A Conversation with Joti Singh had with Jill Randall of Stance on Dance

Diwali, the festival of lights, is one of the most anticipated holidays in India. While often associated with Hinduism, Diwali is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs with their own customs and significance.

Dancer and choreographer Joti Singh grew up in Georgia, the daughter of immigrants from Punjab, India. But Singh’s parents were not her first ancestors to come to the United States.

In fact, a couple years earlier, just a few miles east in San Francisco, the Duniya Dance and Drum Company and Ensembles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco collaborated to develop choreography that brought together Bhangra, a folk-dance originating from Punjab region of India and Pakistan

The Singh-Sidibes are teaching their girls to honor their mixed heritage more than a half-century after Harris’ parents – from India and Jamaica – raised their two little girls. Sidibe hopes Sumaya and her 2-year-old sister, Jaleela, will take heart from seeing someone in high office who looks like them.

Of Guinean origin, Bongo Sidibe known by the stage name (Root Boy), is a singer and percussionist with the Dogon Lights Band, which places his music in a traditional-contemporary genre.

“A community celebration of ideas appealed to us because as a group, we represent the populations within the U.S. that are typically marginalized, such as people of color. This event was an opportunity to bring visibility to specific issues that we really care about...We can’t sit back and allow our world to be overwhelmed by the challenges that face it. We have to keep pushing the boundaries and being the leaders of change,” Singh said.

Head-Royce welcomed Alpha Oumar “Bongo” Sidibe, a musician from Conakry, Guinea in West Africa, along with two of his bandmates.