afrodiaspores:

Anders Rising’s portrait of dancer, singer, and founding member of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba, Zenaida Armenteros (b. 1931), ca. 2006

…Her red dress with rainbow coloured handkerchiefs decorating her waist, is flying around the legs of Zenaida Armentero[s] when she dances forth the powerful orisha, Oyá, the feared guardian of the cemeteries, with a temperament that makes the other saints of the Yoruba religion tremble, the only one who knows how to conquer the warrior god Changó – with her sweetness. Which she reveals only when it suits her, but not until no other escape remains…

“Oyá is an armed warrior, but with the rainbow in her eyes…She makes me release something else, my own fire. How could I ever get tired of dancing her?”

(via blackcontemporaryart)