Dancers in Haiti stay on their toes in effort to preserve konpa at home

CAP-HAÏTIEN — Scroll on social media or step into the streets around any school, and you’re likely to be hit with some amusing, flashy, interesting dance moves. There’s the one where teens hop around like they are jumping ropes, konda, and another involving lots of twisting one foot forward, zobeky. 

Such movements may give the impression that standard konpa — Haiti’s body-to-body, eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand movements ripe for gouyad — may be supplanted. But that is far from the case in venues such as Lakay Restaurant, an eatery and bar with an outdoor dance patio and seating. On Thursday nights, especially, when the owner provides dance instruction, it’s clear that konpa is not going anywhere.

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“It’s our dance,” exclaimed Godson Costumé, the proprietor of Family Art Agency, a dance and modeling agency, on a recent Thursday before patrons arrived for the weekly konpa party. 

“When you’re dancing konpa, you feel like you’ve found yourself. It’s in our blood,” he elaborated. “You transmit emotions however you want, you transmit happiness, love, vibe.” 

Yet many Haitians of past generations often lament that bal, where couples in formal attire dance as partners, are being replaced by concerts where youngsters jump up and around. To quench this thirst to appreciate konpa, dance teachers like  Costumé have taken on the challenge of preserving the traditional dance. Known as “Le Français” around town, Costumé holds two dance nights – the one at Lakay every Thursday night and another at Cap Deli every Saturday. Attendees sway to a variety of music, including merengue and salsa, but the main event is the konpa each night because it’s Haiti’s dance.

“We see that the Europeans, other nations, want to snatch it from us. They’re dancing it a lot,” he remarked. “In Haiti, it’s our identity, though we don’t value it enough. My goal is to bring konpa dance to the entire Haitian community.”

Dance pairs hold each other close as gouyad-triggering jams drop at Lakay Restaurant’s weekly konpa night on Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Cap-Haïtien. 
Credits: Video by Onz Chéry

Going by the emotions transmitted on the dance floor that Thursday evening at Lakay, Costumé’s work is much appreciated by the patrons. For each song, men walked to the women seated at tables around the patio to choose a partner, then accompanied them to the dance floor. 

Throughout the evening, as the konpa songs played, participants owned the dances, their passions matching their familiarity. Couples locked eyes with sweet looks and pressed tightly onto each other at times. At times, the women smiled and twirled like fairy tale princesses as their partners moved them. At others, they twisted their waists to the rhythm under the night sky and dim lights of the venue.

Altogether, the night gave the impression that konpa remains alive, ready to be enjoyed as people move through the ages.

A woman smiles as she gently presses her dance partner on her during dance night at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times A woman affectionately looks at her dance partner as the two enjoy each other’s company at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times Godson Costumé controls his dance partner’s body in front of a crowd at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times Two women prepare to start stepping at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times A man asks her dance partner for her hand while they dance at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times Two attendees of dance night at Lakay Restaurant dancing side by side on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times A woman dancing side by side with Godson Costumé, a dance instructor, at Lakay Restaurant in Cap-Haïtien on October 2, 2025. Photo by Onz Chéry/ The Haitian Times

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