Main performance will be Cuba's Ballet Folklorica Cutumba
DanceAfrica is a Memorial Day weekend tradition at Brooklyn Academy of Music that offers a little bit of something for everyone. I usually visit the DanceAfrica outdoor bazaar to buy a basket every year and I’ve been to the main performance a couple of times. The audience usually dances through the entire performance and the aisles are full of people swaying, visiting and engaging with one another. In that way, it’s unlike any other performance I have ever seen at BAM.
The DanceAfrica weekend is the vision of Artistic Director Chuck Davis and it’s about celebrating the culture of Africa and its diaspora. This year BAM has engaged a Cuban-based ballet troupe, Cutumba, that will perform a combination of Afro-Cuban and Haitian styles of dancing. Cutumba last appeared at BAM in 2002 and were a favorite. They will be joined by Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble, Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble, and Brooklyn’s very own BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble for a program that promises to inspire.
Main Performance with Cutumba
May 27, 2011 at 7:30pm
May 28, 2011 at 2 & 7:30pm
May 29 & 30, 2011 at 3pm
DanceAfrica’s outdoor bazaar has over 200 vendors from all over the world that sell everything from sculptures to food. There will also be face painting and crafts at the Children’s Villae. It opens Saturday through the weekend and is located along Ashland Place between Hanson Place and Fulton Street. Rain or shine.
Outdoor Bazaar
Sat, May 28, 2011, 12noon—10pm
Sun, May 29, 2011, 12noon—8pm
Mon, May 30, 2011 12noon—8pm
(Hours subject to change)
Shop at the bazaar for a bit of everything
Master Family Class
Try a Master Class with Cutumba for families and adults on Saturday and Sunday at 11 am too. The family workshop
Family Workshop
Children and adults dance together
11am—12:15pm
$10 adults; $5 children 16 & under
Adult Workshop
Intermediate to advanced dance experience
11—12:30pm
$12
Would be pretty cool to learnd dance moves from this couple..no?