Proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 is required to attend all performances until further notice.

The Cabaret is proud to present The Cabaret’s inaugural Artist in Residence, Lasana Kazembe, and the world premiere of his latest artistic endeavor: Firedance. Coming off the heels of his highly acclaimed Voodoo of Hell’s Half Acre (which premiered nationally on National Public Television), Firedance is an original work developed and conceived by Lasana Kazembe and featuring music composed by Indy’s jazz guru, Rob Dixon. This multimedia, multi-disciplinary event features live musical performance with some of Indy’s finest musicians and integrates spoken-word storytelling, dance, and a visual artist who will create a live painting onsite. This work draws on the African cultural concept of Serudj-Ta, meaning: to repair and remake the world – the restorative practice by which we replenish and transform the world in order to make it more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Lasana D. Kazembe is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) where he teaches in the School of Education and in the Africana Studies Program. He is a published Poet, Spoken Word Artist, educational consultant, and scholar of Global Black Arts Movements and the Black Radical Tradition in Education. Dr. Kazembe has performed throughout the U.S., and venues in Canada and Africa. His aesthetic sensibilities are steeped in the deep, rich, and sentient genealogy of the African Diasporic experience. With and within this space, he inspects, reflects, and leverages history, memory, meanings, traditions, culture, art, and accumulated folk experiences. His work is interlaced with storied traditions found in jazz, blues, spirituals, hip-hop, and the deep well of Africana/Black American cultural traditions both spoken and written. Dr. Kazembe’s most recent project, The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre: The Travelin’ Genius of Richard Wright, A Blues Poetry Opera, is a poetic meditation on the art, life, and legacy of world-renown author Richard Wright. Dr. Kazembe’s latest (edited) book, Keeping Peace: Reflections on Life, Legacy, Commitment, and Struggle, was published (2018) by Third World Press Foundation.