ZEST COLLECTIVE – Centerpiece of new Higher Ground Arts Festival – Washington Heights, June 27th, 2015

Why This Story Still Matters

Some dances entertain. Sosúa set out to teach. In June 2015 Gentry Isaiah George brought a story most Americans have never heard to a playground in Washington Heights, a neighborhood home to many Dominican and Jewish families: how Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust found a haven in the Dominican Republic, under the same dictator who ordered the massacre of Haitians.

He built it with a documentary team, a magician and dancers of many backgrounds, and he gave it away free at a new festival for the artists of Washington Heights and Inwood. Below is our original interview in full, with all 19 photos and the behind-the-scenes video, followed by the history and where George is now.

The Interview: Gentry Isaiah George on Sosúa

From the DMM Archive · June 23, 2015

ZEST COLLECTIVE – Centerpiece of new Higher Ground Arts Festival – Washington Heights, June 27th, 2015. ZEST gears up to present a new work at the first annual Higher Ground Festival taking place inside Northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park Saturday, June 27th, 2015 .

Dance Mogul Magazine discusses the importance of this new creation with Artistic Director Gentry Isaiah George.

Dance Mogul: What is the Higher Ground Festival and how does it impact the community?

Gentry: The Higher Ground (HG) Festival celebrates the artists of the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods by facilitating multi-disciplinary artist collaborations. It was founded by Temple Kemezis and Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba Tovar. On Saturday, June 27th, 2015 HG will premiere six collaborations, presented at the Anne Loftus Playground. The performance is free and open to the public.

To learn more visit: creatinghigherground.com

Dance Mogul: ZEST COLLECTIVE Contemporary Performance Art is the first and only dance company in Northern Manhattan. I assume you must be excited to finally get to share your work within your community. How does that feel?

Gentry: Upon moving to Washington Heights six years ago I found a community thriving with families, art deco architecture, and many beautiful gardens. I also found that it was a community with a growing artistic culture with a unique demand for live performance. I founded ZEST in hopes of building an organization that would serve as the hallmark of Artistic excellence for Northern Manhattan. It is my hope that we may continue to partner with local businesses and institutions that promote collaborative projects with artists and organizations in efforts to revitalize the cultural life in our neighborhood. In due time I plan to restore one of the neighborhood’s abandoned buildings to build an institution for the community and create new and innovative work with my Dance Artists. This festival has been but a dream until now and we are well on our way to transforming the discord of our nation one neighbor at a time.

Dance Mogul: Often you present multimedia collaborations, tell us more about your new creation.

Gentry: We’ve teamed up with FilmMakers Renée Silverman and Peter Miller (creators of the documentary SOSÚA: Make A Better World ) as well as Magician Harry Mandel to present a work that highlights the period of history when the murderous and racist Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo, welcomed to his country hundreds of Jewish refugees escaping the horrors of the Holocaust. In the new work entitled Sosúa people of all races and walks of life come together to learn about an uncommon past and, in the process, discover countless expressions of what unites them in the present. For this new work, I have decided to use spoken word and original music from the film. I’ve chosen two lyrical variations by Liz Swados and Sam Willmot to accompany the ballet’s musical landscape. Earlier this month we began creating our new work. See behind the scenes footage, shot by collaborator Peter Miller as the #zestbugs and I began sculpting movement material along with Magician Harry Mandel.

Behind the scenes: ZEST and magician Harry Mandel begin building Sosúa, June 2015. Footage by collaborator Peter Miller (linked in our original post, now embedded).

Dance Mogul: Can you speak more about the historical impact of your new work?

Gentry: This work is about identity and the disadvantages imposed by cruel populations in a world fighting against a culture of racism, discrimination, social inequality, and poverty. Our story focuses on the time when Jews escaped the Holocaust by fleeing Europe to settle in Sosúa – a haven in the Dominican Republic. Currently, Haitians flee their homes on a daily in hopes of finding employment and advanced education in their neighboring country. To attend school, they must illegally cross the border, via the Massacre River, the site where 20,000 Haitians were executed under the reign of Trujillo – the same dictator who welcomed the Jews during the Holocaust in an attempt to lighten the race of people on his island.

The media is swarming with stories of Haitians facing deportation from the Dominican Republic. There is a racial component that mimics much of North America, as Dominicans often look down on Haitians for their “blackness.” A violent past still stings for much of the divided island. I’ve learned a lot by exploring this theme with a cast of racially diverse dancers and have attempted to imbue in them – through movement, a glowing warmth opposite the fragility of hate and fear.

This work focuses largely on the metaphors of the Massacre River, and systems of transportation to escape tyranny and injustice. This work takes a look at the tensions between nations past and present as the perils of one are often contrasted by the alleged successes of another. Ultimately, the plurality of storytelling is what will connect and educate us all.

I am excited to premiere this work in my Washington Heights neighborhood – a community flooded with Jewish and Dominican families. I think our story has the potential to bridge gaps between peoples of all walks of life as is my mission with every creative endeavor. I hope the audience members will be moved and transformed, and perhaps there will be one young child in the audience whose life will be forever changed having experienced the beauty of physical expression. To learn more about ZEST COLLECTIVE Contemporary Performance Art visit: www.zestcollective.org

Reproduced in full from Dance Mogul Magazine’s June 23, 2015 exclusive, with light fixes. Photo captions from the original now sit under each image.

