Josefina Baez

Baez and Ay Ombe organize theatre retreats internationally.

Ay Ombe Retreats have already been held at:

• Christchurch, New Zealand:February 2004;
• Pirque and Miravalle, Chile:February 2005, April 2006, November 2007;
• Bangalore, India:January 2009
• New York State: August 2009.
• Sonido del Yaque Eco-lodge: Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic 2015
• Black Mountain, North Carolina 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Baez at a performance of Dominicanish. Harlem Stage, NYC. November 2009

Baez's 2009 performance of Dominicanish marked its 10th anniversary and took place at Harlem Stage, New York from November 6–8, 2009.[12][13][14]

The word 'dominicanish' is used to describe her experience because, as a result of her migration, she is not only dominican.[15] It deals with issues of migration and absorption of new cultures. Even her use of combining english and Spanish is an example of her being in-between two cultures.[16] As she retells her experience of learning english, she moves her mouth and body in unique ways, while her feet remain still. This shows how American society is trying to force her to assimilate into their culture and her resistance to doing so.[17] Baez draws heavily from her own experiences as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Being a Dominican immigrant, Baez possesses multiple identities.[18] In Dominicanish, her identity is defined as always being in motion. She is constantly moving between cultures or physically between two countries.[19] This motion is expressed through her body movement as she is performing. The play is published slightly different throughout its editions since the state of the dominican immigrant is not static.[15] In her performance of Dominicanish, she uses examples of daily activities as ways to resist a culture that is trying to erase her colored body.[20] The one-woman play is directed by Claudio Mir and was accompanied by trumpet music by Ross Huff.

The performance, which went under the title "OM is 10" was followed by an academic symposium "Dialogue Dominicanish" organized and co-ordinated by Esther Hernandez (Brown University). Participants included: Conrad James (Birmingham University, UK), Arturo Victoriano (University of Toronto, Canada), Danny Mendez (Michigan State University), Sophie Mariñez (CUNY Graduate Center), Nestor Rodriguez (University of Toronto, Canada), Merle Collins (University of Maryland, USA) and Percy Encinas (Universidad Cientifica del Sur, Peru).[21]

On March 6, 2015, Josefina directed a performance with students from Spanish 126: "Performing Latinidad" to discuss issues of identity and to bring the texts from their class to life. Professor Lorgia H. García Peña, an assistant professor of Romance Languages and Literatures teaches the course at Harvard University.[22]

Many of Baez's performances are easily accessible to the public. In addition to performing on large stages, she also performs in smaller settings such as people's homes, on the street, in parks, and schools. This ultimately allows her performances to reach a wider audience and become more intimate.[23] Her performance of Apartarte/Casarte is often performed in various locations, even in Baez's own home on one occasion. During this performance in front of only 12 people, she interacts with the audience throughout the performance. Apartarte/Casarte is a performance in which Baez combines parts from her other performances to comment on several themes such as her immigrant experience and marriage. There is a part where Baez expresses her happiness of being newly married, which quickly transitions to her frustration of being expected to live up to gendered housewife duties as she angrily performs acts of domesticity. In this performance, she is resisting the treatment of women and traditional gender roles.[24]