All classes take place at 95 Empire Street, 3rd Floor Dance Studio.

The technique Acogny is the only recognized contemporary dance technique created in Africa. It’s created by Germaine Acogny, the mother of African contemporary dance. It is based on traditional African dance (specially Senegal and Benin) and Western dance techniques (classical ballet, release- and Graham technique). The philosophy of this technique is about identity. Placing yourself inside the community and nature. Being aware of your own body: to feel it, to touch it, to enjoy it. To live your body through the virtuosity of feeling. The concept of the method and the movements are innovative and original. They come from nature. It is a unique way of approaching dance. It respects every different body. The technique talks about life, about the connection between human beings and nature. Joy, play, love and music are the fundamentals of the spirit of the technique. Students can expect the joy of being yourself and experiencing a culture from a different part of the world.

Mekbul Jemal Tahir (He/Him)  is an international choreographer, dancer, and teacher. He is one of the founding members of Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company, which is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since completing a five-year training program accredited by Middlesex University (UK) in 2001, he has been performing and teaching African contemporary dance, contact improvisation, and community dance and theater in Ethiopia and abroad. Among others, his projects have included the 2005 Kin-Addis Project in the DRC, Ethiopia, and France, and the 2006 Can Do Can Dance Project in Hamburg, Germany. In 2007, he performed a lead role in As the Mother of a Brown Boy, which opened at Chickenshed Theatre Company in London and later traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for two awards. Most recently, he was an invited participant in two international dance workshops at L’Ecole des Sables, Toubab Dialew, Senegal, under the direction of Germaine Acogny. He is also one of the dancers who were selected to study Germaine Acogny’s dance and certified to teach her technique. Now a resident of Massachusetts, he divides his time between work with Adugna in Ethiopia and projects in Africa, Europe, and the United States.