Special thanks to organizers of Camp Fareta!
12:48 PM
This past
weekend was my first time at Camp Fareta!!
It’s a 6-day drum and dance boot
camp in California, led by the world’s greatest spartans of West African dance & music and our
dear friends, including Youssouf Koumbassa, Aziz Faye, Bolokada Conde, Mbembe
Bangoura, Moustapha Bangoura, Mabiba Baegne, Abdoulaye Sylla, Djeneba Sako, Wadaba Kourouma, Mangue Sylla, Sista
Jewel, and several others.
Me, giving it aaaall to the dance floor and more, during an electric Soko, taught by Moustapha Bangoura of Guinea.
The organizers Youssouf Koumbassa, Christina Tuccillo, and Sarah Lee Parker Mansare, and team, are
simply angles to me and the oodles of people they inspire through this event.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! This was a priceless experience!! The dance fireworks I learned
were simply the greatest. Right when I think I’ve witnessed the pinnacle of
African Dance & Music, events like this reveal the astronomical depth of
this art and the love the people bring.
The Grandmaster teachers of Camp Fareta!
I am forever transformed, and determined to push my work to uncharted
levels of creativity, power, and expressiveness. In addition to the dance and drum, people and
possibilities is what I love about Camp Fareta!!
The camp gathers together such
a diverse and fierce force of professionals-- dancers, doctors, lawyers, and
drummers, you get an education on many levels and a network of friends who are
so eager to seize the great opportunity that is life itself. I also loved the camp grounds, located in the
mountains an hour outside Fresno California. The shared cabins were delightful;
the showers piping hot; the terrain, hilly and serene; and the crisp air,
beautiful trees and lake -- an antidote to fatigue.
I only spent two days at
Camp Fareta and I am a fan forever. I will go to Camp Fareta forever!! I want
to thank every single person, adult and child, Grand master and student,
organizer and supporter. This is what the world needs, and this is a dancer’s
dream come true.
-- Malena
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