DanceAfrica Miami debuts at Seventh Annual African Diaspora
Miami is the latest city to be added to the nationwide DanceAfrica festival network to join the likes of New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
The festival is made possible in part to a grant awarded by the Knight Foundation.
DanceAfrica Miami makes its debut at the Seventh Annual African Diaspora Dance and Drum Festival of Florida (A.D.D.D.F.F) on Friday, Aug. 5 to Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016 at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex and the Miramar Cultural Center. As the country’s most renowned festival celebrating African dance, music, and culture, the three-day cultural weekend includes a concert extravaganza, international dance performances, and a series of cultural, artistic, and educational programming.
The return of DanceAfrica Miami is spearheaded by Delou Africa, following a nearly 20-year hiatus since it was last hosted in Miami in 1997 at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus.
DanceAfrica Miami expands and enhances Delou Africa’s annual concert with a headlining performance by New York’s famed Forces of Nature Dance Theater, which celebrates 35 years of producing ballets.
The line-up also includes the West African Dance and Drum Collective featuring world-renowned native African dance artists and professional drummers/musicians.
Performances will also feature diverse and talented local artists representing Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S., including the Delou Africa Dance Ensemble, Nancy St. Leger Dance Ensemble, Sikan Afro-Cuban Dance Project, African Watoto Dance Theater, and the Children of Kuumba. South Florida’s daughter of poetry, Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns, will emcee the concert.
Delou Africa Dance Ensemble
Immediately following Saturday's concert, a gala reception fundraiser will benefit Delou’s ongoing programs with entertainment to include Pantastick Steel Orchestra, Fun Generation costume mask showcase for the 2016 Miami Broward One Carnival, and DJ Isis and DJ Bunny.
The three-day, high-spirited, family friendly multi-cultural arts weekend is part of Delou Africa’s commitment to bridge cultural gaps and expand cultural engagement through artistic education for the entire family.
Attendees will enjoy African, contemporary, and Caribbean dance, drum, and music workshops, international dance choreographers, the Better Living Health Fair, a global bazaar and artisan marketplace, and the Children’s Village Zone featuring dance, drum, arts and crafts, African folktale, face painting, and back-to-school book bag give-away. South African Airways is also sponsoring a raffle drawing for two round trip tickets to South Africa.
Nationally acclaimed as the festival of all African dance and music festivals in the U.S., DanceAfrica was created during the 1960s under the artistic direction of Chuck Davis. Over the course of nearly four decades, DanceAfrica has grown as a movement to showcase the rich social, religious, and ceremonial traditions of African heritage through performance, art, film, and community events.
African Diaspora Dance and Drum Festival of Florida
DanceAfrica Miami and the 7th Annual African Diaspora Dance and Drum Festival of Florida will be presented from Aug. 5 to 7, 2016 with festival activities and workshops at the Little Haiti Cultural Center and the concert extravaganza at the Miramar Cultural Center. To purchase tickets, click here. For a festival schedule, go to www.adddff.delouafrica.org.
