Budari Dance Company

Tomรกs ร vila Providence, RI April 2017 UNESCO 2001Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

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Budari Dance Company, Inc. Budari Dance Company, Inc. was cofounded in New York City March 13, 2011 by its director and choreographer Yeny S. Palacios (Budari Isieni) who was born in Tegucigalpa Honduras on March 13, a former member of the global renowned National Ballet Folklorico Garifuna of Honduras as performer and Honduras Cultural Ambassador of the Garifuna cultural heritage values and artistic traditions and its world-wide manifestation, through the art of dance, theater and music expressions proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001 as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity led by Mr. Crisanto Armando Melendez (Wayujuru Saravanga) and Frank O. Palacios, born in New York City on January 24, 1973, to Garifuna parents and raised in Puerto Barrios, Izabal and Livingston Guatemala better known as Labuga, who started his career in New York City as a DJ and talent development manager who’s dream was learned about his Garifuna culture and spread its cultural richness at the highest levels.

In 2000, this outstanding artist becomes a member Nuwani Dance Company based in the Bronx New York, and in 2009, along with Mr. Carlos Norales (Bodoma) Felix Gamboa and other local talents cofounded Bodoma and Budari Garifuna Cultural Group, as choreographer and dancer, which today is known by the name of Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Folkloric Ballet of NY Budari Dance Company was founded primarily to teach the Garifuna traditions and values to the youth and to unite the immigrant Garifuna community through its cultural heritage. The company has performed such traditional dances as the Punta, culio, parranda, chumba, sambay, and wanaragua in various educational and cultural institutions along the East Coast. Budari is in existence to continue folkloric songs and dances of their ancestors. Its ancestral gift given 3

to its Director and Choreographer, Yeny S. Palacios (Budari Isieni) with the purpose of sharing the richness of the Garifuna culture with others and teaching our people the history of their origin. The spiritual power of the drums reaches the souls of the dancers, opening the doors of communication between the past and the present. It allows the company to keep the ancestral spirit alive.

Budari Dance Company includes experienced dancers and drummers.

Often, the musicians danced and the dancers sang. The dances, especially those for the women, emphasized pelvic swaying. But the men are also assigned quick little hopping steps. Elements like the choreography, singing, music, gaudy colors, use of masks, costumes, dance, gestures, coupled to the folkloric scene of a nation: the whole of a culture, its essence and national identity, where the main message is to tell a story that transcends and is strengthened over time. All those features defined in the Budari Dance Company, which opens its doors to all those who wish to witness artistic expressions that keep roots of this community.

With over 20 years of artistic work in the dissemination of dance and music in various global states and having participated in cultural performances in Europe, North Central and South America and the Caribbean, Budari Palacio proudly represents the Garifuna Cultural Heritage.

Budari Dance Company, Inc. fue cofundada en la ciudad de Nueva York el 13 de marzo del 2011 por su directora y coreógrafa Yeny Palacios (Budari Isieni) quien nació en Tegucigalpa, Honduras el 13 de marzo, una ex miembro del Ballet Nacional Folklorico Garifuna de Honduras una institucion de renombre mundial como bailarina y embajadora Cultural de Honduras de los valores del patrimonio cultural Garífuna y tradiciones artísticas y su manifestación en todo el mundo, a través del arte de las expresiones de danza, teatro y música proclamado por la UNESCO en 2001 como Obra Maestra del Patrimonio Oral e Inmaterial de la La humanidad dirigida por el Sr. 4

Armando Crisanto Meléndez (Wayujuru Saravanga) y Frank O. Palacios, nacido en Nueva York el 24 de enero de 1973, a padres garífunas y criado en Puerto Barrios, Izabal y Livingston Guatemala mejor conocido como Labuga, quien inició su carrera en Nueva York como un DJ y director de desarrollo de talentos. En el año 2000 está destacada artista formo parte del grupo Nuwani que tenía su sede en El Bronx New York. En el 2009 junto al Sr. Carlos Norales (Bodoma) Felix Gamboa y otros talentos forman el grupo que se llamó Bodoma and Budari Garifuna Cultural Group, desempañándose como coreógrafa y danzarina del grupo. Este grupo artístico hoy día se le conoce con el nombre de Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Folkloric Ballet of N.Y. Budari Dance Company fue fundada principalmente para enseñar las tradiciones y valores garífunas a la juventud y para unir a la comunidad de inmigrantes garífuna a través de su patrimonio cultural. La compañía ha realizado estas danzas tradicionales como la Punta, Culio, parranda, chumba, sambay y wanaragua en diversas instituciones educativas y culturales a lo largo de la costa este de los Estados Unidos.

