UC RIVERSIDE Department of Dance
WE 3 PRODUCTIONS and “We The People” Cultural Dance Center
present the third annual

Inland Empire's Ultimate Doundounba Festival 2020
West African Drum and Dance
Join host Makeda Kumasi for a free six-week Saturday Zoom Class series in West African Drum and Dance as we engage in strength, wellness and community support that is the Doundounba.
Learn more

Djembe Class with Fode Sissoko - Online!

July 4, 2020 
Saturday, 10:30 am - 3:00 pm
FREE to the public

• Download the poster here

• Register in advance for this meeting. Click here
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

10:30 am Wellness and conditioning w/ Lori L. Hayes
12:00 pm Lunch Hour
1:00 pm Intro and Warm-up w/ Makeda Kumasi
1:30 pm Djembe Class with Fode Sissoko   

Showcasing Performances include: SHINE Muwasi, Bre Dance Studio, Tropicaleiza Dance and Drum Ensemble, Unity Dance Ensemble, Loyola STAR Drum and Dance, Umoja Ensemble of the Inland Empire

2020 Top Participant Competition: Festival participants are invited to email their 30-45 second Doundounba solo video link to clydean.parker@ucr.edu by July 17, 2020.

The video will be scored by our Panel of Elders who will help determine this year's Top Participant. Points will also be accumulated according to the competitors' participation in each Saturday class during the festival series. Participation points will be added to the Elder's scores. All attendees and competitors will receive a certificate of participation. Top Participant will also receive a prize package valued over $500, including a Mande instrument and a scholarship to study drum or dance with a master.

Elder Panel: Nzingha Camara, Janiece Blunt, JahAmen Mobley, Malik Sow
Other Participants include: Bara M'Boup, Will Gordon, Colette Eloi.

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About Fode Sissoko
Fode Sissoko is a master drummer, Kora player, composer and choreographer from Senegal, West Africa.  He is the grandson of Soundioulou Cissokho, known as king of the Kora and most renowned master in all of West Africa. Fode performed with Baba Olatunji for 9 years.  He began playing the Kora at age 5 and by 8 was playing the Djembe and Dun Dun Drums. Fode has toured Africa, Europe and the United States and is the founder of Fakoli Dance & Drum, an educational organization of music, drum, dance, and cultural exchange.  Fakoli means “the ancestor” in Mandinko, Fode’s native language. 

About Makeda Kumasi 
Makeda Kumasi is Founder / Artistic Director of The Umoja Ensemble of the Inland Empire (UEIE) and Co-founder of WE 3 PRODUCTIONS. UEIE is a performance group that has been “edutaining ” audiences through an African art aesthetic for over a decade. Makeda has toured with two prominent Southern California based performance companies, Abalaye African Drum and Dance Ensemble, and Niancho Eniyaley African Dance Performers. Makeda holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Education from the University of Phoenix. She teaches West African movement classes in the community and at the University of California, Riverside. In 2014, she received a Professional Development Grant to study West African Dance in Senegal. From her experience, Makeda has written two books: 12 Days in Senegal; An Artist’s Journey, which is a journal of her sabbatical, I See Hip Hop Afrika, a poetry/picture book, as well as produced a documentary short “12 Days in Senegal; An Artist’s Journey, Docu-Journal”.

About Lori L. Hayes 
Lori L. Hayes is a passionate dancer who has been teaching, choreographing and performing for more than 20 years. She has over 15 years experience lecturing at community colleges in the Inland Empire, as well as, teaching, facilitating and performing for numerous community outreach events. These endeavors include lecture demonstrations, workshops, festivals, and classes in Neo African movement, Modern Dance, Conditioning, Dance Appreciation and more. She toured for 10 years with the Avaz International Theater and has performed throughout Southern CA for more that 15 years with her dance groups "We The People" Cultural Dance and "FLO Motion Dance Ensemble." For the past three years she has joined artistic forces with Makeda Kumasi to bring Inland Empire's Ultimate Doundounba Festival to the community. Lori believes that dance is an essential part of her life and can be important to the lives of others as a powerful representation of culture and a source of emotional, spiritual and physical empowerment.    

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For more information email: dance@ucr.edu