DanceAfrica Master Classes

Every year, the BAM Department of Education and Humanities offers public master classes taught by the visiting dance company to DanceAfrica. The tentative date for 2004 is May 23. Check this website in the spring for more information.

BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble For the past seven years, BAM and the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) have collaborated in an arts and humanities education program in conjunction with BAM's DanceAfrica festival, an annual celebration of African culture held every Memorial Day weekend, founded by Artistic Director Chuck Davis in 1977. Each year, BAM and Restoration offer approximately 400 students enrolled in Restoration programs an extensive humanities curriculum focusing on the country of the visiting dance company. These companies come from Africa or the African Diaspora to New York to participate in DanceAfrica. The curriculum includes lectures, workshops, and field trips on the history and arts of the country. Restoration students are introduced to that country's visual arts, and the young artists' work is exhibited in BAM's community garden, transforming it into an African Sculpture Garden, during DanceAfrica weekend. The students also study creative writing as part of their immersion in the arts and African culture, culminating in a Poetry Slam.

As a highlight of this learning process, a select group of about thirty dance students, who form the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble, works intensively with the visiting dance company. The project culminates with the two companies dancing together in public performances at BAM on the stage of the 2000-seat Howard Gilman Opera House