Living Water Community, hosted a hybrid cultural performance of “The Burriquita”, by a venezuelan dancer, Maria Nuitter. This traditional Venezuelan dance defied odds and won various prizes in the Traditional Carnival Character Category of the Burroquite in Trinidad and Tobago’s world famous Carnival. The Burrokeet is a traditional Trinidad carnival character, brought in the 19th century by Venezuelan immigrants and merged with a similar character of East Indian Culture. Today’s representation of the Burriquita as a Venezuelan cultural heritage and now re-integrated into Trinidad’s Carnival with the recent arrival of thousands of Venezuelans is both an act of defiance and compliance.
Session Highlights:
- The session saw in attendance up to 100 virtual participants and several others viewing the live performance in St Theresa Roman Catholic Church Barataria in Trinidad and Tobago. The speakers of the session were Rochelle Nakhid, Elechi Todd and María Nuitter. The moderators included Simone Aguilera Hay, Alexandra Briceno and Vanessa Carrero.
- The event presented opportunities to connect with organizations that could benefit from the work, experiences, and shared learnings of presenting organizations. Seeing one’s culture receiving recognition and starting to integrate into the host country’s cultural landscape has a significant impact on migrants.
- The session had a great reception from all attendees, who went through an emotional rollercoaster by viewing María’s dance performance and powerful reflections as a migrant trying to integrate in a third country.