Luz Soliz The Curator of Garifuna Art Forms in New York City

By: Jos� Francisco �vila

As mentioned in a previous article, Garifuna dances were not originally intended for a stage where the audience sits in an auditorium and the dancers perform on a stage. The Waribagabaga Dance Group was the first dance troupe organized in Belize to seriously take on the challenge of arranging the dances and perform them on a stage without doing violence to the dances and the culture.

They set a very high standard that was enhanced by international exposure, which also demonstrated the universal appeal of Garifuna music and dance and inspired the formation of similar groups in other parts of the country, the neighboring countries and the United States.[1]

Luz Soliz

Among the groups that were formed in New York City, is Hamalali Wayunagu "voices of the ancestors" Garifuna Folkloric & Modern Dance Company, founded by Dancer Choreographer Luz Soliz in 1992. Her objective was to confront the erosion of the Garifuna Culture in the heart of modern day communities, while promoting the safeguarding of the Garifuna heritage. In the process she became the Curator of Garifuna Art Forms in New York City.

Luz Soliz has been a performing artist and dancer her whole life. Her specialty is the history of the Garifuna people and the practice of Garifuna music and dance. She migrated to the US at the age of fifteen; she holds a Bachelors Degree in Dance Performance and Drama from Bard College, and a Masters Degree in Dance from Teachers College at Columbia University Education.

She formed the Hamalali Wayunagu Garifuna Folkloric & Modern Dance Company in the Bronx to celebrate and preserve her Garifuna heritage. The company's diverse repertoire is aimed to expose, share, and teach audiences about Garifuna Culture Heritage and History through music, dance, and drama.

Hamalali Wayunagu Folkloric and Modern Dance Company is an inter-generational dance company whose mission is to reach out to the world and educate as many youngsters as possible in order to preserve the Garifuna culture. Its goal is to contribute to the preservation of the rich Garifuna Language, Music and dance. The company is known for its unique and innovative choreographies, as well as being the longest surviving dance company in New York City.

I met Luz in 1991 and remember when she organized the company with her sisters and other family as members. Over the past 20 years, I've seen her realize a very difficult task of, transition her cultural group to the Garifuna-American generation represented by her daughter Catherine Och�n Solis-Rey, her nieces, as well as other Garifuna youth, while the sisters and older family members serve as singers and mentors.

The Company has always aimed to expose, share and teach audiences about the Garifuna Culture, Heritage and History through music, dance and drama. They have a diverse repertoire of dances and have dazzled audiences over the course of their twenty years of existence, including "Dance Africa" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Council Chambers at City Hall, Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture among others.

Luz Soliz through Hamalali Wayunagu "voices of the ancestors" Garifuna Folkloric & Modern Dance Company has served as a curator of Garifuna art forms. She has promoted Garifuna cultural events with a view to confronting the erosion of the Garifuna culture in the heart of modern day communities, while promoting the safeguarding of the Garifuna heritage.

[1] UNESCO Candidature Standard FormProclamation of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity

Photo courtesy of Teofilo Colon, Jr.