Haitian Dance
Prayer of the body

„The snake dance is something very special in Haitian dance culture. In mythology two snakes represent heaven and earth, they symbolize the relation of death and life. The snake dance is somehow cleaning, it is a birth.“
The “snake dance” has been developed further by Karine LaBel concentrating on the manubrium, the arms, the navel and the spine. Through its ondulating movements this dance gets the whole body swinging without loosing contact with the floor. The Haitian Karine LaBel takes especially care of the warm up of the shoulders, the spine and the back. Participants will be taught the rhythms step by step. Karine LaBel is going to explain background and philosophy of some dances too, such as the spider dance, the water dance, the dance for the god Ogun. Each dance in Haiti is related to an element, a spirit, a god.

In the open classes she will also teach some more complex movements. The participants are offered opportunities to go deeper into those dances that Maya Deren has described as a „prayer of the body“.


Karine LaBel
Karine LaBel grown up in Haiti, where she got influenced by the culture of Vodou, the „danced religion“ in her country. Her eductional experiences lead her from Haiti over Paris to Vienna, where she settled down six years ago. She got more well known because of her apperence in numerous performances in France, Germany, Austria and in Switzerland.