Culture & Community | Arts & Culture | West Haven | Arts & Anti-racism | ArtsWest CT | Music Back Then Performance Theatre
Natasha Gambrell. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
Natasha Gambrell’s words drifted over the stage, wrapping the audience in the sound of her voice. They were celebrating, while my heart was cold, she began. It was like a blizzard had swept my entire body. In the audience, listeners hung on to every word, careful not to miss a thing. They were celebrating that day the creator didn’t embrace us in his warm—she wound the clock back to 2005, her eyes meeting the audience—But instead/Left us feeling his bitter teardrops.
A pin could have dropped in the space. Gambrell pushed on, telling her story, and the story of the Eastern Pequot tribe, one line at a time.
Last Saturday, Gambrell was a presenter at West Haven’s inaugural “All Nations Day,” a celebration of cross-cultural dialogue and performance held at the Music Back Then Performance Theatre at 221 Bull Hill Ln. in West Haven. Supported and organized by ArtsWest CT, the event brought together Westies from around the globe, including Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Mexico, Sudan, Scotland, Korea, the Middle East and the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation.
Top: James Celestine and Elinor Slomba, the co-creators of West Haven's All Nations Day. Bottom: Maria Louisa, representing Mexico, showing her husband Miguel Angel Mendoza Melchor's work. He currently has a gallery showing at City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
“It really was an idea of neighbors getting to know each other through the lens of arts and culture, and having an international festival that was really produced by and for the community,” said Elinor Slomba, president of ArtsWest CT. “It was really just putting out a call and an invitation and seeing who showed up.”
Slomba added that nothing she does happens in a silo: it was the suggestion of ArtsWest CT Board Member James Celestine, who had seen All Nations Day take place in neighboring communities, that motivated a small but mighty band of arts advocates and volunteers to try it out on their home turf. It comes at an exciting time for the organization: ArtsWest CT just opened its first brick-and-mortar space in West Haven, just off the city’s Main Street.
Already, it has become home to a monthly collage club, a nontraditional exhibition venue, and a “lending library” specifically for artists, with items for loan like vending tents and slide projectors. ArtsWest CT is also building out a list of spaces that are available for artists to rent.
“We can help you present professionally,” Slomba said. “We’re a service organization, so we want to support and promote [artists and] the people who are teaching.”
Top: Abir Zenait with student artwork. Bottom: Sudanese Cultural Center participants at their table. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
During the hours-long celebration, that love for artists and artmaking came through, from tables dedicated to language learning to multicultural dance performances that filled the stage in brilliant color and costumes from all corners of the globe.
At one table, ESUMS (Engineering and Science University Magnet School) Arabic teacher Abir Zenait showed off a table dedicated to the language, which is one of the fastest growing programs in the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS).
“We’re promoting the culture,” she said, guiding attendees through a number of student artworks inspired by mosaics in the Arab world. “It’s the history of Islamic arts and how they created palaces, how they decorated.”
Nearby, West Havener Colin Berger showed off his mother’s shortbread recipe (spoiler: the secret is flour, butter, sugar, and salt), rocking a tartan kilt and sash as he greeted people and chatted about his Scottish heritage. As families flowed through the space, he appeared excited to be sharing it with representatives of the Sudanese Cultural Center, who came with traditional Sudanese food and dress, items typically used during a wedding, and a large Sudanese flag that they draped across the table.
Top: A Sudanese wedding dance. Bottom: West Havener Colin Berger. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
“We are here to show who we are,” said Fatima Eldoud, one of the people representing the center. She motioned to containers of baobab and chilled hibiscus juice, squares of sweet baklava, Sudanese falafel, bitter melon seeds and peanuts nearby. “Hospitality is one of our traditions … you have to provide food, drinks, for anyone coming. That is why we are here, providing this to our guests.”
In the auditorium, performers made space for their own cultural narratives--and stayed to root each other on and learn about their neighbors in the city that they call home. Taking the stage in the mid-afternoon, Gambrell remembered the day in 2005 when the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation had its federal recognition revoked. Her poem, titled “They Were Celebrating,” paints a stark portrait of the day. In one excerpt:
They were celebrating, while I sat twisting and turning
Mesmerized by the idea of Federal Recognition
They were celebrating, while the elders were sick and hopeless
And the youth were uninspired and suffering ambition.
Other performers brought dance, poetry, and song to the stage. When it was time to take the spotlight, young artists from the Sudanese Cultural Center showed attendees a traditional wedding dance. Westie Martha Benejan kept that energy flowing, performing in Indigenous dress from Ecuador as she lifted her skirt to show off fancy footwork.
Top: Martha Benejan, performing in Indigenous dress from Ecuador. Bottom: Dancer Priscilla Mada. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
Hailing from the Middle Eastern Dance Academy of Connecticut, Priscilla Mada began with two traditional dances, then stayed onstage to teach the audience a third. Artist and disability advocate Elaine Kolb, perhaps best known for her poetry and songwriting, brought out a multiplicity of voices as she arrived with her song “Let’s Get Together and Work It Out.”
She said that it’s an ongoing dream of hers to see (and hear) a version of the chorus recorded in each of the different languages represented in West Haven.
“This was an experiment,” Slomba said before the day was over. “Going into All Nations Day this year, we were asking the question ‘Well, we’ll see at the end if it’s repeatable!’ So, what do you think?”
The chorus of cheering and applause was all she needed to know the answer.
Top: Elaine Kolb. Bottom: Joan Kwon Glass, Poet Laureate of Milford, representing Korea. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.
Lucy Gellman contributed reporting.