Rachel Stevenson
514- 842-8597, email:
MAI Arts Center
3680 Jeanne Mance,
(Second Floor)
Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:00
6:30- 7:30- Drum
7:45- 9:00- Dance
Description of Courses
West African Dance:
Dance classes focus on traditional West African dance techniques, including placement of weight, balance, suspension and relaxation, as well as choreography. Students will explore the dances of West Africa, with a focus on Senegal, Mali, and Guinea. There will be an emphasis on the communication between dancers and drummers, as well as improvisation and community within the dance circle.

Rachel Stevenson has been a student of African percussion and dance for over ten years. The traditions she has studied have included Afro-Haitian drumming and dance, Cuban percussion, Brazilian Samba, and West African Drumming and Dance (Malian, Senegalese, Ghanaian, and Guinean). She has recently returned from  Tokyo, Japan where she has been studying West African drumming and dance under teachers Hiroyuki Takeda and Theodore Bah   (ex-member of the Guinean National Ballet) .  She has studied intensively in Tambacounda, Senegal, West Africa under Master Drummers Moumadou Silibe and Abdouli Diakite.  

Cost: Dance- $12.00 per class

Both drum and dance -$20.00