Budari Dance Company existe para continuar las canciones folklóricas y danzas de sus antepasados. Su don ancestral dado a su directora y coreógrafo, Yeny Palacios (Budari Isieni) con el propósito de compartir la riqueza de la cultura garífuna con los demás y la enseñanza a nuestro pueblo de la historia de su origen. El poder espiritual del tambor llega a las almas de los bailarines, abriendo las puertas de la comunicación entre el pasado y el presente. Esto permite a Budari Dance Company mantener el espíritu ancestral vivo.

Budari Dance Company incluye bailarines y percusionistas de experiencia. A menudo, los músicos y bailarines bailan y cantan. Los bailes, especialmente los de las mujeres, destacan un balanceo pelvic, y los hombres también se les asigna rápidos pasos pequeños saltos.

Elementos como la coreografía, el canto, la música, los colores llamativos, el uso de máscaras, disfraces, bailes, gestos, junto a la escena folklórica de una nación: la totalidad de una cultura, su esencia y la identidad nacional, donde el mensaje principal es contar una 5

historia que trasciende y se fortalece con el tiempo. Todas esas características definidas en la Compañía de Danza Budari, que abre sus puertas a todos aquellos que deseen presenciar las expresiones artísticas que mantienen las raíces de esta comunidad.

Con más de 20 años de labor artística en la difusión de la danza y la música en varios estados globales y habiendo participado en actos culturales en Europa, Centro Norte y Sur América y el Caribe, Budari Palacio orgullosamente representa la Herencia Garifuna.

Objetivos El objetivo de los bailarines es llevar a nuestros publico por un viaje de regreso en el tiempo y la época de nuestros antepasados, en la isla de San Vicente y más tarde Roatan Honduras. Los espectadores se enbarcan en un viaje emocional a través de escenas históricas de la lucha garífuna y el patrimonio cultural.

Declaración de la Misión Nuestra misión es mantener el patrimonio cultural Garífuna a través de la expresión de la lengua, la danza, el teatro y la tradición espiritual.

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The Garifuna People The Garifuna people are the result of the fusion of two ethnic groups, one made of the Carib and Arawak indigenous people, and the other made up of the captive blacks who came from West Africa, namely from the (Gulf of Guinea. The fortuitous fact of the shipwreck of a vessel laden with captive blacks of the shores of St. Vincent, in the Lesser Antilles, together with gradual incorporation of runaway slave from other islands, brought about the encounter of two worlds, that of African and that of American indigenous people.

To this day, the Garifuna people still preserve their cultural legacy of those two worlds, fused within a new and unique culture that possesses its own language, religion, beliefs and legends, music and folklore, food and drink, visual arts, and all activities pertaining to survival, such as small scale fishing and agricultural system based on the cultivation of yuca, or manioc. Each of the aforementioned elements make the Garifuna culture a unique culture, and for this reason it must be respected. Its preservation in the countries in which they currently reside is a first priority task proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001 as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

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Vincy group hosts National Heroes Day celebration

By Nelson A. King

Despite the bitterly cold weather, the Brooklyn-based Garifuna Indigenous People of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Inc. (GIPSVG, Inc.) Saturday evening held a very successful 2nd Annual National Heroes Day celebration at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center in Brooklyn.

Hundreds braved the conditions to participate in the grand celebration that featured local handicraft, singing, dancing, drumming and poetry, as well as indulgence in local delicacies.

Many arrived early to secure their portions of dukuna, farine, cassava bread (chokee bam bam), tri tri cake, among other local Vincentian eats, according to GIPSVG, Inc. president Marsena Ballanyne.

“The event sought not only to remember Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, national hero of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but to inspire national pride, promote Vincentian heritage and provide patrons and visitors with a typical Vincentian National Heroes Day celebration,” Ballantyne, a Counsellor at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Mission to the United Nations, told Caribbean Life in an exclusive interview.

“A diverse line-up of performances in a packed program of entertainment was presented,” she added.

The highlights of the show included a Quadrille dance by the GIPSVG, Inc.; folklore performance by the United Vincie Cultural group of Brooklyn; Punta dance by the Budari Dance Company of Honduras; and surprise calypso rendition by newly-appointed St. Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General to the United States, Howie Prince.

