Friday, July 8, 2011

African Diaspora song, drum and dance Camp with Muhanamwe, 7.30pm Friday 29th - 3.00pm Sunday, 29th July





















CAMP PROGRAM 
 Friday 29th July, 2011
Environment Centre, Eumerella, Great Ocean Rd. Anglesea
5.00pm Registration
6.30pm Dinner

Walk to Fire Circle
Enviro Centre car park off Centre Rd
7.30pm - 11.00pm 
  • Aboriginal and African Ancestral Libation - Ian Waran-badj Hunter, Mohamed Camara, Aliou Sylla
  • Honouring of the Elements and trans-cultural  music and dance
  • EARTH: Thais Sansom (Aboriginal), 
  • WATER Ana Soares (Brazil), Lisa (Cuba), 
  • AIR Chele Buggy (Surf Coast), 
  • FIRE Anne Tracey (Middle East), Anna Camara (Africa)
  • Celebration of the Return of Light - burning of the fire sculpture, Phoenix
  • Fire twirling, dance and drum spectacular and community participation - Infinite Inferno
  • Story telling - Muhanamwe
  • Film Children of the Blue Light. Bringing in transcultural voices as healing through music and dance. A musical documentary set in the slave dungeons of the Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, West Africa - Jacqui Dreessens, Agoro Fie Productions, Asanti Ghana and Wild Moves Australia 
Saturday 30th July, 2011
Environment Centre
WORKSHOPS
8.00am Meditation, massage, yoga - Thais Sansom
9.00am BREAKFAST and Registration
10.00am Traditional singing from Guinea - Muhanamwe
11.00am Traditional dance or djembe drumming
12noon Djembe drumming - beginners or intermediate/advanced
1.00pm LUNCH
2.00pm Djembe drumming - beginners or intermediate/advanced
3.00pm Traditional dance or djembe drumming
4.00pm  Swing Dance - Lotte and Matt Riddle
5.00pm Salsa - Lisa Shieder
6.30pm DINNER

CONCERT
UNIVERSAL GROOVES 
World music and dance on the Surf Coast
7.30 - 10.00pm brought to you by Surf Coast Arts, Regional Arts Victoria, Wild Moves
  • Wild Moves - Jacqui Dreessens, Immanuel Dreessens, Pete MacKintosh, Oliver Deans, Rob Godden, Sabiena von Es, Fiona Crawford-Trinham, Bernadette Zen, Jacqui Fenwick
  • Camp singers, dancers and drummers with Muhanamwe
  • BREAK
  • MUHANAMWE from Guinea, West Africa
Sunday 31st July, 2011
Environment Centre
WORKSHOPS
8.00am Meditation, massage, yoga - Fiona Crawford-Trinham
9.00am BREAKFAST and Registration
10.00am Afro Jazz dance - Jacqui Dreessens or drumming - Muhanamwe
11.00am Zumba - Jenny King or drumming  - Muhanamwe
12noon African games, singing, drumming and dance for the whole family - Muhanamwe
1.00pm LUNCH
2.00pm Sound meditation - Demir Aliu
3.00pm Closing ceremony with One Voice choir and Bonnie Upwelling community choir
    REGISTRATIONS
    - Map
    - What to bring
    - Prices... please go to:
    http://www.wildmoves.com/camp/camp_rego.html

    Check out last year's camp with Asanti dance theatre:
    http://wildmovesevents.blogspot.com/2010/05/african-diaspora-song-drum-and-dance.html


    Now taking bookings for discounted and pre-purchased places for the Camp: $180 for program and accommodation or $15 per workshop. Offer lasts until Wednesday 27th July.

    Authentic African Food with pre-booking and payment: $60 weekend or $15/10 per meal

    Pre-purchashed tickets to Universal Grooves at Torquay Health Food Shop up until Saturday noon 30th July

    It's OK to just rock up as long as there is a space in the workshop, drum or food available.



    THE ARTISTS
    Featured artists

    MUHANAMWE























    Muhanamwé, meaning Our Culture, has emerged as one of Australia's freshest and most exciting West African percussion and dance ensembles.  With compelling rhythms, rich vocal harmonies, emotive melodies and stunning choreography, Muhanamwé not only draws from its deep roots in Guinea, West Africa, but also brings new life to the ancient musical and cultural tradition. Founded in 2007 by Guinean master drummers Aliou Sylla and Mohamed Camara, Muhanamwé has fast become one of the most sought-after African ensembles in Australia. Muhanamwé is proof that music transcends the boundaries of language, aiming instead for the heart and the feet.

