Quenia Ribeiro

Quenia is a dancer, choreographer and dance instructor from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with more than 25 years of experience in the field. Quenia has performed Samba and Afro-Brazilian dance in Greece, Martinique, Portugal, Brazil and throughout the United States. Her studies and experience in dance extend from Ballet and Samba of Rio De Janeiro, to the roots of Samba through Afro-Brazilian Folkloric dance and Orixa movements rooted in Africa. She has been featured in interviews and performances broadcast on PBS, ABC, WPIX, Telemundo and CBS Television. As a dance instructor she has been teaching and conducting workshops for Samba and Afro-Brazilian Dance in NYC since 1997. Quenia has worked extensively in the public and private school system with children and teens teaching Brazilian dance and creative movement (in both NYC and Brazil). Classes with Quenia include elements drawn from her background in Ballet as well as her 10 years of Capoeira training. Currently Quenia Ribeiro choreographs and directs her own dance company, “Grupo Ribeiro.” She became the first and only Brazilian teacher to implement Samba and Afro-Brazilian dances at the Ailey Extension in New York City and has taught there for 14 years. Her series of four instructional dvds has broadened her reputation as an innovative leader in the field of Brazilian Dance.

Vado Diomande

Vado has danced since the age of four, learning the dance and drum traditions of his Mahouka people. At an early age, he was initiated into becoming the keeper of the sacred mask dance on stilts, Gue-Pelou. This distinction brought him to the Ballet National de Cote d'Ivoire, where he became a principal dancer for more than 15 years. Vado learned over 60 ethnic dance and drumming traditions from the Ivory Coast and other West African countries. His repertoire elevated his career to eventually choreographing and touring extensively throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. In 1989 he established L'Ensemble Kokiegna d'Abidjan, which has resided in New York City as the Kotchegna Dance Company since 1994. In Vado’s native language Mahou, ’kotchegna’ means messenger. His troupe’s goal is to inspire joy and understanding through the power of dance and drum, promoting the exchange of culture worldwide. He continues to strengthen his experience as a choreographer, artistic director, teacher and performer. He also takes part in many educational programs for children in New York City schools and beyond. For more information, go to www.kotchegna.com.

Julio Jean

Julio Jean is a renowned master Haitian dance teacher and choreographer. He blends traditional Haitian forms with modern and contemporary dance to create compelling movement narratives. His extensive career of over 20 years includes work with Katherine Dunham and performances of his company’s choreographies at Alvin Ailey and Central Park’s SummerStage. Julio studied with Lavinia Williams, a company member of Katherine Dunham, at the National School of Arts in Haiti. In 1989, he moved to New York City and worked directly with Katherine Dunham, teaching traditional Haitian dance for her teacher training. He has been a guest teacher at Webster University in Saint Louis and Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany; and has taught workshops in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and at the Dance New England Dance Camp in Poland, Maine. Currently, Julio teaches in New York City and at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Julio is also a songwriter and composer of traditional Haitian music; he released the album: “Kenbe la,” which encompasses the panorama of traditional Haitian music.

Candice M. Franklin

Originally from St. Louis, MO, born and bred into Jazz dance and influenced greatly by the Jazz music scene, Candice Michelle Franklin is a New York-based professional dancer, choreographer, and producer who has been seen in numerous film, TV shows, music videos, industrials, and, of course, on the live stage performing in plays and dance companies. She has a B.A. in Fine Arts majoring in Dance on four-year scholarship, studied on scholarship at Steps on Broadway, trained in St. Louis at Missouri Concert Ballet, and, upon invitation to New York, received her conservatory training at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She owns The Pro DANZ Group, Inc. in which she oversees the dance and creative direction of several performance groups, recording artists, industrials, and stage shows.

Her work has been performed in a host of New York venues including Jacob Javitz Convention Center, The Syracuse OnCenter, MTV/Viacom, Capitale, Odeum Expo Center, Broad Street Ballroom, The Kumble Theater, the National Black Theater, Symphony Space, Joyce SoHo, Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Cafe, Webster Hall, The SPACE at Westbury/Westbury Theater, Stage 48, the Oheka Castle, The Theater of Riverside Church, The Sage Theater, American Theater of Actors, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, John Jay College, and New York’s City College, as well as numerous casinos on the east coast such as Turning Stone, the Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Tropicana, Borgata, and Caesar’s… read more.

Deinya Phenix, PhD / Batalá NY

Deinya Phenix, PhD is a sociologist, mother, and child of the African Diaspora. After decades of dancing on stage (since the age of 5), she was blessed to be introduced to Afro-Brazilian percussion by gifted musician Cafe da Silva in 2009. She has been a member of Batala New York among other bands since 2012, and she has traveled to Europe, South America and the Caribbean teaching and learning about Afro-Diasporic music and dance. Over the course of 9 years, Deinya rose through the ranks from conductor to Co-Musical Director to Artistic & Musical Director of Batalá New York. Deinya has trained and led over 100 women of Batalá New York to bring high energy, culturally relevant, visually stimulating performances grounded in community, centering service, and powered by partnership with masters of percussion and dance across the globe.

Batalá New York is an all women, Black-led, Afrocentric drumming ensemble. We understand Afro-Brazilian culture to be the product of Black resistance and promote and collaborate with a network of Afro-Brazilian artists in Bahia, in New York, and around the globe. We are also transforming images of women by presenting a loud, fearless and diverse community of female drummers. We perform all over the New York region in concert halls, at community centers, parks and gardens, on the streets, at protests, and at top cultural institutions… read more