1942-08-10: (Emerente de Pradines and the First Folk Songs on Stage — Dancer Choreographer and Vodouisant Emerente de Pradines Later Recalling “I Played and …

1942-08-10: (Emerente de Pradines and the First Folk Songs on Stage — Dancer Choreographer and Vodouisant Emerente de Pradines Later Recalling “I Played and Sung There at the Rex Theatre the Role of the Goddaughter of Sanité Bélair,” It Being Also de Pradines’s First Play and “It Was on This Occasion That I Sang My First Two Folk Songs — Never Before Had Someone Sung Our Folklore on Stage”): As dancer, choreographer, and Vodouisant Emerente de Pradines later recalled, she played and sung at the Rex Theatre the role of the goddaughter of Sanité Bélair. Similar to Perez, it was also de Pradines’s first play, and it was on this occasion that she sang her first two folk songs — never before had someone sung their folklore on stage. The claim was extraordinary: the first public theatrical performance of Haitian folk music emerged not from a folklore festival or a government-sponsored cultural event but from a feminist play about a revolutionary woman warrior, written by an LFAS woman, performed at a commercial theater.