    Muhanamwé have performed at many of Australia’s leading festivals and cultural events, including the Share the Spirit, Desert Harmony, Emerge, Globe-to-Globe and Darwin Festivals, the Black Harmony Gathering and Rhythm of Africa. Muhanamwe have recently completed their debut Album, Guinea Conakry-Our Culture, and recently toured nationally sponsored by Kultour and Playing Australia.

    Aliou Sylla

    Master drummer Aliou Sylla from Conakry Guinea has been playing djembe since 1980. A former senior member of Les Percussions de Guinee, Aliou has played intensively under the guidance of the late great Lamine Lopez Soumah, master doun doun player Lance Kante and Koumbana Konde. He has taught students from all over the world in both Guinea and Australia for the past 15 years, and is currently teaching traditional Guinean percussion and culture at Footscray Primary School. Aliou has performed extensively around Australia for the past two years at cultural festivals and events including the Commonwealth Games 2006, several "Africa" events at the Victorian Arts Centre, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Globe to Globe, and the Brisbane and Darwin Festivals.  

    Mohamed Camara

    Mohamed Camara was born in Guinea Conakry, West Africa, into the Manding family. Former djembe soloist for Guinean drum and dance ensemble Ballet Destin, Ballet Bolonta and internationally renowned ensemble Les Sorciers de Guinée, Mohamed has studied and performed with many of the world's great master drummers including Ton Ton Sylla and Fadouba Oularé. Since arriving in Australia in 2007, Mohamed has fast become a highly sought-after African artist and ambassador. He has performed at various festivals, including Woodford, Apollo Bay and Darwin Festival, and has conducted workshops at the Victorian College of the Arts, NMIT and the Victorian Arts Centre's African Village. Mohamed currently teaches African drumming at Melbourne Steiner School, Clifton Hill and Doncaster Primary School.

     

    Anna Camara

    Anna Camara developed a passion for Guinean percussion from the age of ten. This has led her to play a broad range of percussion instruments and styles, and she recently completed a Bachelor of Music Performance with Honours at the Victorian College of the Arts, specialising in repertoire percussion. She has performed as a soloist with the VCA Symphony Orchestra, and in a national masterclass for world famous percussionist Evelyn Glennie. She recently preformed for the APRA Screen music awards, the Asia Pacific Breakthrough Summit, and played for the soundtrack of Australian fim Bran Nue Dae. Anna has travelled three times to Guinea to study traditional Guinean percussion, dance and song with members of Guinea's only female Master drummers' ensemble, Les Amazones de Guinée, as well as the World famous Les Percussions de Guineé. Anna currently teaches percussion at the Victorian College of the Arts, Mac.Robertson Girls High and Eltham High School

    The workshops will have you moving and grooving like never before!
    Drum: Learn the basic techniques of djembe playing, as well as traditional rhythms comprising both accompaniments and solos. The workshops will have you grooving like never before! Beginners and Intermediate/Advanced.
    Dance: Guinean dancer Mohamed Camara from Muhanamwe will introduce students to the exciting and energetic traditional Guinean dance. Learn the basic techniques and skills specific to this style of dance, as well as a variety of traditional dance moves from Guinea, West Africa. Accompanied by live Guinean drumming! No experience necessary

    Ian Waran-badj Hunter - Libation to the Ancestors
    Kulan Nation Aboriginal Elder, Ian Hunter is Wild Moves' patron and mentor. He is a legend. He has shared so many of his beautiful stories passed on through his mother.

    Ana Soares - Libation to the Ancestors
    Brazillian born Ana, dancer and mother of two boys will honour her ancestry and weave her story around her beautiful Mother Ocean Goddess, Yemanja. Ana was the inspiration for Wild Moves Dancing with the Deities back in the late 1990's when she introduced Jacqui to the Afro-Brazillian Candomble


    Lotte and Matthew Riddle - Swing Dance
    Swing into action with these two hopping, bopping masters of Swing Dance. A dancing history book of music from the Big Band Era, this couple will quickly get you into the downward jive and upbeat swing of how African music and dance entered the ballrooms of the New World and exploded onto a scene of wild free dance between couples. Too much fun to be had in this workshop.


