Cynthia Oliver/COCo Dance Theater

Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso is an evening-length multidisciplinary dance theatre project on the nature of calypso dancing as an agent of Afro-Anglo Caribbean identity across geographical, national and aesthetic borders. A meditation on "rupture" as a defining feature of calypso performance, Rigidigidim places performers from the Caribbean diaspora in positions between real and imagined borders that invite them to navigate their Caribbeanness via calypso music, dance and the spoken word.

In Rigidigidim, collaborators in film, music, and design enhance the commitment to non-linear storytelling and expressive performance through choreographic repetition and the overlapping of language and theatrical elements that have become a signature style.

This work is an NPN Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by New World Theater in partnership with Myrna Loy Center, Dance Place and NPN. This project is made possible by support from NPN Performance Residency Program. This tour is made possible by a grant from MAAF in partnership with the NEA's Regional Touring Program. This project is funded by NEFA's National Dance Project, with generous support by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation. Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.