FOLY: African Dance Master Classes

Friday, May 14 & Saturday, May 15, 6:30 - 8pm 
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation 
1368 Fulton St. (Bedford Stuyvesant)
Restoration Plaza - Youth Arts Academy Building Enter through revolving door at 1368 Fulton Street Please Note: Security Guard will direct you to Youth Arts Academy Building (247 Herkimer Street-Located within the plaza) 
Master classes are presented by Youssouf Koumbassa on May 14 and Mamadou Dahoue on May 15 as a prelude to the 14th Annual DanceAfrica Pre-Opening Celebration held the following weekend.

Presented by Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation with support from BAC.

Free! Contact: 718.636.6930, restorationplaza.org 

FOLY: Is a gathering for all. Highlighted in the master class will be the dance Coucouba (see description below). The workshop will preface next week's pre opening of DanceAfrica. This Prelude will serve as an invitation to participating workshop participants and their families as we welcome the visiting company from Zambia. It is a family day with and intergenerational presence. Restoration's amphitheater will become the dancing ground for all. The processional is led by the elders and Baba Chuck Davis. Mamadou Dahoue will be featured that day as well. In the past he conducted the libation and we look forward to his performance.

Coucouba Dance In Kwayaka, Coucouba means to bring everybody together. Years ago, it was a dance done only by elders. An important responsibility that elders carry is to hold the people together to embody the culture and values of the people. More recently, young people were allowed to participate. The dance has become more energetic with this infusion of youth. Embracing the youth in this dance of social unification only serves to underscore its important message.

ARTIST BIOS
Mamadou Dahoue was born in the northern region of the Ivory Coast in the village of Seguela. Mamadou was trained in varying styles of dance from the diverse regions of the Ivory Coast. His early training was furthered by frequent performances throughout the countryside at traditional events and regional festivals. Mamadou became a member of the National Ballet of Cete d'Ivoire at the age of eighteen. After performing and traveling with this company for a year, Mamadou enrolled in the School of Dance and Cultural Exchange of Rosemarie Guiraud and received a diploma upon graduation in 1985 for performance and dance education. Mamadou furthered his studies and received his professional certificate in African Dance, Direction and Choreography in 1990. During his nine years in school, Mamadou was a performing member of 'Les Guirivoires' which toured West Africa, Europe and America and performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) during its 1988/89 season of 'Dance Africa'. Mamadou has since moved to New York City and has created a new company, Mamadou Dahou' and the Ancestral Messengers. Mamadou was featured in March, 1999 on Channel 13's 'City Arts' - 'Famous Where I Come From- segment and Mamadou's Dance Class was featured on Channel 13's 'City Arts', as part of a program exploring visual and performing arts in NYC. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Medgar Evers College. In 1999, Dahoue was the recipient of the 'Agbedidi': African artist-in-residence program with the University of Florida and the New World School of the Arts. Dahoue has served as artist-in-residence for the Queens Council of the Arts and is currently serving as a teacher and lecturer in the Public School system for the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. Dahoue was a recipient of the 2001 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award and in 2004 he received the ThanksforGiving Dance Legacy Award from the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Mamadou was awarded the prestigious 2008 Sunshine Award for African Dance and culture and he received the nomination for Cultural Ambassador of the Ivory Coast.

Youssouf Koumbassa is a former artist of Ballet Djoliba, the National Ballet of Guinea. Born and raised in Guinea, West Africa, Youssouf began dancing at the age of six by studying and emulating the members of the National Ballet and the leading dancers of the many local and regional dance companies in Guinea. Youssouf's father is from the Landuma people and his mother from the Baga/Susu people. In Guinea he studied under Sekouba Camara, Artistic director of Ballet National Djoliba and also with Kemoko Sano, the acclaimed Artistic Director of Les Ballets Africains, developing his talents as a dancer, musician and choreographer. In thirteen years with the Ballet National, Youssouf traveled extensively throughout West Africa, Japan, Bangladesh, India, Holland, Hungary, Russia, Korea, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Since moving to the United States twenty two years ago Youssouf has established himself as the pre-eminent teacher of dance from Guinea, and now travels widely throughout the world as a much sought after master teacher at dance conferences, workshops, camps and schools. When at home in New York his classes are attended by a large and loyal following who are appreciative of his mercurial energy and grace. In the 1990's Youssouf formed Les Ballets Bagata, comprised of sixty dancers and drummers. Performances by this company were spectacular m'langes of traditional culture and dance theater. Children of Bagata, a company he formed later, consisted of fifteen young dancers and musicians. Youssouf's mission has been and continues to be the exposure of the rich and varied cultures of Guinea to audiences around the world. In his attempts to bring the energy, excitement and history of African dance to a wide audience, Youssouf is meticulous in acknowledging the source of this material and insists on a high level of understanding and respect for the form among his students. He travels to Guinea regularly, taking students on dance trips and returns to the United States with the latest developments in contemporary dance so that his teaching is always a mixture of traditional work and the dances that infuse popular culture. Youssouf is happy to announce the release of "Landouma Fare", a dynamic 75 minute dance travelog/documentary, in which he travels home to Guinea on a personal journey to learn the dances of his father's Landouma people. Youssouf has created a series of instructional DVDs Wongai Vol 1 + Wongai Vol 2, in which he demonstrates both the music and dance of a wide selection of ethnic groups from Guinea. He has also produced an edited version of the famous concert by his exuberant dance company "Les Ballets Bagata" in NYC. In July 2007, Youssouf was invited to participate in Slow Dancing, a video installation featuring 43 contemporary dancers from a wide range of dance backgrounds. The installation featured three video streams projected on panels on the New York State Opera building in NYC. Dancers were filmed for 5 seconds and the artist David Michalek, slowed the footage down so that the five second sequence was played back over 10 minutes. The installation is touring nationally and internationally over the next three years and is featured at the 2008 Venice Biennale. Information about the installation and its touring calendar can be found at slowdancingfilms