I began dancing around 1996 in New Haven when my African-drum teacher, Michael Markus, offered a remedial dance lesson for drummers. From there I made a commitment to myself to take classes with an amazing dancer, Aly Camara. Since then, other teachers have included Yosheh Amayo, Sory Bangoura, Naby Bangoura, Alseny Soumah, Julia Chigamba, and Ronnie Daliyo.
I was a performing dancer in the Afo Drum and Dance Collective in Seattle for three years and in the Chinyakare Ensemble in Oakland for four years.
African dance has helped me to connect music with my body and to connect art with everyday life, rituals, and community. It has helped me to feel the groove of rhythms. I sometimes see music and dance as a single integrated artform.
While I have done almost exclusively African dance, I am becoming interested in other forms of dance. Most recently I began studying creative dance and how to teach it to kids.
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