About this Event
Join legendary Durham dance artist Toni K. Hall—affectionately known as Mama Toni—for an evening of West African dance, rhythm, culture, and community.
This workshop invites participants to experience movement as a living form of cultural transmission. Through Mama Toni’s joyful and grounded teaching, dancers will explore rhythm, musicality, coordination, expressive movement, and the communal energy central to African and African Diasporic dance traditions.
The workshop is part of Empower’s Mapping the Movement: Durham’s Black Dance Legacy Project, an initiative documenting and celebrating the people, places, practices, relationships, and traditions that have shaped Black dance in Durham. Participants will not only move together but encounter a living connection to Durham’s dance history.
Mama Toni is a founding member of the African American Dance Ensemble, Artistic Director of Collage Dance Company, and co-founder of SA-TO’s Dance Academy. She began her professional training under Nancy Pinckney at North Carolina Central University and later studied under Dr. Chuck Davis through the American Dance Festival’s Outreach Program. Her career has also been influenced by artists including Donald McKayle, Ron K. Brown, Talley Beatty, Assane Konte, Nafisa Shariff, and Dr. Kariamu Welsh.
Mama Toni has performed locally and nationally, choreographed for multiple dance organizations, and dedicated her life to sharing dance, music, history, and culture across generations.
Participants should wear comfortable movement clothing and be prepared to dance barefoot.
Event venue & nearby stays
Empower School of Movement, 807 East Main Street, Durham, United States
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