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08.11.2008 Education

Danish Students End Workshop

08.11.2008 LISTEN
By Daily Guide

A 10-day workshop for eight students from the University of the Arts in the city of Aarhus, Denmark has ended at the Noyam African Dance Institute in Dodowa, near Accra.

 

Led by Prof. Henning Sprogoe, aka Kwame, the students, who were drawn from the dance, drama, music and history departments of the university were introduced to diverse techniques in communicating and transmitting messages effectively through bodies.

Highly experienced dancers from the institute also showcased movements they have mastered through years of training and performances in the United States, Europe and Africa.

The students were taken through a number of traditional dance and drumming sessions as well as aspects of the Ghanaian culture, which were effected through visits to various historical sites and lectures from Prof. F. Nii Yartey, Director of the Noyam African Dance Institute.

According to Prof. Sprogoe, standards are very high at the institute, adding that his students were impressed with techniques and methodology of dance employed by Noyam students and their instructors.

The Noyam African Dance Institute was established in 1998 as the first private dance training institution and approved by the Ghana Education Service. It is an initiative for the training of youth and the development of traditional and contemporary African dance in Ghana.

The institute derives its technique and methodology from the movement characteristics, aesthetic qualities and philosophy of the African dance traditions and the enormous movement and rhythmic resources available in the various communities.

Noyam is a member of the United Cultures for Development Network which was established in January 2007 under the direction of Mundial Productions, a cultural outfit based in Tilburg,

The Netherlands. Its objectives include the use of the arts to create awareness on the Millennium Development Goals.

Under the auspices of Mundial Productions, Noyam has established close collaborations with members of United Cultures of Development, whose associates encompass five continents including Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa, India, Vietnam and Brazil.

With the support of the Ghana Cultural Fund, Noyam has created a dance piece which is aimed at sensitizing Ghanaians on the need to protect the environment, eradicate extreme poverty while suggesting ways of achieving universal primary education.

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