Other artistes bringing the show to a climax were Chanique Rogers; James Lovell; Daria Primus; and Vincentian Calypso artiste, Maxwell “Tajoe” Francis, who also co-hosted the show and entertained in song and poetry.

But it was popular Vincentian soca artiste, Fya Empress, whose real name is Lornette Nedd, who brought the house down with dynamic 8

renditions of “True Vincy”; “Rum, Please” and “Ah Ketch it,” among others.

“The show was epic,” Ballantyne said. “The support that we continue to receive from the Consul General and other Vincentian associations here in New York was evident, and it’s something we very much appreciate.

“The event was a celebration of a Vincentian heritage that I think many here in the Diaspora are still learning about and embracing,” she added, stating that it is the intention of GIPSVG, Inc. to continue promoting it.

Meantime, the Bronx-based Garifuna Coalition, USA, Inc., a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization, said it was “proud to celebrate St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Heroes Day as part of Garifuna-American Heritage Month.”

The group invites the public to attend its 9th Annual Chief Joseph Chatoyer Memorial Mass, on Sunday, March 19, at 2 pm, at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 832 East, 166 St., Bronx.

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Garífunas en NYC celebran su cultura Este sábado se inicia el Mes de la Herencia Garífunaamericana MARITZA VILLELA 10 MARZO 2017

Al ritmo de los tambores, con bailes tradicionales y sabores de platos típicos, el grupo Budari Dance Company se adelantó con las primeras celebraciones del Mes de la Herencia Garífuna-americana en su evento llamado Machuca Party.

La música punta, propia de ellos, llenó el salón en donde los invitados disfrutaron de la machuca, un plato tradicional garífuna de caldo con leche de coco, plátano y mariscos.

“La base de nosotros es mantener y preservar la cultura para que no se pierda en nuestras próximas generaciones”, dijo Budari Palacios, una de las fundadoras de Budari Dance Company.

La originaria de Tegucigalpa, Honduras, junto a su esposo Frank Palacios, formó este grupo cultural hace seis años. Hoy en día, de acuerdo a la Coalición Garífuna de Nueva York, la ciudad de Nueva York “es la sede de la población garífuna más grande fuera de Centro América, con un estimado de 200,000 personas”.

En esta misma ciudad fue que comenzó el Mes de la Herencia Garífuna-americana en el 2009, recordando eventos importantes que marcaron a esta comunidad en fechas entre el 11 de marzo al 12 de abril.

“Uno de los puntos más importantes es la juventud,” dijo Budari, quien por medio de sus danzas y teatro honra a sus ancestros garífunas. “Primeramente debemos de preservar nuestro lenguaje y nuestra historia, para que nuestros hijos sepan de donde vienen, quienes son y para donde van.”

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Y es que los garífunas, tienen una cultura basada fuertemente en historia y tradiciones. Su lengua, danza y música fueron declarados por la UNESCO como parte del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad en el 2008.

Este grupo étnico viene del mestizaje de originarios de África y del Caribe en la isla de San Vicente, quienes en los 1600s se vieron obligados a huir de los británicos y se establecieron en la costa atlántica de Centro América, en los países de Honduras, Nicaragua, Belice y Guatemala.

“Es una cultura histórica, rica y única”, dijo José Francisco Ávila, presidente de la Coalición Garífuna de Nueva York, una organización que desde 1998 ha estado abogando por el grupo étnico y que, en el 2010, logró que su raza entrara en el censo de los Estados Unidos.

El Mes de la Herencia Garífuna-americana se debe a hechos que marcaron a esta comunidad. “El mes conmemora el exilio del pueblo garífuna, que comienza cuando los barcos salieron de San Vicente el 11 de marzo de 1797 y llegaron a Roatán, Honduras el 12 de abril de 1797,” explicó Ávila.

Dentro del mes, también se encuentra otra fecha clave. El 25 de marzo de 1990 ocurrió lo que se conoce como la masacre de Happy Land, en donde 87 personas, en su mayoría garífunas, perdieron la vida en el incendio del club nocturno Happy Land en El Bronx.

Actividades Garífuna Music Awards, el 8 de abril a las 9 p.m. en Maestros Caterer’s 1703 Bronxdale Avenue.

Abrazo Garífuna en Nueva York, organizado por el senador de Nueva York Rubén Díaz, el 17 de marzo a las 7 p.m. en Maestros Caterer’s 1703 Bronxdale Avenue.

Miss Garífuna, el 25 de marzo a las 6 p.m. en 220 West 121 St.

