✨Event Details✨

One Epic Day. Two Legendary Venues. Two Unforgettable Events.

STEP RIGHT UP, FOLKS, into a world of history, glamour, and live performance on Saturday, May 9, 2026, as Harlem in Havana NYC presents an unforgettable documentary event across two iconic New York venues.

Experience the New York premiere of the documentary film JIG SHOW | Leon Claxton’s Harlem in Havana, bringing the legendary Harlem in Havana revue to life on the big screen at the New York Library for the Performing Arts. Then, as the evening unfolds, step into the dazzling Brown Skin Showgirls: A Harlem in Havana Tribute Show — a live stage celebration of the music, dance, and showmanship that defined a legacy — at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.

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✨EVENT I: Film Screening & Art Talk✨

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts | 1–3:30 PM | Free

Step behind the velvet curtain for the New York premiere of JIG SHOW | Leon Claxton’s Harlem in Havana, a documentary by filmmaker Leslie Cunningham. Dive into a sizzling, untold chapter of American entertainment — where Black brilliance, Cuban rhythm, and early burlesque lit up the big top and defied segregation. Features a special pop-up burlesque performance by Bebe Bardeaux and a post-screening Art Talk with filmmaker Leslie Cunningham, burlesque historians Chicava HoneyChild and Bebe Bardeaux. Facilitated by NYC burlesque artist GiGi Holliday. Don’t miss it!

✨Event II: Brown Skin Showgirls: A Harlem in Havana Tribute Show✨

David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center | 7:30 PM | Free | 18+

Step right up, folks—and step back in time. As the night falls, join us at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for Harlem in Havana reimagined – where forbidden glamour, radical beauty, and electrifying performance collide. This immersive burlesque spectacle resurrects Leon Claxton’s legendary midway show—a decadent, defiant celebration of Black and Latine performers who broke rules, bent genres, and seduced the American stage during Jim Crow. Brown Skin Showgirls is a high-glam, high-heat love letter to Black and Latine artistry—lush, provocative, and impossible to look away from. Featuring a jaw-dropping lineup of performers who command the stage with beauty, audacity, and pure magnetic force, this production celebrates visibility as rebellion and sensuality as legacy. Headlined by Jessabelle Thunder, Miss Exotic World 2026, and hosted by NYC drag royalty Junior Mintt. Dare to witness it.