Published: August 8, 2010
katroon2000@yahoo.com
http://kathy-lucas.com
I am a dancer who resides in two areas of the world. Ithaca, NY & Kyoto, Japan. Before moving (part-time) to Kyoto, I spent 6 yrs studying and performing West African dance and music in NYC. I was fortunate enough to study from highly respected, and accomplished dancers and performers of the National Ballet of Guinea. My passion for the culture lead me to travel to Guinea and Senegal West Africa where I studied and learned of the culture first-hand.
Throughout my years in NY, I danced in contemporary and multi-cultural West African dance and drum companies. Eventually, I made the choice to leave NY and moved to Japan. While there I became motivated to create a women's dance and drum performance group called 'KGC.' My focus with KGC has been to create choreography which either reflects traditional dances and music, or displays connections from traditional past movements to present day movement.
Currently, our focus is to further develop our repertoire and movement vocabulary by collaborating with local musicians and dancers of the Ithaca community. As people coming together from different cultural backgrounds, it has been a consistent, rewarding, learning experience. Through our perception of this, our hope is that we can share the depth of our experience by collaborating on cultural music and dance projects.
Video Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuRYEJO5a9w
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