Broken: A dance against domestic abuse

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Shamira Cummings-Arita has close-cropped hair and is in the front row of the lineup of dancers. She is the owner of For The Love Of Dance, a studio which is performing a new work born of Cummings' desire to uplift victims of domestic abuse.

"I plan to uplift, educate, and empower women into viewing their life circumstances and situations differently. Opening them up to the possibility of enduring and overcoming everyday difficulties," Cummings says. "The piece is based on abuse: sexual, physical, and mental."

This rehearsal is in advance of a performance of "Broken" Saturday January 30th, 6 p.m. at The Red Shoes on Government Street. (Mark your calendar.)  The moves are beautiful, they can communicate without words.

I ask Shamira if the message is personal.

She answers, "This subject is special and close to my heart. Number one is there are so many broken souls.  We do it through art, because we don't get our stories told.  We've all had experiences, we've all gotten through situations in our lives. We just have to realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel."

"This is a personal experience and my mother and two other people in my family have gone through it to the point where they were near death.  To be able to get to this point, and I can make the very important point that it's wrong and that you can survive it."

So January 30th, see a labor of love created by Shamira Cummings-Arita. She hopes to move you and encourage you.

Admission is charged.  You may early purchase a ticket online for $15 by clicking here or on arrival, the door price will be $20.

Cummings adds,  "A portion of each of my ticket sales will be donated to The Red Shoes to help support the process of women's well being."

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