Dance Place resident company, Coyaba Dance Theater, celebrates 18 years with a performance of traditional and contemporary West African dance and music. Join us for this fun-filled family affair at on Saturday, January 24 at 8pm and Sunday, January 25 at 4pm.
About Coyaba Dance Theater
Coyaba Dance Theater was founded in 1997 by Founder/Artistic Director Sylvia Soumah, who has dedicated her life to providing African dance, drumming and music performance opportunities for her students from ages three to 100 years old. The mission of Coyaba Dance Theater is to present traditional and contemporary West African dance and music focusing on the diverse ethnic groups and various humanitarian themes of West African culture and the African Diaspora. Coyaba Dance Theater performs throughout the year and has been featured at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Publick Playhouse, the Lincoln Theater, the Lisner Auditorium, Dance Place, the Chicago Theater and the World Culture Open in Seoul, South Korea. Coyaba Dance Theater has also performed OutReach/InReach dance and drumming workshops for Dance Place, the Smithsonian, the Washington Performing Arts Society in Washington, DC and The Concoran Gallery of Art. They are a two-time recipient of a Metro DC Dance Award for Outstanding Group Performance.
About Sylvia Soumah
Sylvia Soumah’s formal training begin in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she majored in Modern Dance and Vocal Music with various modern, jazz and voice instructors at the school for Creative and Performing Arts. In those early years, she performed with the Cincinnati Opera in productions such as Carmen, Show Boat, and Amahl and the Night Visitors and in Musical Theater productions including The Music Man, Guys & Dolls and The Wiz (National Theater in Washington DC). Further studies in modern dance and creative movement led Ms. Soumah to expand her interest to Early Childhood Education at the University of Cincinnati.
In 1992, she began her extensive study of West African Dance under the tutelage of Aidoo Holmes, Founder/Artistic Director of Wose Dance Theater. With this company Sylvia not only learned the importance of the African dance technique and solo performance, she learned to drum and sing as well. With Wose, she had the privilege to study and tour with some of the best African artists of the National Ballet of the Republic of Guinea, Moustapha Bangoura, Mabinity Bangoura, Legendary Fadiba Olare, Djembe Fola Mamady Keita and Yamousa Soumah.
WHAT: Coyaba Dance Theater
WHEN: Saturday, January 24 at 8pm and Sunday, January 25 at 4pm
WHERE: Dance Place, 3225 8th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017; two blocks from Redline Brookland/CUA Metro station; free and convenient parking
TICKETS: $30 Admission At the Door; $25 Admission (Advance Sales only)*; $20 Dance Place Members, Seniors (55+), Artists (Advance Sales only)*; $15 College Students and Children (17 & under)
*Advance Sales end 4 hours prior to performance start time.
To purchase tickets, visit danceplace.org or call 202.269.1600
