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West African Dance Class with Joh Camara!
Move, Connect, and Energize with Live Drumming—All Levels Welcome! Drop In Saturdays at Raices Latin Dance.
Drop ins welcome. All levels welcome. Pay what you can.
Learn the dances of Mali, Guinea and Ivory Coast and dance to live drumming at one of the most energetic classes offered in New England. Students will benefit from Joh's masterful teaching for all levels of dancers. Come experience drummers playing the djembe and djun-djun drums while people dance and sing to the rhythms. This class introduces students to the spiritual, social, psychological, and physical healing of traditional West African dance. Students will develop body strength and flexibility by learning intricate feet patterns, hand movements, and body techniques. Each class will include a warm-up, break-down of the movements, and high energy dancing, and will close with a community dance circle.
About Joh Camara
Sidi Mohamed Camara, popularly known as “Joh,” was born in Bamako, Mali in West Africa. Surrounded by great artists and musicians as a child, Joh started traditional dance and drumming at the age of five. On his father’s side, he comes from the Camara ancestry that ruled in Mande Society. However, he mastered the art of music and dance from his mother, Fanta Kamissoko, a well-known Jali. Jalis, also known as Griots, are highly venerated in their traditional society as skilled oral historians who are not only singers, storytellers, and musicians, but also advisors and mediators.
With his award-winning dance companies (Troupe Sewa, Troupe Mande, Troupe du District de Bamako, and Percussion Fabla), Joh has toured the Republic of Mali and many countries in West Africa presenting hundreds of shows. As Chief Choreographer of Troupe Mande and Troupe Sewa, Joh led them to become among the most renowned and competitive troupes in the world of West African dance and drumming.
In 1995, with the famous Zani Diabate and Troupe Mande, Joh came to the United States. In a very short time, he was presenting and teaching at some of our most prestigious universities: Brown, Princeton, Brandeis, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Berklee School of Music, Boston University, Washington University, and Olympia (Washington State). He currently teaches in numerous Boston Public Schools and other public and private schools and community centers. He also collaborates with organizations such as: Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Youth Orchestra and Choir, Upward Bound, Planet Aid and others. Nationally, Joh has presented at various museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. He has also taught at various dance and music conferences.
Joh presently resides in Boston, where he continues to teach traditional Mande culture, language, music, and dance as well as those of neighboring Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. In addition to holding weekly classes in Boston and touring the United States, Canada, and France, he currently teaches at various community centers and instructs a semester dance and drumming class at Boston University and Harvard University. Through his willingness to share at national conferences, community workshops, and academic engagements, Joh continues to enhance cross-cultural exchanges and to make a positive imprint on the fabric of cultural arts and education in America.