UC RIVERSIDE Department of Dance

UCR Doundounba Festival 2021
West African Drum and Dance - Online! 

Join host Makeda Kumasi for a free three-week Saturday Zoom Class series in West African Drum and Dance as we engage in strength, wellness and community support that is the Doundounba.

May 15 - 29, 2021  
Saturdays, 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm (PDT) 
FREE to the public

• Film Festival 
• Community Forum 
• Classes in West African Drum and Dance

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

May 15 
Film Festival and Community Forum:  
• Documentary Films by Makeda Kumasi and Imani Maat 
• Discussion with Master Dancer Moustapha Bangoura and Dunham Scholar Janice Blunt  
• Introduction to West African Dance and the Doundounba with Moustapha Bangoura & Company, direct from Guinea, West Africa
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*May 22 
Introduction to West African Drums with Master Drummer Bara M’Boup and Will Gordon
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*May 29 
Master Dance Class with Master Dancer Mouminatou Camara
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*Classes will begin with Kemetic Yoga and conditioning lead by Makeda Kumasi

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 two decades. 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”.

For more information email: dance@ucr.edu 

Photo: Mouminatou Camara