Education
RESIDENCIES
Artistic Director Etienne Cakpo and other Gansango teaching artists have extensive experience in performing arts residencies for adults and youth of all ages. Residencies can range from just a few days or weeks to regular classes or workshops held over many months.
Selected examples include:
- Instruction of African dance for Seattle Theatre Group’s annual DanceThis! Intensive youth program from 2002 to present.
- Centrum Artist in Residence, Explorers Program & Blue Heron Program, Port Townsend; Teaching African dance to 7th & 8th grade students (March 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017).
- Year-long Artist in Residence, Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center school in Seattle; African dance instruction for immigrant middle and high school students (March-May 2008; October 2008 thru May 2009; Oct 2009 to June 2010, Sept-October 2014).
- Artists in Residence teaching African dance to grades K-12 at Stevens Elementary School, The Meridian School, Voyager Montessori Elementary school (Bainbridge Island), The Evergreen School, Summit, Nathan Hale High School, Washington Middle School, West Woodland Elementary School and others (2007 to present).
- Instructor, World Dance at University of Washington (2011).
- Guest Dance Instructor in Residence, Department of Theater and Dance, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS.
I absolutely loved all of his classes. They were definitely challenging for me. I have taken some African dance classes before and they were nothing like Etienne’s but I tried to keep an open mind. I think it is important to be open to all styles and push to be versatile. Etienne was a great teacher with a very sincere personality. He made me smile and definitely sweat.