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Hispanic Heritage Month: The Berkshires host 19th annual Festival Latino

By Elizabeth Roman | eroman@repub.com September 20, 2014 Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated Nationally from Sept. 15-Oct. 15. In an effort to honor the contributions made

by Hispanics in our region MassLive.com will highlight events celebrating the month, as well as offer profiles of local Latino businesses, organizations and leaders.

LEE — A highlight of Latin dance, culture and food will all be a part of the 19th annual Festival Latino of the Berkshires which will take place this Saturday on Main Street in Lee. "This unique cultural event brings together people of all ethnicities to proudly celebrate and learn about Hispanic heritage. Each year the Festival continues to stand out as the consummate Latino American dance showcase and contribute to the cultural enrichment of local students in the Berkshire County school districts. Spanish language students from local high schools are encouraged to attend," said Liliana Ortiz-Bermudez who organizes the event held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church Park on Main Street.

The festival features Latin American folkloric dance companies and a variety of Latin American cuisine and crafts in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The festival is free of charge, alcohol free and open to the public.

Festivities kick off at 11 a.m. with the Hometown Parade down Main Street. This time the parade features an exceptional award-winning folkloric dance company Tambores Latinos, from Queens, New York, Ortiz-Bermudez said.

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The Festival will present The Guelaguetza celebration performed by El Grupo Folklorico de Poughkeepsie. This specific performance dates back long before the arrival of the Spanish and remains a defining characteristic of Oaxacan culture. It is the most famous indigenous gathering of its kind in Mexico.

Two of the most accomplished Folkloric Ballets in New York City come to participate in the celebration as well. Budari Dance Company co-founded by its director and choreographer Yeny S. Palacios, a former member of the global renowned National Ballet Folklorico Garifuna of Honduras. Budari Dance Company brings the spiritual power of the drums, reaches the souls of the dancers by opening the doors of communication between the past and the present, she said.

In Addition Tambores Latinos, the Colombian Folkloric Dance Group directed by Choreographer Elbert Lopez from New York City, will participate.

Among other local artists a Latin Dance Group from Springfield, Salsa con Clase, will participate.

After 9:30 p.m., the Festival will continue with a fundraising dance party at Bogies, South Main St., Great Barrington, featuring a live Latin Orquesta from New York City led by Toby Rivera a recording artist, with specialties as a bass player, all around percussionist, and musical producer.

Toby Rivera and his Orquesta featuring Salsa, Tropical Cumbias, Bachata & Merengue; Tickets are $20 and will help meet Festival expenses.

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Budari Dance Company to Perform at Bronx Week Parade “Bronx 100�

Budari Dance Company will be performing at the 2014 Bronx Week Parade at Mosholu Parkway South, on Sunday May 18th, 2014 starting at 11:00 PM. The meeting place is a Mosholu Parkway and Hull Avenue (Take BX 41 to Mosholu Pkwy) "Bronx Week is where we showcase the Borough's rich history, its institutions, and cultural diversity. This is an exciting time to be in The Bronx, especially this year as we celebrate the last 100 years," said Bronx Tourism Council Executive Director Olga Luz Tirado.

New York is home to the largest Garifuna Community outside of Central America, according to unofficial estimates, the Garifuna population exceeds 200,000, live there.

The Budari Garifuna Dance Company is led by choreographer Budari Isieni, former member of the world renowned Garifuna Folkloric Ballet of Honduras We invite the Garinagu people of New York City to join us in the parade to promote the Garifuna Heritage and Culture in New York.

On May 18th, 2001 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the first time awarded the title of "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangibles Heritage of Humanity," to 19 outstanding cultural spaces of forms of expression from different regions of the world. The Garifuna Language, Dance and Music were among those declared "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangibles Heritage of Humanity.

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State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. ABRAZO GARIFUNA 2014 Saturday, March 15, 2014 As he has done the past several years State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. has held an Abrazo Garifuna in honor of GarifunaAmerican Heritage Month. Over 500 people attended this year’s event that was held Friday night at Maestro's Caterers.

The elected officials on hand with Senator Diaz were Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda, Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, Congressman Charlie Rangel, State Senator Fernando Cabrera, Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, Councilwoman Maria Del Carmen Arroyo, Civil Court Judge candidate Brenda Rivera, and others who stopped in.

After there was an award reorganization of the four honorees there was a fabulous dance performance in which several audience members joined in with the Budari Dance Company.

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