Study  the celebrated music and dance of Guinea, West Africa

December 27, 2012-January 17, 2013

For more information, please contact:
info@duniyadance.com or
510.213.1537

click here for photos of last year’s trip!

Bongo Sidibe is a celebrated musician from Conakry, Guinea, West Africa. He studied drumming with master Mamady Keita. Come stay in a house with members of Bongo’s family in the Matoto neighborhood of Conakry, and take daily classes in music and dance. You will be fed home-cooked meals everyday. The price of the trip includes excursions to Rom Island, and another beautiful natural site outside of Conakry.

December 27-January 17th

Come for as little as 1 week or up to
3 weeks (if you wish to come earlier and/or stay longer, please contact us)

Price:
$550/week if you register before August 1st, $600/week after August 1st

Price includes: lodging, 3 home-cooked meals/day (vegetarian options available), transportation to/from airport, 2 dance and/or drum classes per day, performances at the house, trips outside of Conakry and to Rom Island.

Price does not include airfare, visa, vaccinations, local transportation for
non-group related activities.

$500 deposit due upon registration. Balance due on October 1st.

Cancellation Fees:

$200 if you cancel before 09/1/12

$400 if you cancel before 10/1/12

$600 if you cancel after 10/1/12

100% after start of trip

Sample daily schedule:
8-9am Breakfast
9-11:00am Dance Class
11am-1pm Drum Class
1pm-3pm Lunch/free time
3-5pm Drum Class
5-7pm Dance Class

There will be two dance classes and two drum classes per day
Monday through Friday. We may alter the schedule and add classes
depending the students different levels.
Drum students will also get the chance to play for dance classes.
Weekends will be either free, or for travel outside of Conakry.

Dance and drum teachers will be from Bongo’s company, Balandougou Kan. We will attend performances and rehearsals of local ballets, and also invite performers to the house to do shows. You will have the opportunity to attend Doundounba parties.

Registration Information
To register, please send an email to: info@duniyadance.com. We will send you a registration form that you can mail back to us with your $500 deposit.

Participants are required to get a visa from the Guinean Embassy in Washington D.C. accompanied by a letter from Duniya Dance and Drum Company. A yellow fever vaccine is required to enter any African country. Please check the Center for Disease Control website for any recommended vaccines. Once you are registered you will receive information on getting a visa and a plane ticket.

Wontanara (we are together)!

Duniya Dance and Drum Company will perform as specials guests at the SF World Percussion Arts Festival, with Wontanara Revolution at the Saturday after-party!

A Rhythmic Celebration Of World Percussion and Dance!
Taiko, Tabla, African Drumming and More!!!!
SF’s Only World Percussion Festival!

TICKETS HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/229541

Please join us Saturday night, immediately following the show for an after-party with Wontanara Revolution, also at Dance Mission. Tickets are $10 for the after-party and can also be purchased at the above link.

Duniya Dance and Drum Company and Bissap Baobab present:
Bhangra-Bollywood Cabaret

Featuring an exclusive Senegalese dinner, live dance performances by Duniya Dance and Drum Company, tabla music by Neil Prasad. Followed by an open floor for your dancing pleasure with DJ Neil.

Friday March 2nd, 6pm-midnight
Bissap Baobab
3372 19th St., San Francisco
$35 admission, includes dinner, performances and dancing
Purchase Your Tickets Here Now

No-host bar open all evening, beginning with 6pm Happy Hour.
Sit-down dinner at 7pm and Cabaret Show at 7:30pm.

There are many ways to support Duniya’s creative work and teaching. Your donations directly fund new costumes, and hiring professional editors to put together our videos from “Half and Halves,” and “Lanyee,” so that we can continue to promote and perform these shows. They also help us to secure rehearsal space, create our promotional materials, and cover general operating expenses. All tax-deductable donations are made through our fiscal sponsor, Dancers’ Group (dancersgroup.org).

Checks: Checks should be made payable to our fiscal sponsor – Dancers’ Group (please note “Duniya Dance and Drum Company” in the memo field)– and mail to the following address: 1832 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94131. (If you make the check out to Duniya, it will not be tax-deductible, so please keep this in mind when writing a check).

PayPal: To make a donation online through PayPal, please visit the Dancers’ Group donation page.

