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Join us for virtual screening and panel discussion of Jamaica’s latest Dancehall documentary, Out There Without Fear. Hear from the native Jamaican filmmaker, Joelle Powe, and the documentary participants who will be calling in from Kingston, Jamaica. Choreographer, Latonya Style, has traveled to more than 40 countries teaching Jamaican culture. Dance advocate and lecturer Maria Hitchins articulates the evolution of Jamaican dance and class struggles for Jamaican dancers. Sign onto Zoom for a rich multidisciplinary discussion on classism, pigmentism, blackness, sexuality, cultural preservation, and censorship in Jamaican arts. 

Joelle Powe is the director, writer, and conceptualizer of Out There Without Fear: Jamaica’s Dancehall. She is a visual anthropologist, researcher, and filmmaker out of Kingston, Jamaica at Bard College. Powe’s essay “How Jamaica’s Dancehall documents the everyday life and cultural identity of underprivileged youth” won an award at an international humanities conference at Smolny College in Russia. She was inspired to make a visual representation of the thesis. Following the release of Out There Without Fear, her visual work with Dancehall and extended discussions around the culture has brought her to conferences and universities around the world.

Latonya Style is a Jamaican cultural star. She has been dancing since her conception in the womb and streamlined into Dancehall in 1999. Latonya has traveled to more than 40 countries teaching Dancehall Dance. She founded DanceJa in 2006 and opened Dance Jamaica Academy Limited in 2012. Latonya is the original creator of the licensed dance style and brand: Stylish Moves. Her dream for Dance Jamaica Academy Limited is to provide an internationally recognized umbrella agency that sends Jamaican dancers abroad and facilitates events and tours in Jamaica. Since the pandemic, she has been offering Dancehall lectures and workshops online to a global fanbase.

Maria Hitchins is a cultural catalyst, international dance lecturer, and founder of an award-winning dance advocacy network called Dancers of Jamaica. Her artistic journey began as a dancer turned choreographer and later served as a producer for various dance events and TV productions. She is an adjunct dance lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where, in 2015, she introduced the first accredited Dancehall dance course. This achievement forms part of her thrust to enhance the visibility, respectability, and opportunities for Jamaica's Dancehall Dancers. Her thesis for her Masters of Philosophy in Cultural Studies is titled Dutty Wining in the New Millennium: Jamaica’s Street Dancers Negotiating While Navigating Local and Global Challenges."

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Experimental Ethnography.