Words and Music Episode 5 : Lasana Kazembe and Rob Dixon

In the fifth installment of Words & Music: An audio series exploring the life and work of Indiana writers, Jim Walker talks with poet Lasana Kazembe and jazz musician Rob Dixon who collaborated to create the multi-media performance, Firedance. Both artists are based in Indianapolis. Kazembe, a professor at IUPUI, is The Cabaret's inaugural Artist in Residence. Firedance is an original work Kazembe and Dixon created and performed at the Cabaret in May of 2022. This multimedia, multi-disciplinary event featured live musical performance with storytelling, dance, and live painting on stage. This work drew on the African cultural concept of Serudj-Ta, meaning: to repair and remake the world - the restorative practice by which we replenish the world in order to make it more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. Firedance follows Kazembe's highly acclaimed Voodoo of Hells Half Acre that aired on 250 PBS TV stations across the U.S. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1wht61KYM)