
The Elevator Project
Fables and Fairytales from Around the World
featuring Afiah Bey (formerly known as Melody Bell)
6:30PM Saturday, May 27, 2017
Details
Afiah Bey
Afiah Talibah Bey, formerly known as Melody Bell, was born the 5th of 11 children to Marietta and Cecil Bell. At dinner time they would tell stories of family members and friends of the family. She attended ETSU (Texas A&M Commerce) and taught in DISD as a Special Education teacher. Telling stories with the students led to her classes performing for school programs. She became the cultural arts chairperson, and involved the entire school with oratorical and cultural programs. In 1996, she resigned in order to become a full-time Griot (gree-o) – oral historian, storyteller, musician, poet and singer.
Now, Afiah Bey performs for schools, museums, libraries, cultural events, festivals, parties, and is a member of the Dallas Storytelling Guild. She has been a Griot/Storyteller since 1993 involving audiences to enhance morals, values and culture to uplift self-esteem.
Eldrena Douma
Storytelling and Pueblo singing were a way of life in Eldrena Douma’s upbringing. During everyday activities family and friends shared pueblo stories, songs, and family history including the humorous and serious personal stories that life brought. Reflecting back, Eldrena realized that listening to story allowed her to strengthen and stimulate the use of her imagination and creativity. Stories helped her at an early age to develop her use of vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence structure while teaching core values. The traditional songs gave her an appreciation of all music and songwriting along with the crafting of traditional instruments. As a professional storyteller and educator, Eldrena offers captivating stories of American Indian folklore, a varity of recorded music, and history titled “The People, Their Stories and Songs.”
Delilah Buitron
Delilah Buitron is Co-Founder of The Flame Foundation, Artistic Director of The Dallas Flamenco Festival, and Director of Estudio Flamenco Conservatroy of Dallas. Delilah is a native Texan from Laredo and received her BFA in Theatre and T.V. Communications from Hofstra University in New York. Upon graduation, Delilah moved to Spain where she studied Spanish Classical and Flamenco at the Isabel Quintero Conservatory as well as at the internationally acclaimed Amor de Dios school of Flamenco. Delilah was a recipient of a 2013 “Dallas Observer Mastermind Award” for excellence in artistic endeavors. She will perform a Spanish fable, and a short Flamenco piece with Antonio Arrebola, Director and Choreographer for Flamenco DNA, and Lennon Wolfgang Gardner. 7 year old Lennon is a “ Flamenkito “ at Estudio Flamenco Conservatory of Dallas.