Ultimately, the plurality of storytelling is what will connect and educate us all.

— Gentry Isaiah George to Dance Mogul Magazine, 2015

The History Behind Sosúa

In 1940, as Jews tried to escape Nazi Europe and most countries closed their doors, the Dominican Republic under Rafael Trujillo offered land on its north coast at Sosúa. A small community of refugees built a new life there. Historians have long noted the darker motive George describes: Trujillo wanted to “whiten” his country’s population, only three years after his forces massacred Haitians along the border in 1937, near the river still called the Massacre River.

George connected that history to the news of 2015, when Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent faced deportation from the Dominican Republic. His point was not to settle the history in one dance. It was to put people of every background in the same room, or the same playground, and let them find what unites them. For a neighborhood with deep Jewish and Dominican roots, it was a bold choice of story.

Gallery: Creating Sosúa With Photographer Felix Kunze

Rehearsal · June 2015 · Photos by Felix Kunze

All 15 rehearsal photos from DMM’s original post, now at full size. Named dance artists include Amanda Bouza, Michael Greenberg, Mariusz Kujawski, Giulia D’Antoni and Riiko Kitayama. Photos: Felix Kunze.

Who Is Gentry Isaiah George?

Gentry Isaiah George was born in Miami. His first teacher, Linda Agyapong, told a restless young student that dance could be his ticket to the world. He later trained with Sylvia Padron and with Vladimir Issaev at Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida, graduated from New World School of the Arts and The Juilliard School, and danced with Ailey II. His face was on Ailey II posters across New York subway platforms when he started ZEST.

He founded ZEST COLLECTIVE on November 2, 2013, after an injury made him rethink how he would keep growing as an artist. He told StageBuddy the name came to him while jumping rope. Malcolm Low served as artistic advisor, and George performed with Low’s Formal Structure, Lustig Dance Theater and Christopher Williams. WLRN reported in 2016 that he was also dancing with Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Two months before Sosúa, ZEST premiered FETUS at Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Read that story and see its full gallery: Behind the Scenes With ZEST COLLECTIVE at Harlem Stage.

ZEST COLLECTIVE Timeline

Where Is Gentry Isaiah George Now?

Gentry Isaiah George went home. Miami Light Project’s 2023 program lists him as artistic director of Zest Collective and a professor of dance at Miami Dade College’s New World School of the Arts, the high school and college program where he trained. AMDA lists him on its dance faculty since 2018.

His choreography has turned toward history and music. Afro Blue, presented by Miami Light Project in 2023, belongs to his series Roots & Rhythms, which honors Black musicians of the 20th century. Miami Light Project reported that the cast of seven included two dancers from Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company. Zest Collective has also shared works in progress, including Afro Blue and a commissioned piece, The Fountain, in a salon series at The Moss Center.

ZEST has always been about making room. In 2014 George told StageBuddy that many of the company’s early dancers had gone on to contracts with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Today that role continues in a classroom.

What the Next Generation Should Learn

1. Serve the place you live. George built ZEST to be a hallmark of artistic excellence for Northern Manhattan, and premiered this work free in his own neighborhood.

2. Dance can teach history. Sosúa carried a lesson most textbooks skip. Movement can make history felt.

3. Collaborate outside dance. Filmmakers, a magician and spoken word made the piece richer than dance alone.

4. Choose warmth over fear. With a racially diverse cast, he aimed to show a glowing warmth opposite the fragility of hate.

5. Dream about buildings, not just shows. He spoke of restoring an abandoned building as a home for the community. Think about what you could leave behind.

Why It Matters to DMM

Dance Mogul Magazine believes dance is a bridge to community, history and understanding. Gentry Isaiah George used a free neighborhood festival to start a conversation about race, refugees and belonging, with a cast that reflected the world he hoped for. That is self-empowerment through culture, and it is exactly what we document.

More on DMM: ZEST at White Box Art Center, The Courageous Chapel (2016), Silva Dance Company and The Legacy.

ZEST COLLECTIVE and Sosúa: Frequently Asked Questions

What was the Higher Ground Festival?

The Higher Ground (HG) Festival celebrated artists of Washington Heights and Inwood through multidisciplinary collaborations. Founded by Temple Kemezis and Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba Tovar, its first edition on June 27, 2015 premiered six collaborations free at Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park.

What is Sosúa about?

Sosúa is a dance by Gentry Isaiah George about the Jewish refugees who settled in Sosúa, Dominican Republic, during the Holocaust under dictator Rafael Trujillo, and about the persecution of Haitians on the same island.

Who collaborated on Sosúa?

Filmmakers Renée Silverman and Peter Miller, creators of the documentary SOSÚA: Make a Better World, and magician Harry Mandel, with music from the film including variations by Liz Swados and Sam Willmot.

Who is Gentry Isaiah George?

Gentry Isaiah George is a Miami-born choreographer, a graduate of New World School of the Arts and The Juilliard School, a former Ailey II dancer and the founder of Zest Collective.

Where is Gentry Isaiah George now?

He is a professor of dance at Miami Dade College's New World School of the Arts and continues to create with Zest Collective, including Afro Blue (2023).

The Story Continues

Dance Mogul Magazine will keep following Zest Collective. Bookmark this page for updates.

Sources & Further Viewing

© 2026 Dance Mogul Magazine LLC · From the Archive, Updated · A Black-owned dance and empowerment publication since 2010