October 2, 2006
For Immediate Release
For an interview:
Kim Strunk
(801) 863-7225
West African Dancer to Teach Classes at UVSC
UVSC modern, ballet and African dance students will have the chance to learn from West African dancer Youssouf Koumbassa October 2-5 in UVSC’s Liberal Arts Building. Koumbassa is currently in residence at the UVSC Department of Dance from Guinea, West Africa. The public is welcome to watch, but only students already enrolled in the specific classes will be allowed to participate.
Koumbassa, an internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer and musician, has taught African workshops across the country, and was named artist of the year in Guinea, West Africa in 2005. Kim Strunk, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Dance at UVSC, studied with Koumbassa in Africa. Strunk, who teaches African dance at the College, said she is grateful for the opportunity for her students to learn African dance from someone native to Africa.
Koumbassa’s own master drummers will accompany him for each class. The drums provide a poly-rhythmic beat, which Strunk said contributes to the full-bodied, pulsating movements that characterize West African dance.
“West African dancing is a beautiful, complex, high-energy dance form that is actually the roots of today’s hip-hop dancing,” she said. “The only things that are changed are the shoes, the music and the clothes they wear.”
In addition to teaching classes, Koumbassa will also choreograph an African piece for the Contemporary Dance Ensemble, UVSC’s new pre- professional company, which they will perform in the spring.
For more information on class times and days, contact Kim Strunk at (801) 863-7225, or at strunkki@uvsc.edu.
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College Marketing Contact:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written by:
Valerie Chapman
(801) 863-8504
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