In Kind: In-kind donations (office supplies, costume materials, etc.) and volunteer support are greatly appreciated. Please contact info@duniyadance.com for information on how to donate and/or volunteer.

We appreciate your support!

October 2, 2011

January 2012

Rootboy – Wontanara Revolution from Amit Dubey on Vimeo.

November 2011

Duniya Dancehall Friday February 3 features

Duniya Dance and Drum Company + Wontanara Revolution!

Duniya Dancehall is a unique event featuring live dance, live music and a fantastic DJ or two. We mix Bhangra, Bollywood, African and Reggae music and dance all into one night and call it a party. We won’t be throwing this event every month this year, so come check us out while you can.

What happens when you mix Bhangra, House and Dancehall? We’ll be presenting an exciting piece which will answer that question. Come on the earlier side for dance performances and a Bhangra lesson with Duniya Dance and Drum Company, and stay late to get your dance on with Wontanara Revolution!

Cover is only $5!

Friday February 3 at Baobab Village, 10pm
3372 19th St., San Francisco
$5 cover

Check out our video from November’s Duniya Dancehall: Duniya Dancehall

And here is the new video from Wontanara Revolution!: Root Boy

June 6-10, come dance in the redwoods with Joti and members of Duniya Dance and Drum Company! The camp includes many styles of dance including Bollywood, West African, Bhangra, Bellydance, Flamenco, Moroccan Berber dance as well a variety of music classes.

Check out this video of Joti’s class at Kosmos!

Learn more about Kosmos Camp by clicking here.

November 2011

November 2010

“Half and Halves: A Dance Exploration of the Punjabi-Mexican Communities of California”

Saturday, November 19, 7pm
Roosevelt High School Auditorium
4250 E. Tulare Avenue
Fresno, CA

An exploration in dance of the little-known cultural legacies of Punjabi-Mexican communities founded in California in the early 20th century inspires the collaboration of Bhangra dancer/choreographer Joti Singh with her company Duniya Dance and Drum Company and Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco. Half and Halves takes as its subject matter the establishment and impacts of mixed Punjabi and Mexican families that began in the early 20th century as a result of strict immigration and marriage laws, social pressures and conventions and gives the story wings within the rich dance forms and histories of these cultures that are central to the story of California and the West. The story holds particular relevance for Americans today as immigration laws and cultural identities are at the forefront of government policy and the news, and the piece takes its name from the slang term for the children of Punjabi-Mexican parents.

The performance features over 26 dancers and live music. The work will feature both Mexican Folklorico dance, as well as Bhangra, a high energy harvest and celebration dance from Punjab, India, exploring themes related to farming life, marriage, immigration, and racial and ethnic discrimination. The choreographers also explore dance in this performance that does not neatly fit into one genre or another, drawing inspiration from the complex cultural identities of these communities and the issues and challenges they faced.

More info and tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/206285!

Duniya Dance and Drum Company and the African Advocacy Network present “Lanyee,” a spectacular performance of high energy West African dance and music.

3 shows only!
Friday Sept. 30 and Saturday Oct. 1, 8pm
Sunday Oct. 2, 6pm
Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., San Francisco

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/192624
$15/adv, $20/door

Duniya Dance and Drum Company and the African Advocacy Network present “Lanyee,” a spectacular performance of high energy West African dance and music.

Directed by Bongo Sidibe, “Lanyee” follows the story of a man named Mamadou, who leaves his disharmonious village in a quest for peace. He encounters many obstacles along the way, but Mamadou finally reaches a land of musicians and dancers, and brings them back to his village, showing his king and fellow countrymen how art has the ability to bring people of different ethnicities and classes together.

Featuring some of West Africa’s most highly acclaimed dancers and musicians, including Bongo Sidibe, Alseny Soumah, Karamo Susso, Mohammed Kouyate, Ousseynou Kouyate, Balandugu Kan Los Angeles, and more. This performance has been generously supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Arts and Communities Innovative Partnerships grant and Dancers’ Group’s New Stages for Dance program. Leadership support for the New Stages Dance Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation.

For more information about the African Advocacy Network and its supporting role in the production, please visit www.aansf.org.

The AAN serves the growing diaspora with community-based services focusing in legal assistance, employment counseling, housing guidance, psycho-social case management, and health education.