    Thais Sansom - Honouring the Elements: EARTH, Ritual, Massage, Yoga
    Thais is an original Wildmover and co-founder and freelance dance/music practitioner from Castlemaine. When she is not running Red Beard Bakery in Trentham, she is running 3 boys around. Thais has a deep knowledge of releasing tired and sore muscles that hold tension and will guide you through beautiful visual imagery for starting a new in the Camp.


    Left: Thais Sansom














    Local artists
    Anne Tracey - Festival of the Returning Light Fire
    The sensuality of Middle Eastern dance is an ancient dance ritual for woman. Anne will guide you through this beautiful movement as we bring in the Return of the Light at our Fire Circle

    Bonnie Upwelling - Closing ceremony for the Returning Light
    Director Lucy O'Grady is a music therapist and lecturer in music therapy at University of Melbourne. Her community choir gets together every Wednesday night and pops up around the Surf Coast to share their songs at local markets.  

    Demir Aliu - Sound meditation
    Demir Aliu is an Intuitive sound worker who enjoys blending sonic energy using acoustic instruments from vairous healing traditions to create these organic sound scapes and bring about a space of relaxation, presence and awareness of the self. So beautiful for the senses. 
    "I am very honored to be working again with a sister like Jacqui, this camp is a wonderful opportunity and experience in the beautiful bush of Anglesea"

     











    Fiona Crawford-Trinham - Massage and yoga
    Our beloved local massage therapist as well as Wildmover, singer with One Voice and the Bonnie Upwelling. She will awaken your sense of being and focus back into your body on a Sunday morning.












    Infinite Inferno - Festival of the Returning Light
    Surf Coast's fire sensations in a visual delight of spectacle, precision and artistry and will guide you into the Fire Circle of Transformation as we celebrate the Returning Light.

    "Infinite Inferno" Photo: Peter Marshall














    Jacqui Dreessens - Artistic director, Ritual, Afro Jazz dance, Universal Grooves
    When I was 8 years old (back in the 60's), I was groovin in my Aunty's lounge room (in a newly built suberb - back then called Belmont), to her new infectious album by Santana. I don't pretend to be a  Black Magic Woman anymore but it inspired in me a deep love of the African jazz roots in Mande Bango, Fela Kuti and Ossi Bissa. Afro-Jazz dance is a fusion of African and Ballet. The Blue Light is my Passion and ritual is my celebration for Mother Earth and our connection to her. African and Indigenous cultures lead the way as my inspiration.


    "Warako Musika" Photo: Pam Kleeman



    Jenny King - Zumba
    Jenny is our Zumba Queen of the Surf Coast and a dynamo!! She has years of experience in many styles of dance including Ballet, Woh Dao, African and percussion

    Lisa Shieder- Honouring of the Elements: WATER, Salsa Dance
    Lisa travelled to Cuba in 2002 with Christina Monneron's Cuban Dance Acadamy has been teaching Salsa in Geelong for many years in her Salsa Street studios. She is a master at getting everyone engaged in the excitment of dancing with a partner in a rueda circle.

    Michele Buggy - Honouring of the Elements: AIR
    Chele is a dancer, visual artist and inspiring mother of 4 children who rides in the chaos of life with balance. Living on our Surf Coast with our winds, Chele will guide you into gliding between the qualities of movement experience as you float on the currents and breath of life.

    "Circles on Waves" Photo: Peter Marshall


































    Wild Moves International
    Rooted to the Earth and connected to the Universe…

    Director: Jacqui Esi Tweba Dreessens
    Mobile:
    +61 4 09025062
    Email: jacqui@wildmoves.com
    Web site: www.wildmoves.com
    Updates: http://www.wildmovesevents.blogspot.com

    Splash Dance Festival at GPAC_5.00 - 7.30pm 10th July, 2011


    July News

    2011 July 
    Danawa Winter Solstice
    For our first Solstice ever, we had no idea so many people would turn up. Beautiful night
    Cleansing the space with voice, song and sound

