Hey, there, dance nuts. You won’t want to miss this one. Alseny is one of the most dynamic and fun dance teachers you’ll ever see. He’s teaching two classes this weekend – Saturday afternoon in Fremont and Sunday evening at the Seattle Center.

Here’s the announcement (these classes are also listed on the African dance page):

ALSENY YANSANE, dynamic teacher and fourteen year performing artist of the world renowned, BALLETS AFRICAINS of Guinea is offering two fabulous West African Dance classes in Seattle guaranteed to rock your world!

www.wontanaraproductions.com

This is last-minute, I know, but if you’re free tonight, make it over to Etienne’s class at Open Flight (4205 University Way NE) for his “Dance for Haiti” fundraiser.

Friday, Jan. 29, 7:00-8:30 pm
Open Flight Studio

African dancers Etienne Cakpo (Benin), Siya Manyakanyaka-Kelley (S.Africa) and special guest artists invite you to join them for a special African dance class with live drumming. All students pay the normal $14 class fee and 100% of revenue will be donated to relief agencies assisting in Haiti. Drummers and dancers please come join us!

Abdoulaye Sylla, a master dancer and drummer from Guinea, West Africa, is teaching Guinea-style West African dance Sunday afternoon at 5:00 from now until Nov. 22.

The drummers turned out in force yesterday to welcome Abdoulaye to Seattle. Karim Koumbassa, Manimou Camara, Frenchy Lamont, and several other drummers filled the 4th-floor Center House Studio H with djembe and dunun, and Abdoulaye showed the dancers moves to Sofa and Soko.

As I played the sangban, I dug my iPhone out of my pocket and shot this video of the class. I somehow managed to mute the sound, and the camera is jumping all over the place, but I hope you can get a bit of a sense of Abdoulaye’s presence.

Abdoulaye Sylla is a former principal dancer and percussionist for Les Ballets Africains, Guinea’s world-renowned national ballet company. He has also performed in other companies and has trained many professional dancers and drummers. He has lived in the U.S. since 1994 and has taught and performed at dozens of schools, churches, theaters, community centers, colleges, and cultural festivals, as well as at Trinity College in Connecticut, where he was an adjunct professor.

Abdoulaye teaches every Sunday from now until Nov. 22, from 5:00 to 6:30. The class happens in the fourth-floor Studio H in the Center House at the Seattle Center (there’s an elevator to the fourth floor near the bathrooms in the north hallway of the Center House, or you can take the stairs at the west end of the hallway). $15 for adults; $10 for children 7-12.