Do you know these artists and legacy holders?

Rudy Walker

Rudy Walker, plays bottom in the djembe orchestra and is a fabulous jazz drummer.  You may have heard him with Amiri Baraka on traps or on sangba and kekeni with Joe Barnes in the pre and early Bambara days.

l to r. Uriel Charles, Jerome Hunter, Diane (?), Richard Byrd, and Keno. 

Uriel plays shekere and is a keeper of the history (djeli) of the NYC African American cultural world.  Jerome is the director of the LaRoque Bey School of Dance Theater and is versatile in dance and drum, Diane is one of the long standing women drummers in New York, Richard was a drummer with Babatunde Olantunji's group, Ladji Camara's group, and is a godson of Chief Bey (ibae bae tonu).

Ella Thompson Moore (reddish head tie)

Ella Moore is a dancer and the wife of the legendary Charles Moore (deceased) and the current director of the Charles Moore Dance Theater, in Brooklyn, NY

Diarra dances to the music of Lamba

l to r. Diarra, Katunge Mimy, Blak

Brother Diarra is a too well-kept-secret. He's a great dancer, and holder of West African culture, including the songs. He's a stern task-master as a teacher, which if you are serious student, is exactly what you want. Sister Katunge, is a holder of cultural legacy (she sets the ancestor's shrine for DanceAfrica) and the mother of two talented artists in the world of African music and dance. Blak is trained in modern and African and has popped up with Chuck Davis' African American Ensemble, Harambee directed by the Malloy's and many other groups.

Wilhemenia Taylor (with sweater tied on waist) and Thelma Martin (black sweater)

Wilhemenia loves to teach and was the director of her own children's company, and still takes classes. She has a legion of women who have claimed her as their teacher. Thelma directed NYC's first and for a long while only Congolese dance company, Malaki Ma Kongo.

I could keep posting pictures and clips, but I would be posting about Minisink for the rest of the summer.

I will give you my one complaint about the class. The musicians had a great time, but they weren't really playing for the class or the dance.  They were having fun playing with and vibing with each other.

On May 23, 2010, I attended the 2nd annual African dance class at the Minisink Townhouses (Harlem, USA) with Baba Chuck Davis as the teacher.  I especially wanted to attend because, they planned a memorial that day for the drummer/musician, James Cherry.  I had the opportunity to have James play for my performing ensemble, wrote a review for Attitude's the Dancer's Monthly about a dance performance he played for, danced at classes he played and have many drumming friends who considered him a friend or an influence. This annual class serves as a reunion of New York City dancers and drummers, and especially those who had ties to the cultural renaissance that came from the Minisink Townhouses . Well, this 2nd annual class lived up to its purpose. I saw dancers and drummers, who I hadn't seen in quite some time. What was just as good was seeing and meeting some of the contemporary dancers and drummers who continue on the legacy of African dance and music.

For those who don't know, Chuck Davis, is the creator of DanceAfrica, a yearly concert series now held in several U.S. cities that promotes African dance whether its from the U.S., the Caribbean or the continent of Africa.

The video from my first blog post is from this class. More to come on the Minisink class.

What do you need? You need an open mind. If you have no exposure to African dance of any type, and if you find people who teach something traditional, it will probably not fit your imagination or stereotype of African dance.

The video clip, from So You Think You Can Dance with the great African dance choreography by Jeffrey Page has been removed by Youtube, so I've replaced it with a clip my own from the May 2010 dance class with Baba Chuck Davis in NYC.

If you listen to judge, Debbie Allen on that show speak about the technique of African dance, for some it may be surprising. Number one there is no ONE technique, because there are thousands on thousands of African dances. Some dances are grounded in the earth, and in some you take flight. Some dances are smooth and fluid, some acrobatic percussive.
Some movements look simple and are, some moves look simple and are not. Some moves look complicated and are, some moves look complicated and still are but for some reason you will find you have an affinity for it and that it isn’t the struggle you thought it would be.

The most important thing you need to know about African dance is that it is not a “primitive” dance but a classical dance, and so for you to develop a good technique and grow in your movement vocabulary will take time, but it will be worth it, so be patient. By the way, my friend Rudy Walker describes classic as meaning something of great artistry and complexity. That describes, African dance and African music.

I can't identify the young man in the video clip but, the sister is Kim Holmes, who's in arts education at Alvin Ailey. The tall elder is Baba Chuck Davis and you see Blak, a friend, whom I've worked with and Kevin Rainey, who I also know. They are all dancing Lamba, a Malinke dance.