SAY GOOD MORNING IF IT'S NIGHT | DI BUENAS DíAS SI ES DE NOCHE is Coming to Esperanza Arts Center
The performance will take place on March 15, 2025 at 3 PM.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Mar. 10, 2025
Is dance an act of defiance? The Congos people of Panama might answer “yes” to that question. Each year in unique carnivals honoring their ancestors, they celebrate how The Congos arrived in Panama 500 years ago, fought the Spaniards for their freedom - and won - using dance, music and creative subterfuge.
Esperanza Arts Center's (EAC) 2024/2025 Artist-In-Residence, Keila Cordova (3 Pony Show) will present the world premiere of Say Good Morning If It's Night | Di Buenas Días Si Es De Noche, a multidisciplinary work for the stage featuring performances by Yesenia Escobar-Espitia, Venrick James, Cory Seals and Vyette Tiya and music by Panamanian composer and guitarist, Emiliano Pardo-Tristán on Saturday, March 15 at 3:00 pm.
Say Good Morning If It's Night | Di Buenas Días Si Es De Noche is a dance theater work by Keila Cordova and 3 Pony Show, inviting audiences to experience Latin America, Panama and the culture of Los Congos. Fires and humidity destroyed records preserving the community's origin story, so the traditions they celebrate at presentations, during carnivals and festivals function as a living history and artistic practice. Rich with symbolism, it's an element of Panama's carnival experience that celebrates independently and adjacent to the national carnival, highlighting just some of Panama's rich Afro-Panamanian history.
The Congos are descendants of enslaved Panamanians brought to the isthmus during the Colonial period (1513 ⁓1700). In the community, many language inversions are still used, codes still spoken, originally developed in their communities for secrecy in their fight for freedom and independence. For example, sometimes Congo people might say “buenas noche” (good night) in the morning and “buenas dias” (good morning) at night.
Say Good Morning If It's Night | Di Buenas Días Si Es De Noche
Date: March 15 at 3pm | Location: Teatro Esperanza
Ticket: price $20, Free for Students & Seniors (60+)
About Keila Cordova and 3 Pony Show
Keila Cordova is the artistic director of 3 Pony Show, a dance-theatre company centered on embodying untold stories. Her dance works have been performed in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, San Diego, Berkeley, Chicago & Toronto. She grew up writing stories and watching her mother dance in Panama. Her short film, “RESIDUALS” was a 2023 Official Selection at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival; a 2021 Official Selection at the Montreal Independent Film Festival, DUMBO Film Festival, and Toronto International Women Film Festival. Awards include New Music USA Dance for Live Music, Esperanza Arts Center Artist in Residence, the Story Changers Award for Outstanding Leadership & for Empowering Women in the Arts in Philadelphia from the Philadelphia Women's Theatre Festival; residencies with the Directors Lab West, Saltonstall Art Colony and the Millay Colony for the Arts; and support from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Leeway Foundation, Puffin Foundation, and Harlem Stage. A graduate of UC, Berkeley, she has an MFA from the New School. She lives in Philadelphia.
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