeyanos') are hung up on what being a Quisqueyano is. I don't understand the obsession with this issue. Our identy is a complex matter. We are a people, but not an homogeneous ethnic group. I hate to be simplistic, but: Our people are like a box of crayons, many shades, hues, colors, etc. We are not a people that can be explained in a college level discusion session, or a semester course.

With all due respect to Sita;
Ms. Frederick wants to know about our identity, it's certainly isn't Afro-Cuban. Our history is much older than theirs. We are Native, European and African immigrants in various degrees. We are a microcosm of what the western hemisphere is; A point where east met west - where cultures collided, then blended to produce a people who can not be pigeonholed into a singular ethnic classification. We are the world! WE are only humans that speak Spanish...with SOME missing letters... The original Hispanics from Hispaniola.

Why are folks fixated with our identity? If you want to know you may want to learn our history; Start at 1492 if you like?

NOW let's look at an article with "Sita Fredrick" of Areytos Performance Works (AREITO is Arawak for religious song dance ritual):


Sita Frederick

Artistic Director

(Areytos Performance Works)

Choreographer

Performer

Teacher




When it comes to Sita I have four words .... Watch the video below!

Areytos Performance Works and Metamovements have recently started an Afro-Caribbean Drum, Dance Class & Social on Second Sundays from 2-6 pm

The purpose of ¡TAMBÓ! Afro-Caribbean Drum, Dance Class & Dance Social is to celebrate and practice traditional Caribbean dance, song and percussion.

~Coming Up~

December 12th ¡TAMBÓ PA SHANGO!

January 9th ¡TAMBÓ PA ESHÚ!

Harlem Dance Foundation

Everyone is welcome!!!!


Source: http://in-spire.squarespace.com/

I agreed with you Guarocuya. You have clearly expressed my sentiments and the sentiments of many Dominicans. The DR unlike few places around the world is both a complex melting pot and a mixed salad bowl of cultures, races and ethnic identities, so little is understood and the reason why it has inspired much curiosity and remains controversial.

guillermone: That's what I've experienced for the last umpteen years since I left Santo Domingo. People were so amazed at what I am; Especially the Cubans who mostly considered themselves first generation Spaniards born in the Tropics; To a lesser degree the folks from Borinquen who just took me in as one of their own, treated me like family, shared their homes and lives with me; except for an occasional 'negrito' or "you guys speak funny"...Other than that the other groups in NYC were not all hung up on what I was: They knew I wasn't from here, and that was it. Los Morenos were ambivelent towards me since they said I was light skinned with good hair, wanted to be white, but could dance, play ball, and dress like a pro. Not for nothing, but I commend Sita or anyone else that endeavors to educate others about our history, our culture and traditions. However, I refuse to be relagated to a sub-group of another immigrant group. No somos Cubanos, menos Afro-Cubanos. Ni Boricuas... Somos Quisqueyanos Antillanos.

I remember when I was a teenager making little DR flags cutout from adhesive bandage and attach them to blank dog tags, when it became fashionable to display black liberation (red, black and green), and Puerto Rican flag dog-tags on a chain aroung the neck. You see I have always been proud of my heritage, that's the way I was raised; I could never hide behind any other ethnicity. I must be true to myself since I can fool some people, but can't lie to myself.

Achieving our national heritage has been an arduous task. Why would anyone want to just try to explain it away with foreign or strange labels? African Diaspora, Afro-Caribeean...
We are that plus Native Quisqueyanos Tainos, a noble race that was thought to be extinguished but lives (of many of us) on in our veins, in our faces, in our language; Also a myriad of European immigrants and refugees, Canary Islanders, Spaniards, Frenchmen, Dutch, German, Sephardic Jews, Arabs and Palestinians, Chinese, and even Japanese. Along with many other people from neighboring countries like Haiti, the Virgin Islands, the Turks and the Caicos, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, Curacao, and the lesser Antilles. So, we are all the above. More than just one little label.


The Hostos thing is a plus in my book. Great to hear about these events. BTW, Hostos for which this institution is named , himself loved our nation and contributed immensely to the education of our peoples after the ravages of the Haitian occupations. Hostos lived and died, then was buried in Quisqueya where his remains are until Borinquen is free.



It's a beautiful thing to learn about our history; young people pass the word along we are a great people with no need to envy anyone. "Somos herederos de una historia llena de llucha y de logros".
-Just ask anyone who knows history who our people are... Olvidate del Tango.

How about when one speaks and they are told harshly you speak like a Dominican!!! Well what the heck do you think i am? I happen to be a meztizo Dominican which according to D.R standards i would be in the white category.

4ever:
The issue here is not what people think about us. It's rather what some people who don't know our pedigree who are perplexed by us. Our culture is much more than white features among us. I have blond relatives, but, I'm not impressed by whiteness, or by blackness. What I was observing in Sita's article is that she wants to open a dialogue about what Dominicans are...

AS I looked at her article I noticed the name Areytos which is Taino, then I watched the video and I see headlines mentioning Afro-Cuban...That's my point, Mirabal....We aren't Cubans or Afro-Cubans...
If Ms. Frederick is going to find out about "US" she must know what we are not, before she learns what we are.

So you say you speak with a DR accent? Eso son aiguno!
I speak like a person from the Capital, where I was born . If people confuse me for Puerto Rican, a Cuban, Venezuelan, Panamanian, or Colombian from the Caribbean. So what? I know where I came from, I don't front a false image, and know my roots.

Yes, just like the rest of the Americas-- in our country you have representatives of the 3 races: Brown, Black and White. In our nation we have a larger mix between the three, but, there are many predominantly Blacks as well as primarily Caucassian. However, my focus is not that at this juncture, M. It's rather 'bout dispelling myths about who we are not, .. entiendes hermano?

I'm Brown, Black and White. That's not my qualm here, though...
I'm not Cuban even though I may have eaten 'ropa vieja' o me guste el danzon!