14 The Queens Courier • MARCH 24, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITES COMMUNITY HOSPICE NURSES (RN) MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS (LMSW/LCSW) Bilingual English/Spanish; English/Mandarin; English/Cantonese. Reliable automobile & valid driver’s license are preferred. Competitive compensation and benefits package. Hospice of New York is an Equal Opportunity Employer. FORWARD RESUME TO: JUDITH GAYLE [email protected] or Fax: 718.784.1413 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES Come Make a Difference New training groups each month! Patient Care Volunteers Support patients and their loved ones in your community Bereavement Volunteers Support families who have lost a loved one Administrative Volunteers Administrative Voluteers Assist personnel in our Long Island City office NASSAU & QUEENS Contact Angela Purpura [email protected] or 516.222.1211 MANHATTAN, THE BRONX & BROOKLYN Contact Sandra Nielsen [email protected] or 718.472.1999 BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES Free bereavement support services for adults who have had a loss (Loved one is not required to have had hospice care) Contact our Bereavement Department at 347.226.4823 DEFEAT PAIN MANHASSET CHIROPRACTIC Dr. Shtarkman TRACY VIERGELA PIERRE’S SLAVE BE STILL WILL MOVE YOU TO PIECES By Brianna Ellis Although actress Tracy Viergela Pierre’s show is entitled Slave Be Still, her groundbreaking performance will send you through a whirlwind of emotions. Pierre and her 13-year old daughter, Harmony Divine, put on a powerful presentation about enslavement and womanhood at the Douglaston/Little Neck Community Library on Saturday, February 27th. Slave Be Still was sponsored by Cultural Caravan Productions, Inc. in conjunction with the Queens Library and the Friends of the Douglaston/Little Neck Community Library. In honor of Black History Month, Pierre masterfully embodied the harsh experiences of an African slave woman through spoken word and dance. Harmony recited poems about female development and acceptance. The duo did not introduce some of their pieces, leaving them mysterious and obscure. The show erupted as the mother and daughter staged an argument that resulted in Pierre storming off. Harmony then took the floor with a series of funky dance moves and skateboard tricks, while “Leave Me Alone” by Michael Jackson blared in the background. Afterwards, the teen read a poem entitled “Mirror Me,” from Glimpses Into My Soul: Poems of Love and Rage by Muriel Yvonne Nickens. The piece expressed self-evaluation and persuaded society to have compassion and tolerance for individuals. When Pierre returned, she gave a poetic lecture to Harmony about dignity and selfrespect. She sternly warned her daughter that males seek to satisfy their sexual desires and encouraged her to resist such temptations. Pierre’s solo performance, “White Woman’s Blues” exhibited a slave woman’s confrontation with a heartbroken white woman, symbolized by a manikin head and blonde wig. Pierre surfaced in a patchwork dress and her face wrapped in complete bondage, tied with colorful strings. Her painful monologue with the manikin head expressed sympathy for a devastated and resentful slave master’s wife, whose husband raped and impregnated a slave woman. Pierre ended it with one chilling line, “Only time will tell who the real slave is inside.” The actress later emerged in an intricate dual costume, one side reflecting a provocative red ensemble and bob haircut, the other representing a slave woman’s patchwork dress, natural hair and African mask. Pierre danced gracefully to Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” while creatively juxtaposing the dreadful reality of a slave and the promiscuous nature of a prostitute. Pierre closed the show with a captivating dance and poem that revealed her disapproval of the term “African-American.” She unapologetically embraced her African and Haitian roots by emphasizing her kinky hair and brown skin tone. Pierre projected her choice to remove the American aspect of the constructed race, by chanting “I am African! No hyphen, no hype!” She urged the audience to follow her lead, while vigorously dancing with an African flair and rhythm. Pierre discussed her emotional experience and spiritual connection with the stage. “When I perform, it’s a story I’m telling. A message I want to embody. It’s for the moment when the piece is taking over me...I am always looking to break that third wall so that people can feel it.” Advertorial 2409 AVENUE Z BROOKLYN, NY 11235 718-934-9000 THROUGHOUT 444 COMMUNITY DR, SUITE LL1 MANHASSET, NY 11030 516-321-0080 YOUR BODY
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