Afro-Modern Performance Celebrates Heritage through Artistic Expression

Story and Photos by Shawniece Mitchell Data News Weekly Contributor Artistic Director Kai Knight and the Dancers of “Breathe” a Kai Knight Dance Collective delivered a moving performance of contemporary Afro-modern dance titled “Ori: Journey Within.” The performance also marked the Anniversary for the Silhouette Dance Ensemble, housed through Seasons Center, which hosts a collective of dance and performance groups. “We’re celebrating 15 years of dancing with Silhouette [Dance Ensemble], so I am very proud, and we have a lot of big things still coming up,” said Knight, the Founder, Executive Director, and Artistic Director of the Seasons Center which provides dance and performing programs across the city. The performance held at the Andre Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice on Bayou Road took place on Jan. 20th. with dancers from several colleges and in the community. “Ori: Journey Within” used movement to find one’s spiritual center, incorporating techniques of African dance movement with contemporary and modern dance. “I didn’t think it was just beautiful, you all showed vulnerability by really going into places of pain, of suffering, of being desperate, of being stuck. I mean I saw the whole human depth in this, and that’s why it...