This event was originally recorded on June 17, 2023 on the Alexander Clark Stage on the New Haven Green.
Imagine if New Haven had a historically black college. In 1831 New Haven had the opportunity to host the nation’s first Black college but due to opposition from the City’s elite, the college never came to fruition. A Divine Homecoming is an intergenerational production honoring HBCU history and legacy through storytelling and step creating an imagined experience of what could’ve been.
The story is told through a group of older Divine 9 members on their return to A&I University for Homecoming. As the friends congregate in their student union, they take a trip down memory lane to their golden days back in college in the ‘70s. In flashback scenes, the alumni will share their Divine 9 experiences through step performances (performed by a younger generation of Greeks). Stepping is a percussive, highly-energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals created by Black fraternities and sororities, with origins to West African culture.