Interview with Louinès Louinis

Interview with Louinès Louinis, a choreographer, dancer, musician, folklorist who is the founder and artistic director of the Louinès Louinis Haitian Dance Theater. Louinis studied dance and theater with the Erzulie Dantor Troupe, Théâtre de Verdure Massillon Coicou, and the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He achieved national distinction as the principal dancer and choreographer of Troupe Folklorique National (Haiti’s national theater) and Troupe Bacoulou. He toured widely throughout the Americas with both companies, sharing the stage with Sonora Matancera and a young Celia Cruz, among others, before leaving for New York City in 1964. There, he studied flute at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and ballet, jazz, and modern dance with the New Dance Group in Manhattan.