    The welcoming and honouring of original caretakers, The Watharong




    Fire of transforming energy



    Splash Dance Festival 
    Sunday, 10th July, 5.00 - 7.30pm at The Playhouse, Geelong Performing Arts Centre
    Good luck to Jacqui Fenwick, Sabiena von Es, Bernadette Zen, Pete MacKintosh, Immanuel Dreessens. We are looking forward to performing with GEELONG DANCE SHOWCASE CONCERT. Tickets from GPAC
    For all the photos, go to:

    Full Moon Healing (Free)
    Friday, 15th July, 7.30pm onwards at Cosy Corner, Torquay
    Rug up BYO instruments, picnic, park in Point Danger carpark and walk down to the Front Beach under the Moonah trees and on the beach. Look for our seaweed circle. Call Jacqui if you would like to teach or sing a song, poem, dance, rhythm to all who rock up to wish in the Peace for the month ahead and anchor the new energy. To get an idea for what we do go to:

    Surf Coast Arts AGM (Free)
    Friday, 22nd July, 7.00 - 9.00pm at Bellbrae Hall, 90 School Rd Bellbrae
    Wild Moves will be performing at the annual general meeting.
    Please contact Jacqui if you would like to perform. Wear your usual Wild Moves pants and Tshirt. We will rehearse our repertoire during workshops on Tuesday nights 6.00 - 9.00pm at Bellbrae Hall

    Agoro Fie Coastal TV Fundraiser (Donation)
    Saturday, 23rd July, 2.00 - 6.00pm at St Mark's Church Hall, Hodgkinson St, Clifton Hill, Melbourne
    The majority of the Wild Moves repertoire that I have taught you over the years has come from Agoro Theatre Company in Cape Coast, Ghana. Selete Nyomi is the director and has helped many artists like Appiah, Paa, Kuukua, Sackey, Shabba to come to Australia. He also helped to produce my film, Children of the Blue Light. He has been running a community TV station in Cape Coast that all the locals love and treasure. Very sadly the TV studios caught fire and was consequently burnt to the ground. We are wanting to raise some funds for Coast TV so that we can contribute to the rebuilding program as Mr Nyomi has been instrumental in helping to build our programs.
    So the Agoro members in Australia are putting on a free program of workshops. We do hope that you can come along and support the cause with a kind donation. Even if you want to come and watch the classes and performance, any donation will be greatfully received by Mr. Nyomi. Sackey and Appiah will be going to Ghana in August and will deliver the funds straight to Coast TV and will be interviewed on the Morning Show about Ghanaian drumming and dance in Australia. So we would love to have you on the film footage also. Any people who have travelled to Ghana and studied at Agoro Fie, it is very important that you have a little say on the film and let Mr. Nyomi know how you are doing.
    You can also check Coastal TV Agoro on Facebook

    PROGRAM
    2.00pm Traditional Ghanaian dance with Sackey
    2.30pm Djembe dance with Shabba
    3.00pm Afro Funk with Appiah
    3.30pm Afro Jazz with Jacqui
    4.00pm Gospel singing with Kuukua
    4.30pm Drumming with everyone
    5.00pm Performance with everyone and students from Sackey, Appiah and Jacqui's classes 

    So Wildmovers, come join the workshops and perform or join in the Wild Moves performance.
    Your donation and contribution will be much appreciated by the Agoro family in Australia, Denmark, USA and Ghana
    Thank you Fusion Dance studios for last minute booking
    Sackey's traditional dance workshop: Bima
    Appiah's Afro-Funk workshop
    Kuukua's beautiful singing workshop, reminding us that we will all eventually get there

    Camp African Diaspora
    Friday, 29th July, 7.00pm to 3.00pm Sunday, 31st July at Eumerella, Great Ocean Rd. Anglesea
    This year's special guests are MUHANAMWE from Guinea along with Belly dancing, Salsa, Afro Jazz, Zumba, Yoga, Sound meditation, local choirs: One Voice and Bonnie Upwelling, Libation to Aboriginal and African Ancestors and an opening and closing ceremony for the Festival of the Returning Light with fire twirling from Infinite Inferno and story telling by Mohamed and Aliou. Universal Groves on the Saturday night at 7.30pm will also feature the camp performers with Wild Moves and Muhanamwe. Workshops from 8.00am - 6.00pm. Authentic African food available with bookings and early bird Camp payment up until Tuesday 27th July. For full details of the camp program go to: 
    http://wildmovesevents.blogspot.com/2011/07/camp-african-diaspora-with-muhanamwe.html