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DSA West African Dance students bring Kwanzaa to the community
This year the Detroit School of the Arts will offer its Kwanzaa celebration to the public for the first time.
The program Seven Seeds, One Harvest: The Chronicles of Kwanzaa will feature African drumming, spoken word performances, visual art and a student-led fashion show.
The DSA has celebrated Kwanzaa since the 1990s. The annual event is sponsored by the dance department, but incorporates the work of all seven arts majors at the school.
“Typically our Kwanzaa program is a school assembly because it’s designed as a cultural learning opportunity for students,” says DSA principal Mayowa Reynolds.
Reynolds introduced Kwanzaa to DSA when she was a new teacher at the school in 1999. She credits current West African dance instructor Imani Ma’at AknhmenRa Amen Taylor with building the program to a level that’s ready for the masses.
Ma’at AknhmenRa Amen Taylor is a Kresge Arts Fellow and teaches West African dance to all of the dance majors and as physical fitness to all DSA students.
“The significance here at DSA is that as students who are going to go out into the world as artists, that they are deeply rooted in their own culture,” says Principal Mayowa Reynolds.
The event is also a fundraiser for dance students who have been invited to travel and train with the National Ballet of Guinea next year.
Seven Seeds, One Harvest: The Chronicles of Kwanzaa is Friday, December 12 at 7 p.m. at the Detroit School of the Arts at 123 Selden Street in Detroit.
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