Carmen (latin) = song, invocation, prayer (pl. carmina)
Lucida (latin) = clear, illuminated

Carmina Lucida, loosely translated from Latin as Songs of Clarity or Illuminated Prayers/Invocations, is the name of the dance collaborative under the direction of Vyvyane Loh and Jean Appolon. The name reflects the group's commitment to creating and performing dance theatre works that explore social issues and that are fraught with cultural context. True to its multicultural roots, the group strives to raise the bar in the contemporary ethnic dance scene in Boston, incorporating African, Caribbean, South American and Asian dance vocabularies with jazz and modern dance. Through their work, Carmina Lucida hopes to re-establish the theatre as a place of passionate discourse and social activism.

Carmina Lucida's upcoming show, DIS-PLACE, presents the dilemma, challenge and advantages of displacement through migration, politics, social-economic factors and art. The show is a benefit for CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict) in memory of human rights activists Marla Ruzicka and Faiz Ali Salim who were killed in Iraq in April 2005. In that they were both displaced persons (Marla from her native US and Faiz from certain factions of his society because of his work with an American organization) and that they both worked tirelessly for those displaced by war and political upheavals, the show is fittingly named to honor their lives and their work.

Place: Tower Auditorium, Massachusetts College of Art
621 Huntington Avenue, Boston

Dates: May 13 & 14
Time: 8 pm

Tickets: $15; $12 for students (all profits go to CIVIC)
Tickets may be obtained by contacting libra@vyvyaneloh.com with TICKETS in the subject line