In this workshop of contemporary afro, the movements of African dances will be combined with contemporary dance. Contemporary afro is a creative and pluralistic combination of traditional African dances and different techniques of contemporary dance. The movement style is relaxed, flowing and dynamic, and involves diverse movements of the hips and chest. The class includes a warm-up and basic movement exercises, after which a choreography will be developed. The workshop is suitable for people who have previously been practicing African dances, contemporary dance or other dance styles.

Check the prices, instructions for signing up and other workshops on the workshop page!

The teacher of the workshop, Annina, has been performing contemporary afro e.g. in the production “The Voice of Women” by the group Thilé Danse (Burkina Faso/Finland):

Annina Tuhkunen is an experienced dance teacher, who has been working with African dances already for over 20 years. She started learning West African dances in Jyväskylän Tanssiopisto as a student of Mariana Siljamäki, and later worked also as a teacher in the same dance school. She was also part of the group that founded the first African dance group of Jyväskylä, Mami Wata. Nowadays, Annina lives in Helsinki and has collaborated with many professionals of African dance and music, when teaching and performing with different groups in Finland (e.g. Mande Maja Band, Dounya Fanyi Fan, Thilé Danse, Faso Kan) and abroad.

Photo: Jukka Luoma

Annina has studied both different styles of dance and cultural studies, and has deepened her knowledge on her study trips to different places in Europe, Latin America and West Africa (e.g. Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal), where she has mainly concentrated on West African but has also studied African-derived dances, musics and cultures. She has also learned African contemporary dance while studying in in West Africa’s most famous dance centres, Ecole des Sables in Senegal and Centre de Développement Chorégraphique La Termitière in Burkina Faso. When teaching dance, Annina wants to transmit the joy and sociality of dancing as well as an understanding of the connections of dance to rhythms and cultures.