ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: Who wrote and directed the musical “Sosúa: Dare to Dance Together”?

We recently did a program about Sosúa, the town in the Dominican Republic that accepted hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis during World War II. Their story has been used as the basis for a project in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Manhattan with large Jewish and Dominican populations. Seeded by a UJA Federation grant, «Sosúa: Dare to Dance Together« was conceived by the YM&YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood as an initiative to foster intergroup relations between the Jewish and Dominican populations in the community. In 2012 it won both the JCCA Zahav Award and the Prakhin Foundation Student Winning Award.

The project was also the basis of the documentary film «Sosúa: Make a Better World«, by directors Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which includes a free curriculum guide for educators to use as a bridge-building resource in diverse communities across the country. The film has been broadcast on public television and screened at numerous film festivals from Jerusalem to Austin.

Alejandra Hernández, the Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Spain, spoke with us about the Sosúa Project.