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Moonlight Tales: Caribbean Sounds

Outdoor Storytelling & Live Music for Adults

with Lucrèce Louisdhon-Louinis & Louinès Louinis, Caridad de la Luz "La Bruja," Derek Burrows and Jamaican Folk Revue!  

Listen to storytellers and performers of the Caribbean Diaspora tell colorful stories from their ancestral lands.

Let rhythmns and voices transport you to a warm tropical night by the water.

7-7:30 pm - An outdoor reception with steeplan music. 

8-10 pm - Moonlight Tales  

Moonlight Tales, presented Broward County Library, is a free, rain-or-shine event with registration required.

• The event is held at Fort Lauderdale Woman's Club, 20 S Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
• A bartender will be selling a signature rum drink (tropical punch), and white and red wine; 2 drinks for $10.00 (cash and cards accepted).
• Parking is available in the Riverwalk Center Garage across the street or on the street (metered). 
• Seating is available; you are welcome to bring your own seat(s) if you prefer. 

#moonlighttales

• Lucrèce Louisdhon-Louinis is a storyteller, dancer, librarian, and Director of the Louinès Louinis Haitian Dance Theater and Dance-A-Story, Inc. Her performances are marked by a vivacious and enchanting style that incorporates ethnic dance, stories and rhythm.  Her storytelling repertoire includes Haitian, Caribbean and African folklore and songs. "Lucrèce’s storytelling is spellbinding,” said one parent at a recent storytelling show at a Long Island bookstore. Adults and children alike are captivated and become involved through her contagious enthusiasm for group participation. She has performed Nationally at venues such as Wertheim Performing Arts Center, North Miami Beach Julius Littman Performing Arts Theater, Little Haiti Cultural Center, American Museum of Natural History, New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, Broward County Libraries and the Miami-Dade Public Library. Internationally, she has performed at such prestigious events as Toronto Storytelling Festival, Canada; Dublin City Library Multicultural Day, Ireland; Library Board of Accra Cultural Exchange, Ghana and at the Bibliothèque Méjanes’s Bookfest in Aix En Provence, France.

• Louinès Louinis is a choreographer, dancer, musician, folklorist, founder and artistic director of The Louinès Louinis Haitian Dance Theater. His most important task is preserving the traditions and folklore of Haitian dances and rituals. He is recognized as a living treasure in the Haitian Diaspora, having taught, performed and choreographed Haitian dance for over fifty years. 

• Caridad de La Luz "La Bruja" is a multifaceted performer who is nominated for an Emmy (Script Writer of “Legacy of Puerto Rican Poetry” - Cultural Short Segment that aired on ABC). As of January 2022, she became the newly appointed Executive Director of the NUYORICAN POETS CAFE where she began her career in 1996.  Winner of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship 2019-2020 and a 2021 David Prize finalist, Caridad balances a career of activism, education and art with performances in successful Off-Broadway musicals such as I LIKE IT LIKE THAT and BETSY as the title role. She raps, acts, sings, hosts, recites, dances, does stand up comedy, writes plays/poems/songs/scripts and teaches others how to do the same. She has been one of America's leading spoken word poets for over 20 years and has received the Puerto Rican Women Legacy Award, The Edgar Allan Poe Award from The Bronx Historical Society and was honored as A Bronx Living Legend by The Bronx Music Heritage Center. She was presented with a Citation of Merit from The Bronx Borough President and named “Top 20 Puerto Rican Women Everyone Should Know”. NY Times called her a “Juggernaut" after the first off-Broadway run of her original musical BOOGIE RICAN BLVD. where she played 7 different characters. Her acting career has taken her from stage to film: appearing in numerous movies such as BAMBOOZLED, DOWN TO THE BONE, EL VACILON and GUN HILL ROAD. Internationally introduced to the world in Russell Simmons’ DEF POETRY JAM on HBO, her career has spanned musically and her Hip Hop albums can be found on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube under the titles: BRUJALICIOUS and FOR WITCH IT STANDS. Since 2015, she has been cultivating her own art space in the Soundview section of The Bronx called EL GARAJE on the ancestral lands of the Siwanoy Nation once called Snakapins. Along with Pepatian.org where she has been a co-director and consultant since 2019, they have just celebrated their 5th annual Bronx Indigenous Futurisms gathering at Clason Point and have co-produced La Bruja’s new one-woman show FROM POOR TO RICO which includes original music and visuals of Puerto Rico in the 1970s. 

• Derek Burrows is a master storyteller of the oral tradition of the Bahamas. He is a co-founder of the Mirror of Race project. Derek is also a filmmaker, his current feature length film, “Before the Trees Was Strange”, was released in 2016 and is used in higher education settings to talk about Race and Culture. As a storyteller, Derek specializes in Afro-Caribbean and African Diaspora tales; he has been “telling” for over three decades nationally and internationally. Derek’s work as a performer, artist, and digital technician, as well as his life-story as an immigrant to America facing the question of race, provide the inspiration for this project. Derek was born in the Bahamas where storytelling was a vital part of the cultural tradition. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and for 32 years performed with the International music group Voice of the Turtle, specializing in music of the Sephardic Jews. The Sephardim were expelled from Spain in 1492. The four member group has traveled the world performing and has 12 recordings of this distinctive genre. Derek has also performed in many countries as a solo classical guitarist, flutist and singer. One of four storytellers, Derek was invited to the first National Book Festival sponsored by the White House and First Lady Laura Bush. Derek performs in many settings from schools (K – College) and libraries to Museums, corporate functions and community settings. He regularly presents at Storytelling Festivals around the world, most recently translating his works and performing in Spanish in Argentina and Mexico. Derek’s singular style is filled with textures and colors, whether telling stories, playing music, leading workshops or presenting original works. Weaving together flights of the imagination with tones and rhythms, his dynamic presentations re-affirm the power of words and the commonly loved language of music. A true native of the Bahamas, he carries on the tradition of entertaining and educating wherever he goes, whomever he meets.

• Musical performance by Jamaican Folk Revue. The Jamaican Folk revue was founded by Mrs. Norma Darby in 1975 with their mission of Edutainment (Educating while entertaining), Over the years they have made an invaluable contribution to the preservation and dissemination of Jamaican Folkloric traditions, through concerts, workshops, and lecture demonstrations, They have been showcased  on major TV channels and newspapers such as WPBT and the sun Sentinel among others, The group has a repertoire of over 350 songs, including folk songs of other Caribbean countries and Afro American patriotic songs and spirituals. The dynamism, creativity and diversity of this dedicated and talented group continue to inspire its audiences  with pride and unity in the Jamaican diaspora ,preserving and Jamaica`s rich cultural heritage for future generations. 

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Fort Lauderdale Libraries and Grace Foods.  

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