AzaAshe cultivates and stimulates our existing communities through a unity between dancers and drummers, singers and dancers, one culture and another culture, choreographers and storytellers, musicians and technicians, thinkers and doers; that intrinsic in African dance form and experience is the most basic social law that all are welcome and everyone has a place and a part and a role; and so the AzaAshe dance and drum company also has an intention to cultivate, stimulate and further assist our existing community into continued action based in love and creativity. Participants thrive in an ongoing experience of a cultural form that is rooted, seated in the laws, necessity, spirit, history, directives and expressions of community from our most basic (greetings) to our grandest (honorary processions) gestures.
AzaAshe provides opportunities for performance for all its participants. The result being a greater depth of concentration in form, aesthetic, history and technique of African rooted dance forms; also, in performing the students learn in a context that encourages them to give something away. The result is often the attaining of greater mastery and a commitment to relationships.
The dance, the drum, the song, the form is vital, creative, exciting, healing, ceremonial, socially oriented, community based, ancient, comtemporary, foundational, exhilarating, fun, joyous, transformational, diverse…
“Dance and music traditions prepare a person for Samghachadvam which is a sanskrit term that means “Let us move together. Let us sing together.†Through dance and music practice, one experiences a pinnacle achievement, a liberated state of being. A person engaged in dance and music forms bridging cultures; Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe…is grounded, for a time, in the collective soul of a once perceived other. Arts culture is an effective and poetic preparation for establishing a greater healing salutation. One that commands respect and a universal love for all members of Creation.â€- Kalpana Devi
Other Information:
***AzaAshe is available to lead workshops for students of any age and to offer performances at private and public events. The company holds a week-long summer retreat each year in August.
***We are currently planning our second study and service trip to Senegal, West Africa. Donations to support the company and our work are most welcome and are tax deductible.
For more information, to get on our mailing list or make a donation please visit our myspace, write to us or call:
Kalpana Devi at 413-259-2064
AzaAshe
PO Box 987
Amherst, Massachusetts
01004
[email protected]
www.myspace.com/azaashe
All donations should be made to our sponsoring 501-c3 non-profit:
Motherland International Relations
www.motherlandinternationalrelations.org
All photographs by Martin Bridge
