New York.- Junior high and high school students from the tri-state area have been invited to perform Elizabeth Swados’s Sosúa: Dare to Dance Together, a musical based on historical events that follows the plight of 800 Jewish refugees fleeing from repression to the Dominican Republic. Selected songs from Sosúa will be performed at the United Nations on January 27 at 11am as part of the 2012 observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of Holocaust victims. Free tickets are available at http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2012/calendar2012.html.

The history that brings together Jews and Dominicans together starts in 1938 at the Evian Conference when Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, offered to accept 800 German- and Austrian-Jews seeking refuge. The Dominican government granted visas, enabling them to settle in the coastal town of Sosúa from 1940 to 1945. The government provided the refugees with land and resources, but the intent behind Trujillo’s invitation is often viewed as his attempt to "whiten" the predominantly mixed race nation.

Sosúa: Dare to Dance Together, the musical, continues the history. Entering its third year, this season’s performance is directed by George Drance, a Catholic priest, Jesuit, who currently serves as an Artist-in-Resident at Fordham University Lincoln Center with musical development coordinated by Stephanie Wells. Victoria Neznansky, Chief Program Officer of the YM-YWHA is coordinating marketing, and agency support for the production. In addition to the original music and dialogue composed by Swados, the 2012 edition of Sosúa will also include monologues composed by the current cast of teen performers.

The Sosúa cast rehearses every Monday at the Y auditorium located at 54 Nagle Avenue in New York City. You can view a clip of last year’s show by visiting http://www.ywashhts.org/teen_musicaltheater.php.

AT A GLANCE

Composer and Creator: Elizabeth Swados

Cocept :Victoria Neznansky

Director: George Drance

Musical Director: Stephanie Wells

Cast: 19 junior high and high school students from the tri-state area.

FUTURE PERFORMANCE DATES

Jan 29 Museum of Jewish Heritage

March 4 Philadelphia National Museum of Jewish Heritage

March 12 92ndStreet Y

April 22 YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood