Ma-Abena

At the age of five, Ma-Abena was already singing and dancing with her family at Arts festivals, museums and other loacations in Illinois. She says, “I learnt to sing, drum and dance at a very early age. My father is a master drummer of West African music; I continue to drum today.”Ma-Abena sang in talent shows at Sullivan High School of Chicago where she attended for three years; she proved herself to be exceptionally talented. Ma-Abena also sang (“missing you” from the Set It Off Soundtrack on a television show named Elma n’ Company). Whiles in high school, she studied West African dance, Ballet, Latin Jazz, Modern and Tap dance. She performed with Rennie Harris in Dance Africa Chicago 1998 and worked with artists such as “Crazy Legs” and the Electric Boogaloos and Don Campbellock “father of locking”.Ma-Abena worked with Norma Miller the “Queen of Swing” in Dance Africa Chicago 1999 and performed a swing piece in her honoor had the opportunity to perform in Dance Africa (1997-2003) working internationally known African Dance groups such as Les Ballets Africaines of Guinea, Iwisa of Zambia, and Muntu Dance Troupe of Chicago Najwa dance corps and many more. In 2003, she worked and performed with Sara Yarborough Smith of the Alvin Ailey.In 2000, Ma-Abena attended Illinois State University and went on to major in Public Relations and minor in Tourism. Whiles at Illinois State, she sang at various locations, choreographed and helped choreograph over six solo and group works for performance. Music used for some of these movements included mostly live African drumming, and a few recorded music. She also taught and choreogrpahed at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, the Illinois State University choir, Illinois Wesleyan University and Normal Community High School.Now a recent graduate with her masters in dance from the State University of New York College at Brockport (SUNY Brockport), Ma-Abena continues to sing at local open mics within the Atlanta area, writes songs, choreographs, teachs and studies various forms of West African dance. I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!