We strive to add value to our environment and community through Arts, Culture, and Social Change.
About
Jeannine Osayande & Dunya Performing Arts Company members specialize in “laying the ground work for cultural sensitivity through intense study of the elements of various West African [and Brazilian] drum, dance [and masquerade] traditions. Art in Education provides the ability for an integrated multicultural experience into the classroom’s curriculum and stimulate students to think critically about their experience in society.” -Lela Patrik
Our programs offer a platform for people to create, imagine, ask questions, think critically, and participate.
Members of Dunya—which translates to “the world”—are committed to exploring art through aspects of life. Our team of arts educators are nationally and internationally recognized in their respective fields of West African dance, drum, and masquerade traditions, as well as Brazilian capoeira and other Afro-Brazilian traditions.
Jeannine Osayande & Dunya Performing Arts Company adheres to the West African Proverb, “Good Dancing and Drumming Restores the Community to Wholeness.”
We specialize in lecture-demonstrations, workshops, residencies, commissioned works, concerts, performances, oral history programs and art for social change projects.
DunyaPAC is on the Roster of Young Audiences of New Jersey and Eastern PA (3 years). They have Artist in Residence programs with Swarthmore Rutledge School (28 years), Germantown Academy Lower School (22 years), Westtown Lower School (18 years) and Folk Arts Cultural Treasure Charter School (4 years).
Meet DunyaPAC: Daryl Kwasi Burgee, Musical Director/lead drummer; Ira Bond mask dance traditions and drum; Alex Shaw, capoeira and drum; Steve Jackson, drum; Maestri Kamau Blakney, capoeira.
Meet the Director: Jeannine Osayande is founder and director of Dunya Performing Arts Company. She has been a teaching artist, choreographer, and performer of West African dance (Mali Empire) for thirty five years.
Ms Jeannine apprenticed with De Ama Battle and Bamidele Osumarea, Art of Black Dance and Music, Boston, MA; Ibrahima Camara, Koumpo/Sahal, of Senegal; and Prof. F. Nii Yartey, Noyam African Dance Institute, Ghana. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Temple University; a certificate in Traditional and Contemporary African Dance from Noyam African Dance Institute and a Teaching Artist Certification from Columbia University Teacher’s College.
Ms Jeannine serves actively on the boards of The Philadelphia Folklore Project (2011-current) and The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation (2014-2019), and teaches dance at Ursinus College, Swarthmore College.
