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 Biography
Contact
Biography
Zelma Badu-Younge, one of the most
charismatic cultural fusion artists, captivates her audience as she
steps on stage. This mesmerizing performer is considered one of the
most electrifying choreographers; with her high-energy synthesis
of West African traditions combined with other world dance forms.
Both a dance artist and dance scholar, Badu-Younge, Associate Professor
of Dance at Ohio University, is a recent recipient of the Ohio Arts
Council Individual Creativity Excellence Award grant for choreography
(2008) and the 2009 NAACP Image Award for Excellence in Faculty Academics
and Research. Other awards include: a Laidlaw Foundation Award, the
Canada Council Arts Grant "B” Award, a Chalmers Award
for choreography, the Canadian Year of Asia Pacific (CYAP) grant
and a nomination for Outstanding Choreography by the Dora Mavor Moore
Awards.
Educated in Canada, she holds a B.F.A. in Contemporary
Dance and Choreography (Concordia University), M.F.A. in Dance Ethnology
(York University), and a Ph.D. (with honors) in Integrated Studies
in Education (McGill University.) Both her M.F.A. and Ph.D. research
took her to West Africa, where she studied the Music and Dances of
Ghana. Zelma Badu-Younge has received some the finest training in
Canada, the United States, and Ghana including: l’Académiedes
Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Ailey School, and University of Ghana’s
School of Performing Arts. She danced with Philadanco (Philadelphia,
PA), and the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Company (New York); and
has shared the stage and or was presented along with many national
and international dance artists and groups including: Bill T. Jones/Arnie
Zane Company, Garth Fagan Dance, Assane Konte of Kankouran West African
Dance Company, Helen Mensah of the Ghana Dance Ensemble, Margie Gillis,
and I Ketut Rina (Indonesian).
She has also performed with national and international
performing artists and groups such as: Rio samba (Germany), The State
Dance Ensemble (Sri Lanka), Nanta – “Cookin” (South
Korea), Olodum (Brazil), De Jimbe (Afro-Irish Group - Ireland) Groupe "DJEMBE
RYTHM" (Senegal), PACE (Denmark), Barenaked Ladies (Canada),
Rufus Bonds Jr. (of The Color Purple - Broadway), Halim El-dabh (composer
for Martha Graham), Bob Becker of Nexus (Canada), Ju Percussion (Taiwan),
Percussion Ensemble Chung Ang (South Korea), Cie Cameleon (France),
Abbos Group (Uzbekistan),Satriya Budaya (Indonesia), Akin Euba (USA),
Choi Jong Sil (South Korea),Thomas Lang (USA), Tomohiro Yahiro (Japan),
Dudu Tucci (Germany/Brazil), Tony Royster Jr. (USA), and others from
Sweden, Italy, Cuba, Costa Rica, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, South
Africa, Poland, Slovenia, Uruguay, and China.
Zelma has instructed, lectured, performed, given workshops
or choreographed throughout the United States, Canada, as well as
in Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Italy, Germany,
and Ghana. She recently served as Canadian Heritage’s Artistic
Assessor for The National Arts Training Contribution Program, a Specialist
for Jury, for the Canada Council for the Arts; is a member of the
Ohio Dance Board of Trustees (chairperson for Outreach and Education)
and is a member of the Committee for the Arts and Innovative Thinking
(CAIT.) Badu-Younge is also Dance Director and Choreographer for,
Azaguno, a multi-ethnic ensemble that focuses on research, preservation
and performance of African, African American, Caribbean and Latin
American Music and Dance Styles.
Recent activities include directing an African Performing
and Visual Arts Conference for Performers, Visual Artists, Educators,
Teachers and Scholars (2007 & 2009) held at Ohio University.
This conference drew world-renowned keynote speakers and special
guests from, Princeton University, Yale University, Swarthmore College,
Lesley University, Temple University, and The Ghana Institute for
Music and Development; as well as other scholars from 18 different
American states, three Canadian provinces, and from France, England,
South Africa, Nigeria, and Benin. She was an invited guest speaker,
on African Dance, at the Third International Symposium on the Music
of Africa (Spring 2009) at Princeton University; choreographed a
work for Ballet Creole (Spring 2009); directed Moving Bodies International
Dance Film Festival (Spring 2009) featuring guest speaker/filmmaker
Philip Szporer; coordinated the Ohio Dance Festival (Spring 2009),
as well as produced and presented an evening of European and African
Contemporary Dance with invited guests, Cathy Sharp Dance Ensemble
from Basel, Switzerland and her own group, Azaguno (Fall 2009). Zelma
has been commissioned to choreograph a work for the National Dance
Company of Ghana (2010) to be premiered at Ghana’s National
Theatre.
Perspectives Magazine article - Muses of Movement
http://www.ohio.edu/research/communications/upload/Muses_of_movement.pdf
Contact WORK
Ohio University
School of Dance
Putnam Hall 222
Athens, OH, 45701
Tel. 740 593 1826
E-mail: or baduyou@ohio.edu
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