Skin I’m In LLC in partnership with CD Forum
present the second part of a two-part series of Intimate Conversations | Special Topic
The Whitening of African Dance, Part 2 Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 3PM Pacific Time (6PM Eastern Time)
Conversation will be live streamed on CD Forum's Facebook & YouTube
This panel discussion co-moderated by Dani Tirrell & Lakema Bell, is the second conversation looking into black women experiences in the African Dance community locally and globally. A conversation around the gradual to almost sudden take over of black spaces by the dominate culture. A time to acknowledge and begin healing from trauma induced experiences. A SOUL FILLED conversation for us by us.
Panelists include Muisi-kongo Malonga, Dr. Orisade I. Awodola, Makeda Ebube, and Sumayaa Diop. Read more about Lakema Bell and the guests below.
Lakema Bell
Lakema Bell, is an African Centered Thought Artist, Change Agent, Community Activist, Choreographer, Event and Grant Manager, Motivator, Coach, wife of 20 years and mother of 4. She is the CEO of the Skin I’m In LLC an African Centered organization that teaches self and body confidence using African Dance as the mechanism of overstanding and knowing self.
She is a founding member of Otunoba African Dance theater one of the oldest African Dance companies in the Pacific Northwest. She currently teaches African dance at Northwest Tap Connection and for the Renton School district.
Lakema also is the Get Moving Initiative Coordinator for the City of Seattle where
she received the Excellence in Leadership award in Race and Social Justice from
the Seattle Management Association for her innovative work with community
engagement and inclusive outreach to communities afflicted from health
disparities.
Her program she created has been identified and validated as the only one in the
nation of its kind through the University of Washington Masters of Public Health
Community Oriented Practice program. The Get Moving Initiative has earned her
2 additional awards last year: A National Parks and Recreation Association Ethnic
Minority Society Achievement Award for Innovative Recreation Programming and
a Washington Recreation & Park Association Innovative Marketing & Outreach
Spotlight Award.
Lakema’s younger brother Kareem died in 2016 due to complications of the
mental illness Schizophrenia. Kareem lived with this illness for 16 years, in this
time, Lakema through several introspective moments with assisting her mother
and brother with the dominate culture system infrastructures has developed a
passion around black health specifically mental wellness and securing the future
for upcoming generations.
Muisi-Kongo S. Malonga
Cultural caretaker, teaching and performing artist and arts administrator, Muisi-kongo’s arts practice is steeped in a staunch Bay area legacy of cultural preservation, social justice and service through art. For the past nine years, she has served as Executive Artistic Director of Fua Dia Congo (Fua), a 43 year old Oakland-based cultural and performing arts organization founded by pioneering master artist Malonga Casquelourd. A performing member with the company for over 20 years and a lifelong apprentice of traditional Congolese cultural art forms, she remains committed to protecting, preserving and passing on the rich traditions of the Kongo people.
Muisi-kongo’s experience in the arts field has enabled her to serve in a number of capacities, including principal dancer, director, teaching artist, recording artist, writer, producer, curator, and development professional. She is an extension of a powerful family legacy of excellence through service, art, leadership and scholarship, and continues the work of her parents Dr. Faye McNair-Knox and Malonga Casquelourd and their parents before them. Some of her most notable honors include: 2017 Creative Work Fund Award in Traditional Arts, 2017-18 Emerging Arts Professional Fellowship, several posts as Guest Lecturer in Stanford University’s Theater and Performance Studies Department (Dance Division) and a 2014 commissioning of her original solo work “Kimpa Vita!” by CounterPulse.
Malonga grew up between her 2 hometowns, Little Nairobi, CA (East Palo Alto) and Oakland, CA, and her roots extend from Bassfield, Mississippi and Augusta, Georgia to the Republic of Congo.
Dr. Orisade I. Awodola, M.A., PH.D.
