A Lakaï Dance Theatre dancer spins in a white lace skirt while drummers play behind her

Lakaï Means Home

Restoring communities of color through the Arts

Our Story

Lakaï Dance Theatre at Rebirth Jam, Cambridge · Photo: Daniel McCarthy @McCarthyVisuals

Our Story

Lakaï means home.

Lakaï takes its name from the word for home in Haitian Kreyol. Lakaï Arts is a non-profit organization that believes in restoring communities of color through the Arts and combining Arts Education with tools of self-sufficiency.

Providing resources is the goal and the arts is our vehicle. Mental health tools, financial literacy, civic engagement, and media literacy: four groups of resources that build a self-sufficient community. We connect families to them through pre-existing partners.

“Happy people make better decisions.”

McKersin · Founder & Artistic Director

Folks social dancing together on a wooden floor at a Lakaï Arts community event
Community programming · Photo: David C. of 1139Views
Drummers playing djembe and dunun drums together in a circle at an outdoor gathering
Dundunba Community Gathering
In Development

Youth Program

We are in the process of building a sustainable youth program in our home city of Boston, working with local partners who already hold what families need. Our youth will create work about who they are and where they live, and their families get a direct line to resources. The arts serve as the vehicle while providing resources is our goal.

This is a training program first, starting with dance and drumming classes before expanding over time to include production, until our youth can run their own work with the support of the company and pass it down.

Boston’s West African and Haitian dance communities are held by elders, with a lack of youth coming up behind them. Without training programs dedicated to both, these traditions will pass on with the elders. Our youth here will learn and preserve rhythms not only from many West African nations but from the Caribbean and the western Diaspora as well. They will be our modern day Griots, the cultural storybearers of West Africa, carrying past traditions through dance and music, and this is what we’re bringing home (Lakaï).

Want to build with us? build@lakaiarts.org

The Company

Lakaï Dance Theatre

Lakaï Dance Theatre roots itself in stories of home to highlight the issues affecting our communities and neighborhoods. Our movement is pulled from the Afro-diaspora, ranging from Hip-Hop to House to Folkloric Haitian and various West African dances. We are committed to telling stories that are not often told.

Visit Lakaï Dance Theatre

A Lakaï dancer in a white lace skirt, seated with one arm raised, performing Yanvalou
Yanvalou · Photo: Daniel McCarthy @McCarthyVisuals

Impact

What we’ve done.

Lakaï Arts has been community-rooted since 2017. After a period of rest, we’re building the next chapter.

  • Youth Production Training Program

    Youth learning every side of the stage: lighting, audio, costume, and set.

  • Outdoor Dundunba Series

    West African drum and dance, outside and open to all.

  • Local Partnerships

    Youth dance education and Haitian cultural awareness, built with neighborhood organizations.

  • Fèt Lakaï

    Theater-caliber performance in neighborhood spaces.

  • Performance Series

    Spreading awareness through our performances.

  • Affordable Dance Classes

    Open to the public.

Our Values

  • Tradition

    Preserving traditional Black dances and cultural practices of coming together across the Diaspora, as a voice and a tool for self-expression.

  • A Culture of Self-Sufficiency

    Using the arts as our vehicle, we wish to provide resources to the families we serve to help them become self-reliant.

  • Shared Power

    Opening institutional doors for folk who would not get the invite otherwise.

  • Empowerment & Development

    Youth learn, then youth lead. Paid youth artists climb the ladder from student to Peer Leader to the producers and choreographers of the next cohort. Those skills carry into the rest of their lives, including jobs in these fields, especially production.

  • Amplifying Other Artists

    Real creative control, so artists can build infrastructures of their own.

  • Community Building

    Events and gatherings rooted in the Afro-diaspora.

An audience applauding from white folding chairs at a Lakaï Arts community event
Photo: David C. of 1139Views

Give

Every donation to Lakaï Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, goes toward restoring communities of color through the Arts. Your gift is tax deductible.

Partner with us: build@lakaiarts.org

A home of our own.

Boston has a major lack of access to dance and movement wellness space, primarily in the inner city. We are working toward a space that belongs to the community. The theater will serve as the megaphone for the people.