Yanvalou for Haiti

Abstract This chapter presents an affective ethnography of Cry Haiti Mother, a choreography by Jeanguy Saintus that mourns Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and challenges reductive portrayals of Haitian suffering. Drawing from Vodou rituals and Yanvalou dance, the work channels the lived experiences of survivors into kinetic expressions of trauma, spiritual resistance, and ancestral memory. Saintus and Ayikodans use their bodies to critique the Western gaze, confronting narratives that exoticize or dehumanize Haitian identity while affirming cultural dignity. The piece merges artistic expression with political testimony, transforming choreography into a site of healing, remembrance, and radical care. Finally, the chapter argues that Saintus’s decision to retire the work honors its emotional weight and reaffirms his ethical responsibility to witness, without exploiting, the pain of Haiti’s past and present.