Part 1 of 3 - Afro Urban Dance Workshops Vol. 9

Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc. presents Afro Urban Dance Workshops (AUDW) Vol 9: Traditional Jamaican Folk Dance and Tap. A celebration & recognition of popular Afro-Diasporic dances that will allow you to delve deep in movements and education about African traditional, street and social dances contributing to the urban setting of Calgary.

Join us for our ninth installment of our AUDW series highlighting modern dance styles from Africa and the Afro-Diaspora!

We are excited to present these two dance styles to you and can't wait for you to join us!

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

Kevin Ormsby - Traditional Jamaican Folk Dance

10 am - 12 pm

Class Description: Experience sequences drawing from traditional Jamaica folk dance such as Kumina and Jonkonnu to shaping afro-contemporary dance. The class will support and encourage linking Jamaican traditional dance styles relationship to Dancehall and Afro contemporary dance vocabulary.

M’Kayla Kongnetiman - Tap

1pm - 3 pm

Class Description: Learn about how Tap history and Black history are weaved together in a powerful full bodied expression of movement.

Experience Tap that connects to the root of the ancestors and the continued evolution of vibrant contemporary rhythms.

TICKETS:

One Workshop (Either Traditional Jamaican Folk Dance OR Tap): $30

Both Workshops: $50

NOTE: This is one of four AUDW that is happening in July. The other dates are July 20, 22 and 27 and the guest dance artists are teaching Step, Vernacular Jazz, Mbokalisation (Kongo) and Hip Hop.

Contact Nicole at [email protected] if you have any questions or for more information.

Kevin A. Ormsby

Artistic Director of KasheDance and Program Manager at Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO), where he delivers EDI programming for clients including the National Ballet of Canada, Canada’s National Ballet School, and Luminato Festival.

Kevin A. Ormsby has performed in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. Finalist for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize 2021, he is a recipient of Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch – Staunton Award, an Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Fellowship, and Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leaders Fellow.Faculty member of Centennial College’s Dance Performance Program he has been a Guest Artist at U-West Indies (Mona), UW-Madison, Northwestern University, and UT- Austin.

He’s on the Boards of Dance Collection Danse, Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, and previously Canadian Dance Assembly, Prologue to the Performing Arts, and Nia Centre for the Arts, where he was Chair of Canada’s first professional multi-disciplinary centre for African-Canadian art.

M’Kayla Kongnetiman

M’Kayla’s artistic journey began at the age of three after she took her first ballet class and never looked back. M’Kayla has had the opportunity to perform and compete all across the world at various dance competitions, conventions & intensives including places like Germany, New York City, Seattle and Las Vegas.

M’Kayla was also a part of the 2019 Team Canada National Tap team that competed in Reisa, Germany. M’Kayla is currently studying at The University of Calgary, working towards a Bachelor of Arts inDance, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Economic and completing her first year of Decidedly Jazz Professional Training Program.

M’Kayla performed in an ensemble group and featured soloist in Michele Moss’ 2021 “Why Dance” (contemporary & jazz). As a first generation Canadian with first generation immigrant parents that were born in Suriname, South America, M’Kayla often utilizes her technical training by incorporating aspects of her everyday life as a Black woman in North America to express herself through movement.

This connection provides her the opportunity to volunteer in different dance studios in Suriname through the YEEPI Foundation. She is a young choreographer that works in the stylings of Contemporary, Jazz, and a specialty in Tap. Currently, she is teaching at Elite Dance Academy & Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary, Alberta, where she choreographs for all ages, both recreationally and competitively. Teaching is something that M’Kayla has always had passion for, and she hopes to spread her knowledge.

Host or Publisher Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc.