Dancing with a pro

Renowned dance artist Adia Whitaker visited Albany High School Friday afternoon and led workshops for dance and world drumming students.

Whitaker, an Afro-Haitian and contemporary dancer is Artistic Director of the Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective. She discussed the Pinxter Festival and taught students to dance the "Ajuba" that originates from the South during slavery.

Omonike Akinyemi, Just Dance! teacher, and Mark Sudano, World Drumming 1/2 teacher, introduced their students to Afro-Caribbean dance and drumming rhythms in preparation for the visit.

Dance students have been recently engaged in an Afro-Caribbean dance intensive, learning mostly Afro-Haitian, Cuban, and Brazilian dances in dance class, so having this special opportunity to work with this visiting dancer was a great culmination of work for our students.

Friday’s workshop was part of Convergence, a three-year collaborative project of the Albany Symphony that joins Capital Region communities and nationally acclaimed artistic partners to explore three Black American art forms: jazz, hip hop, and the Afro-Caribbean styles of the diaspora.

Whitaker will be part of a free interactive talk and dance workshop Friday (today) at the Arbor Hill Community Center.