{"id":9101,"date":"2023-09-15T14:34:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T18:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/femimagazine.com\/?p=9101"},"modified":"2023-09-15T14:41:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T18:41:05","slug":"pan-african-dance-ambassador-makeda-kumasi-celebrates-national-dance-day-as-california-arts-council-grant-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/femimagazine.com\/?p=9101","title":{"rendered":"Pan African Dance Ambassador Makeda Kumasi Celebrates National Dance Day as California Arts Council Grant Recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a global beacon for the Pan-African arts, Makeda Kumasi, founder of WE 3 PRODUCTIONS, has inspired adults and children alike as a respected resource, particularly throughout Los Angeles\u2019 Inland Empire.\u00a0\u00a0As the recent recipient and one of 26 individual artists to receive a\u00a0Creative Corps Inland Empire Grant\u00a0from the\u00a0California Arts Council\u00a0in addition to an individual\u00a0Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Culture\u00a0grant, Kumasi is observing\u00a0National Dance Day in a jubilant celebration!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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San Bernardino, CA –\u00a0Makeda Kumasi,\u00a0<\/strong>founder of\u00a0WE 3 PRODUCTIONS,<\/strong>\u00a0has been gracing stages professionally across California for over two decades as a phenomenal force with her dancing, teaching, directing, and performances.\u00a0\u00a0As a global beacon for the Pan-African arts, she has inspired adults and children alike as a respected resource, particularly throughout Los Angeles\u2019 Inland Empire.\u00a0\u00a0As the recent recipient and one of 26 individual artists to receive a\u00a0Creative Corps Inland Empire Grant\u00a0<\/strong>from the\u00a0California Arts Council<\/strong>\u00a0in addition to an individual\u00a0Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Culture\u00a0<\/strong>grant, Kumasi is observing\u00a0National\u00a0Dance Day in a jubilant celebration!\u00a0National Dance Day,\u00a0co-founded by\u00a0Nigel Lythgoe<\/strong>, the co-creator of \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance,\u201d and\u00a0Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton<\/strong>,\u00a0is acknowledged each year on the third Saturday in September to demonstrate support for dance as a form of valuable exercise and artistic expression.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a California Arts Council grant recipient, Kumasi will work in collaboration with\u00a0Joy Wilson<\/strong>\u00a0of Caribbean Joy Dance Group and\u00a0Monique Williams-Randolph<\/strong>\u00a0of Unity Dance Studio in Victorville, CA on a yearlong project,\u00a0\u201cDancing with the Leaders of the Inland Empire.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0The expansive endeavor will oversee interviews with local community and government leaders regarding their engagement and knowledge of the traditional dance practices from their culture and or contemporary styles they enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0The team will also implement West African, Caribbean, and jazz dance workshops; audition for choreography based on the dances mentioned in the leaders’ dance interviews; and produce three multimedia shows incorporating documentary video of the project leaders’ interviews, original choreography, and live music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Culture (ACTA) grant is a coveted individual artist stipend that allows Kumasi to repair and maintain the instruments used in her community youth program, \u201cThe Sesh Project,\u201d and further develop her \u201cSoulful Saturday Drum and Dance Class\u201d at Akoma Unity Center in San Bernardino, CA, while also providing financial support for her traveling Urban Djali Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis year\u2019s National Dance Day holds significant meaning for me.  Dance is more than movement, it\u2019s wholistic medicine for the body and mind. As an artist, these kinds of grants are crucial to our livelihood and the expansion of our creative articulations.  The California Arts Council\u2019s recognition of my commitment and efforts in the world of dance is affirming on so many levels. \u2018The Dancing with the Leaders\u2019 project is going to be groundbreaking and I\u2019m looking forward to our final productions.  On the other hand, the ACTA grant enables me to continue to expand my personal mission as an artist and culture bearer, shining a light on the beauty of Africa and sharing the healing that comes from participating in her diasporic arts,\u201d expresses Kumasi.
Makeda Kumasi is indeed a living embodiment of the beauty of dance. The founder of the art firm, WE 3 PRODUCTIONS, as well as the co-founder and artistic director of The Umoja Ensemble of the Inland Empire, she is a continuing lecturer at the University of California, Riverside in the Department of Dance, as well as a lecturer in the Department of Theater, Film and Digital Production.  Recently, Kumasi became an adjunct professor in the Performing Arts Department at Long Beach City College and her West African dance choreography will be featured in their upcoming fall production. Her work with children is equally impactful working extensively with the youth through various performing arts programs including \u201cThe Sesh Project\u201d through the Kumasi School of the Performing Arts.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Her career highlights are many and her personal accomplishments include book author titles, \u201c12 Days in Senegal: An Artist’s Journey,\u201d and \u201cI See Hip Hop Afrika.\u201d As a spoken word performance artist her debut musical release \u201cA Spoken Word Experience,\u201d is available on all music streaming platforms, and she has plans to tour an accompanying multimedia show, Urban Djali.\u00a0\u00a0She has been featured on MTV\u2019s \u201cStarting Over\u201d, BET\u2019s \u201cFly Poet\u201d, and, coincidentally, the first season of \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance?\u201d, hence a personal affinity for National Dance Day.\u00a0
A wife and mother of three children, and a caregiver for her mother who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis over 40 years ago, Makeda Kumasi is literally dancing through a litany of commitments that would overwhelm most. On National Dance Day and beyond, dance with her across social media on Instagram at\u00a0@makedakumasi, on Facebook at\u00a0@MakedaKumasi,\u00a0and online at\u00a0makedakumasi.net<\/a>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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