Jubilation and Resurrection

When I searched for photographs of the Harlem Renaissance, my reference photo for this piece showed up. I  loved working on this piece and really focused on trying to bring out the pure joy I felt was embodied by these dancers.
Doing a later Google image search I found that these are South African dancers from the musical Mkhumbane from Durban 1960. This folk tale was created from the simple suggestion that Alan Paton write the connecting dialogue for an evening of songs by African choirs to depict a day in the life of the people of Cato Manor, an African location on the outskirts of Durban. The evening of choral work never materialized, but instead a fully-fledged folk musical was created.
I still love the joy in this piece, and due to some personal things going on during my painting of it, I also feel the resurrection of claiming that joy.