Batoto Yetu was founded on a Harlem playground in 1990, taking its name from the Swahili words for “our children.” Founder Júlio Leitão hails from Angola, where his father was killed in a civil war and the family fled to Zambia and on to Portugal, where he began dance training. After he emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1980s and continued training at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Leitão kept his cultural ties alive by teaching and choreographing for Jacques d’Amboise’s National Dance Institute. After creating works for television (Sesame Street) and film (Beloved), Leitão has presented Batoto Yetu at the United Nations, Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and touring internationally to Brazil, England, Spain, Hong Kong, and Angola. The work excerpted here was a world premiere, telling the story of a 16th century Angolan woman who fought against colonization.
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