The African Dance Residency audition/rehearsal is postponed until next week—Tuesday, January 31. If you are interested in joining the group, contact Ms. Jeannine Osayande at josayande@ursinus.edu.

 

The African Dance Residency returns with Ms. Jeannine Osayande and Dunya Performing Arts Co!

Audition/first class: Tuesday, January 31, 4:30 to 7:00 p.m., Helfferich Dance Studio

(cast will register for Dance Repertory)

Rehearsals: Tuesdays, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. (with a Residency Weekend to be determined)

 

Jeannine Osayande is a teaching artist, choreographer and educator of Diasporic West African dance and drum traditions for 38 years. Ms. Jeannine adheres to the West African Proverb, “Good dancing and drumming restores the community to wholeness.” She is founder and director of Dunya Performing Arts Company, specializing in Art in Education programs, commissioned choreographic works, lecture demonstrations, and Art for Social Change projects. She apprenticed with De Ama Battle and Bamidele Osumarea, The Art of Black Dance and Music, Boston, MA; her mentors include: Ibrahima Camara, Koumpo/Sahal, of Senegal; and Prof. F. Nii Yartey, Noyam African Dance Institute, Ghana. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Temple University, and a Certificate in Traditional and Contemporary African Dance from Noyam African Dance Institute and the Ghana Board of Education. Ms. Jeannine serves on the Board of The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, and is co-Chair of The Philadelphia Folklore Project’s Board of Directors. Ms. Jeannine has been a guest artist and lecturer of dance at Ursinus College for nine years. In 2017, Jeannine Osayande & Dunya Performing Arts Company became Roster Artists with Young Audiences of New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania, and celebrated a 25-year collaboration of Art in Education with The Swarthmore Rutledge School.