Residency:
Both classes are open to the public.
Mabiba Baegne is an internationally acclaimed dancer, dance teacher and choreographer of traditional and contemporary African Dance. She was born in Congo Brazzaville and was initiated into dancing by her grandparents at the age of eight. In addition to her Congolese dancing, Mabiba has studied West African dundun drumming with master drummer Famoudou Konate in Guinea. She was the first woman to teach this form in the United States. She is also an acclaimed singer and has toured and recorded with Salif Keita, master drummer Mamady Keita and Samba Ngo. Mabiba is the founder of “Lokole in Reno, NV” a dance organization which helps teach and preserve Congolese culture through dance and music. http://www.lokole.org/home.html
At age 18, Pline Mounzeo started playing music alongside his uncle Arsene Kimbembe. Born and raised in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, Mounzeo’s interest in his country’s traditional Ngoma drum rhythms has lead him to become a world-class performing artist and drum virtuoso steeped in the traditions of his homeland. He lives in Raleigh, NC, and is a regular artist with the UNC Health Care DooR to DooR program. The program uses the arts to inspire and rejuvenate patients, their families, and healthcare workers. http://www.brazzabeat.org/local/
In 2013, through funding and support by the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation and the Duke Dance Program, Mabiba Baegne and Congolese national, Pline Mounzeo worked with Duke University co-investigators Ava LaVonne Vinesett, Miurel Price, and Dr. Kenneth H. Wilson to develop a ceremony based on the ngoma tradition of the Bantu peoples of Central and South Africa. Ngoma involves people coming together in rhythmic music and dance to address “difficult issues”, often related to health or life transitions. The co-investigators adapted the dance associated with an ngoma ceremony to be appropriate for Westerners and an account of the study was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, "Therapeutic Potential of a Drum and Dance Ceremony Based on the African Ngoma Tradition." http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2014.0247