Dance students in Kuumba arts education program to perform at international dance conference in Dallas

Dance students in Kuumba arts education program to perform at international dance conference in DallasJanuary 22, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Ten dance students in the Kuumba urban arts education program, a collaborative program of the South Side Initiative (a collaboration of the Southside Community Coalition and Syracuse University) and the Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) in Syracuse, will get a chance to perform during an international dance conference in Dallas this week.

The students will perform during the Youth Showcase at the 20th International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) Conference, to be held Jan. 23-27 at the Westin City Center Dallas. The IABD preserves and promotes dance by people of African ancestry or origin and assists and increases opportunities for artists in networking, funding, performance, education and other areas.

The students attending the conference are Waniesha Allen, Tanira Brown-Torrence, Caroline Charles, Akeem Cotton, Deanna Eure, Ashley Green, Latrice Mills, Patrice Mills, Niquan Williams and Amani Wortham. They are accompanied by Carol Dandridge Charles, CFAC’s managing director. In addition to performing, the students will have the opportunity to attend panel discussions and master classes led by luminaries in the field.

“They will dance on the same stage as Ailey II, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the Dallas Black Dance Company, to name a few,” says Charles. “They will be exposed to the best dancers in the nation, as well as their peers. Moreover, they will be able to see their own possibilities and aspirations.”

The Kuumba Project, which began last fall, is a free, after-school, pre-professional arts education program developed by local professional artists that is aimed at enriching the lives and developing the artistic talent of creative children ages 11-14 in Syracuse through exposure to and instruction in the arts. Students meet every weekday afternoon at the CFAC for instruction in dance, music, theatre, literary arts and studio arts.

Other partners in the Kuumba Project include the Onondaga County Public Library, Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Department of African American Studies in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences.