The Heart of New Orleans: The African Diaspora

Our Origin

Launched in October 2019, the Cultural Ties Dance Festival (CTDF) was created to spotlight the local teaching and performing artists of New Orleans. Recognizing that the “essence” of this city—the very cultural magnet that draws the world to our streets and fuels the tourism industry—is built upon the deeply rooted traditions of the African Diaspora. For centuries, the rhythmic and kinetic languages of Africa, Haiti, Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean have converged here, creating a cultural identity found nowhere else on earth.

Preservation in a Changing Landscape

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has faced an unprecedented rise in gentrification. As neighborhoods shift and long-standing communities face displacement, the need to recognize, preserve, and curate our traditions has never been more urgent. The Cultural Ties Dance Festival serves as a cultural bulwark, dedicated to ensuring that the evolution of our culture remains in the hands of its traditional keepers. We don’t just celebrate the past; we protect the future of the artists who live, work, and create within the African Diaspora traditions that define New Orleans.

A Global Seat of Exchange

While we are firmly rooted in the soil of New Orleans, the Cultural Ties Dance Festival is also the premier venue for cultural exchange within the Diaspora’s Global Village. We believe that our local traditions are strengthened when they are in conversation with our cultural contributors across the globe. By bringing in world-class artists from Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Africa, and the Caribbean, we facilitate a powerful homecoming of movement and spirit. These exchanges foster a deeper understanding of our shared history and the “Cultural Ties” that bind us together across oceans and generations.

Our Mission

• Highlight the mastery of New Orleans’ local Diaspora artists.
• Curate authentic spaces for traditional and evolving African Diaspora dance and percussion.
• Protect our cultural heritage against the erasure of gentrification.
• Connect the local community to the global Diaspora through high-level artistic exchange.

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As a New Orleanian, I have spent over 40 years witnessing the power of our culture to act as a magnet for the world. Yet I have also seen the challenges and the risk of our traditions being commodified without protection. I launched the Cultural Ties Dance Festival in 2019 because I saw a profound need to center the local masters—the teaching and performing artists who are the true architects of this city’s essence.

My vision for Cultural Ties Dance Festival and the Ise Arts & Culture Conservatory is to create a ‘seat at the table’ for cultural exchange within our global village. By bringing together the master artists of Haiti, Brazil, Cuba, Africa, and the Caribbean with our own New Orleans brilliance, we aren’t just teaching steps; we are preserving a lineage.

We are curating a space where the ‘Original Tradition’ (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe) is not only recognized but elevated. We are ensuring that the evolution of our culture remains rooted in scholarship, integrity, and the hands of those who carry the spirit of the Diaspora in their bones.

I invite you to join us in this movement of reclamation, education, and celebration. Let us dance the history that cannot be erased.”

— Kai Knight

Founder & Director