Dance for Haiti

Having sufficient training in Haitian dance, modern/contemporary, and experience in other professional African diasporic forms, Dr. Celia Weiss Bambara doesn't fall into the typical box that most professors do.

Bambara works under the African American Studies Department as a Postdoctoral Fellow and she seems to enjoy what she does.

She says, "I decided to go into a master's degree in dance at UCLA."

Bambara had previous dance experience before college-mainly in Modern. It wasn't until a close friend convinced her to take a Haitian dance class that she realized how much she loved the art form.

"I got involved by a good friend of mine, a dance artist from all over, who taught Cuban, Brazilian, and African; I was a dancer already, but I got to college and wanted to get serious about my studies," she says, "My family was very serious about education."

"My family didn't know what I was doing; they of course loved me, but [they] didn't know dance studies was a field," she says.

Dr. Bambara is an active person and her work outside the classroom is mostly directed towards Haiti and Chicago.

As a trained dance artist, she has had the opportunity to work with dance companies such as JAKA, which is in Haiti, and Martin Dancers, in Los Angeles, but these are only a few. Her work has been shown in Los Angeles, Chicago, Iowa, Haiti, and Cuba. Her work doesn't end here, though. She and her partner, Christian Bambara, decided in 2006 to form the CCBdance Project, which is an African based?contemporary dance company.

"I met Christian at a friend's wedding where we both danced solos; it was interesting because I later found out that he was an African contemporary dancer," says Bambara.

Christian Bambara helped push Celia to make her dreams happen. She had always wanted to start her own company, but it wasn't until she met her husband to be that she actually went through with the process.The two collaborated well-he brought his modern and contemporary Caribbean and African dance to the table, and she brought her modern and contemporary Haitian dance (along with others).

Dr. Bambara first got interested in Diasporic studies when she started college at UCLA. Her BA is in Anthropology from Occidental College. Besides an MA in dance, she has received her Ph.D in dance history and theory from the University of California Riverside. She tries to link race theory, cultural studies, and diaspora studies into her dancing.

The recent devastation that occurred in Haiti has affected her. "I do what I can do, I perform," she says. Bambara does a lot of fundraisers and events to raise money for the relief effort. Feb. 26-27 she had an event at the Epiphany Episcopal Chicago. The show contained solos from different African contemporary artists.

One of the organizations that she is dedicated to is Haiti Soleil, which is an organization that focuses on building and developing libraries, and educational institutions that help create a cultural exchange among Haitians.

Regarding the current budget crisis and the mandatory furlough days at the university, Bambara, fortunately, hasn't been affected directly, since she is a Postdoctoral fellow, however, she is hurting since she is still "on the market."

"I'm very lucky to have a postdoc. but I am on the market and there are no jobs," she says.

She believes that this is a crucial time for the community to work together and that everyone has to be thrifty. "This problem is nation wide; faculty has to help students more; they need to direct them into stable career paths," she says.

Many people have concerns for UIC's future, and students, professors, and faculty alike all have different outlooks on the status of the university down the road. In about three years Bambara hints that she'd like to see UIC with dance classes. "People always ask me, "Where do you teach dance at UIC?" She would like to see things get better for the future.

Despite being a successful young woman, she too faces challenges. "Initially, people question my ethnicity; they think I'm a Latina because I'm dark enough," she says.

As a Jewish woman focused on African based dance, she says: "I want to bridge the gap and allow artists to support one another."

Her dedication and work ethic has always been a strong presence in her life. "My inspiration comes from wanting to make the dances I make to breathe in these complicated spaces of culture and people; my love for connecting people through dance is important."