Djenane Saint Juste knows the rhythms of her homeland run deep. The Haitian-born artist moved to the United States in 2009 and founded Afoutayi , a local nonprofit that uses Haitian and Afro-Caribbean music and dance to educate people about her native culture. "There were many other groups who were doing Haitian celebrations, but most of those people were not Haitian," Saint Juste said.
"It was beautiful what they were doing, but some information was missing, because none of them had been born or lived in Haiti." Saint Juste trained in ballet, hip hop, jazz and ballroom at her mother Florencia Pierre's dance company in Haiti and honed her skills under Pierre Dulaine at Dancing Classrooms in New York. After winning a car in a beauty pageant contest, she moved to California with her son, fleeing targeted robberies in Haiti.
But once there, she encountered significant challenges adapting to a new language and culture and the high cost of living. She planned to return to Haiti after a few years, but the country's earthquake in 2010 altered her plans. "We had to start from rock bottom when we moved to the U.
S., working all kinds of jobs and being treated differently," she said. "The arts scene for an immigrant is not a good way to go, but I didn't want to do anything else other than art.
" That opportunity presented itself when a former student of her mother's moved to Minnesota and saw the need for Haitian cultural education in the state, after an increasing number of Haitian chil.