Dr. Awodola is a Root Psychologist, Author, Lecturer, and Researcher. Her former background as an Investigative Journalist led to a career in Psychology with an extensive clinical and academic
background in mental health approaches.
She taught at the University of the District of Columbia where she launched Root Psychology in her doctoral work, an alum of the Washington School of Psychiatry in Washington, D.C., facilitated Ancestral Healing Workshops in London and Accra
Ghana at the W.E.B. Dubois Cultural Center.
Today she serves on the King County Behavioral Health Advisory Board, a MIDD professional (mental illness and drug dependency) formerly known as (co-occurring disorders) and the founder of the Institute of African Centered Thought (IACT) in Seattle that offers Root Psychology based on her Ancestral Healing Identity Theory with other courses created to enhance and motivate mental wellness approaches through its specialized training programs to African-Centered mental health professionals.
Visit www.iactnow0119.com for more information on the Dr. Awodola's work with the Institute of African Centered Thought (IACT). Or contact IACT at iact0119@gmail.com.
Makeda Ebube
Makeda Ebube, M.A.Ed, African-Centered-Philosophy Educational Consultant, is an international Artist
who has travelled to Canada, Kenya, Ghana, Guinea and twice to Egypt (Kemet).
In 2007, Makeda travelled to Egypt with the Association For The Study of Classical African Civilizations ASCAC where she accompanied the Great Queen Nzinga Ratibisha Heru, former International President of ASCAC, Dr. Asa Hillard III, Dr. Leonard Jefferies, Dr. Rosalind Jefferies, Legrand Clegg, Dr. Theophile Obenga, Dr. Wade Nobels, and Dr. Na-im Akbar on a scholarly study of African Civilizations.
Makeda holds a Master’s Degree in Education with a focus on utilizing African movement as an epistemology and a catalyst to self-actualize. She is Oakland born and raised and now resides in Seattle
Washington. Makeda is the recipient of the 2008 King County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award for numerous volunteer works with young people and her dedication to the African community.
Makeda is awarded by Dr. Ndugu Khan, Babalawo of Efa/Orisha, the health Certification of Uan Tai[Chi Chi=Kng, part & 2, from the Eclectic Institute Conference in Egypt on the Nile. She most recently received the African Fashion week Seattle 2019 Best Runway Model award.
Makeda is an educator, performer, movement specialist, dance instructor, choreographer, model and an intrinsic healer who is sought after to bring forth the messages of the Ancestors. Makeda is called upon to perform for weddings, home going ceremonies and important engagements that are essential to the wellness of the community. Makeda has taught African Dance, for 30 plus years. She is well known for leading large groups of people utilizing movement for community building.
Makeda honors her Academic Master Teachers, Dr. Maxine Mimms, Dr. Ruth Kelly-McIntyre and Professor Ophelia Taylor-Walker and her Community Academic Master Teacher, Dr. Hoy Hardiman. Also, Cultural Master Dance Teacher Marie Basse Wiles, Naomi Diouf, Amadou Boly, Youssouf Koumbassa, Malonga Casquelourd, M’Byero Patrice Louvouezo, Biza Sompa, Regine N’Dounda, Mabiba Baegne, and Sador Diabankouezi.
Makeda is a relentless learner seeking continual elevation as a reflective practitioner.
Sumayaa Diop
Sumayya E. Diop is a teaching artist in dance & drum, choreographer, actor, and administrator, whose artistic goals and aspirations are rooted in the love of dance theatre. She is the co founder and program director for Griot Gurlz, an organization that presents, produces and
supports dancers & theatre artists, and dances of the African Diaspora while providing a number of diverse programs for youth, young adults and adults. As a performer and teaching artist, Sumayya has created and presented works in both traditional influenced African and contemporary African dance styles. Sumayya has contributed to the field of dance, music, and theatre through performance, instruction, and program development. Sumayya is passionate about sharing the dance, song and music of the African Diaspora, and bringing youth to the stage using performance as a vehicle for increased self confidence, esteem, and awareness.
