Dance, Drum & Imagination Camp
An immersive cultural summer camp for children ages 3-9 years old
Past Summer Camp Sessions
At Cumbe, our goal is to tap into children’s amazing capacity for imagination and wonder while introducing them to the joy and vitality of dances, songs and rhythms of Africa and its diaspora in the Caribbean, Latin America and the U.S. Our camp sizes are small so that our teachers have a chance to get to know your child.
Camp Director Aja-Nicole Hope — along with Cumbe’s exceptional teaching artists — will lead campers in daily activities including dancing, singing, drumming, tumbling, visual arts (including mask and costume making), and outdoor playtime centered around curriculum developed by Aja-Nicole Hope. At the end of each session, campers will produce a sharing for friends and family showcasing their work.
Cumbe is excited to welcome our campers back this summer! Our campers' safety is top priority for us. All our counselors are trained in COVID best practices and strictly adhere to CDC and DOH guidelines to ensure the safety of our campers, families and staff.
2022 In-Person Summer Camp
Session 1 – July 5 - July 15
Havana to East Harlem
Calling all campers! Come step, spin and shimmy with us as we follow the Mambo, a dance born in Cuba, as it travels to East Harlem (with a stop in Mexico City) and leads to the birth of Salsa. Together, we’ll explore the syncopated rhythms and movements of Mambo and Salsa through dancing and drumming, create our own choreography and make our own eye-catching costumes.
Session 2 – July 18 - July 29
Sankofa Time Travelers
Campers, we are traveling through time and transporting to the studios of Bill ‘Bo Jangles’ Robinson, Katherine Dunham, DJ Kool Herc and other African American dance greats! Along the way, we’ll learn a little bit of Tap dancing, Dunham Technique, Break Dancing and more. Our final showing will bring to life the concept of Sankofa (from the Akan people of Ghana) – that we must learn from the past in order to move forward.
Session 3 – August 1 - August 12
BLOCO from da BLOCK! with guest directors, Quenia Ribeiro & Sabina Ciari
Campers, in Session 3 we will take a journey to discover street music culture from around the world and create our own street parade band. Led by guest directors Sabina Ciari and Quenia Ribeiro, we will create an artistic vision and bring it to life, complete with a name, theme, costumes, props, dancing, music and song! On the last day of camp, our troupe will have a celebratory parade performance around the neighborhood.
Visual artist, Sabina Ciari, and dancer, Quenia Ribeiro, have united to create a street band extravaganza with the Cumbé campers! Sabina and Quenia are experienced performers, educators, and avid paraders! They are excited to develop a theme, music, choreography, and costumes with campers. Throughout the camp, we will bring joy to Restoration Plaza and our favorite playgrounds by parading to display our progress.
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Quenia Ribeiro is a dancer, choreographer and dance educator from Rio de Janeiro Brazil with over 25 years of experience in the field. Quenia has performed Samba and Afro Brazilian Dance throughout the United States and Europe. Her studies and experience in dance extend from Classical Ballet to the street Samba of Rio De Janeiro and back to the roots of Samba through Afro-Brazilian Folkloric Dance and Orixa movements rooted in Africa. Quenia has worked extensively as a movement teacher in the public and private school systems with children and teens in NYC and Brazil. Classes with Quenia include elements drawn from her background in Ballet as well as her 10 years of Capoeira training. She has conducted open classes at the Ailey Extension in New York City for 14 years being the first and only Brazilian teacher to implement Samba and Afro Brazilian dances at The Alvin Ailey Extension School.
Sabina Ciari is a bursting-with-color artist! Mother, painter, designer, mover, teacher, and cultural producer, are just some of the hats that Sabina wears. She is rooted in art and culture, a student of world-renowned capoeira and music masters since childhood and a graduate of the School of Visual Arts. Sabina has worked in several areas of the arts, for example as a scenic painter at Sleep No More at The Mckittrick Hotel, window dresser stores on 5th Ave, crafter for The Martha Stewart Show and prop stylist for advertising photo-shoots. She has also performed across numerous stages and parades as a dancer, musician and/or capoeirista. Sabina teaches visual arts at schools and summer camps and also spent 15 years teaching capoeira to people of all ages and backgrounds all over the Tri-State area.
Upcoming Info Sessions
Saturday, May 21 | 11:00am - 12:00pm ET | Hybrid (In-Person & Online)
Come join us for the Dance, Drum, and Imagination Camp Info Session! We are so excited to be offering an in-person camp this year. At our info session we will start off with some pictures of previous years before delving into some camp logistics such as Pricing, what a normal day will look like for our campers, and our Covid Safety Plan. We’ll reveal themes for camp and close out the session with a fun, Creative Movement or drumming activity. We can't wait to see you there!
Still have questions? email us at info@cumbedance.org
Upcoming BLOCO Preview Workshops
Saturdays, May 14, June 11 | 1:00-3:00pm ET | In-Person Only
$25 per family
Kids, grown ups and families are welcome to participate in an exhilarating carnaval journey involving art, rhythm, song, dance, and parading around Restoration Plaza! Bring your favorite costumes or wear some of ours!
This workshop is a preview of the fun our troupe will experience at the Dance, Drum and Imagination Camp on August 1-12. Join our troupe on social media to find out about upcoming workshops, events, and camps @bloco.from.da.block.
Pricing
Until April 25 (Early Bird)
1 Session (two weeks) – $900
Multiple Session Rate (per session) – $880
After April 25
1 Session (two weeks) – $1000
Multiple Session Rate (per session) – $990
Extended Day Fees (until 6pm, no discounts apply):
$130 for 5-day week
$110 for 4-day week
$35 for a day
Discounts Available for:
Early bird registration(10% off)
Returning Campers
Siblings
Scholarships also available. Apply below.
Location
Cumbe – 1368 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 11216
Camp Safety FAQ
Payment Policy
Early bird registration cut off– April 25.
Full payment required by April 25 to benefit from early bird rate.Full payment is due at registration.
Refunds:
Before June 6 – full refund minus a nonrefundable deposit
Between June 6 and June 20 – 50% refund
After June 20 – no refund
Camp Hours
9:00am to 3:00pm
Extended day options available (until 6:00pm)
Early Drop-Off begins at 8:30am
Camp Begins at 9:00am Sharp!
Family Testimonies
“I love the fact they did a final show so we could see what our kids had been up to... (Our daughter) enjoyed her camp experience very much.” ~ The Gibbons Family 2019
“More, more, more – we would send our daughter to Cumbe year-round if we could. The camp was incredibly thought out, caring, compassionate, creative and everything we could imagine.” ~ The Dewhurst Family 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2021
Aja-Nicole Hope
About the Camp Director
Aja-Nicole Hope is our Curriculum Coordinator and the Camp Director for Cumbe’s Dance, Drum & Imagination Summer Camp. Aja has been dancing since the age of three and is trained in West African, Modern, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Ballet, Pointe, Lyrical, and Salsa, among other dance styles. She has taught youth dance classes at the Fresh Air Fund and YMCA summer camps. She spent two years in Ifetayo’s Youth Ensemble, where her disciplines were Modern and African Dance, and she had the opportunity to study under the great Marie Basse-Wiles. Aja-Nicole has her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and is currently teaching at a Montessori Preschool.