Artist Educators & Requirements

Our Artist Educators

Yewande Kelley-Johnson has been performing & teaching African and African Caribbean dance for over 20 years with several dance companies. She is the Artistic Director of the Iwa L'ewa Heritage Dance Ensemble, a group dedicated to the music, story and dance of Africa and the Americas and is a five time recipient of the Folk Arts grants from the New Jersey State Arts Council, designating her a master teacher of West African dance."

Audrey Davis specializes in traditional West African dance and conducts classes at Rutgers University, Middlesex County College, Synapse Studios, The Drum and Dance Learning Center and Inspira Dance Theatre. She has taught students of all ages and is known for her energetic and interactive teaching style. Ms. Davis has also served as the former choreographer for the Nia Dance Ensemble, a children's performing troupe, and is currently the Assistant Artistic Director of the Iwa Lewa Heritage Ensemble founded and directed by Yewande Kelly Johnson.

Audrey has performed at the PNC Arts Center, Crossroads Theatre, the State Theatre, as well as countless weddings and cultural events. She has also conducted workshops for the Julliard School, Johnson & Johnson, the Princeton School System and many other organizations.

Ms. Davis takes great pride and joy in sharing the richness of African dance and culture.

Victor Marshall's introduction to West African percussion began at the age of sixteen. He studied West African drumming and culture under Steven Lloyd in Nassau County, New York. He later met Jose Rendon who taught him Afro Cuban drumming. Victor continued his musical study at SUNY Old Westbury with Warren Smith and Andre Strobert. He also had the opportunity to study West African drumming with YaYa Diallo, Mama Adouboa Camara and Abdoul Dikite.

Mr. Marshall is currently the Musical Director for the Iwa Lewa Heritage Ensemble and teaches West African Drumming at Middlesex County College. He has also taught workshops at the American Repertory Ballet Company as well as numerous middle schools and colleges in New York and New Jersey.

Aaron J. Johnson (Composer, Arranger, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, and Tuba) is a native of Washington, DC, but currently works in the New York City area and lives in Irvington, New Jersey. A familiar sight in the large ensembles of Jimmy Heath, Charles Tolliver, Charlie Persip, Frank Foster, Muhal Richard Abrams, Eddie Allen, Chico O'Farrill, as well as the Mingus Big Band, he also performs frequently with Steve Turre and Sanctified Shells, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Ebony Brass Quintet, Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe, The LaBamba Big Band, the Reggie Nicholson Brass Concept, Paradigm Shift, and Reggie Workman's Legacy Ensemble. He is a recorded composer and arranger and leads his own ensembles of various configurations including Don't Mean A Thing!, a funky trombone quartet, the medium-sized Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Salim Washington- Aaron Johnson Quintet. He has also performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the late Jaki Byard, Anthony Braxton, and David Murray, as well as Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight (with and without The Pips), and Nancy Sinatra.

Aaron Johnson was awarded a 2000 Fellowship in Music Composition from the NJ State Council on the Arts. Aaron teaches low brass at Rutgers-Newark University and has earned degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tulivu-Donna Cumberbatch is a native of Brooklyn, New York. Her father, the great baritone saxophone player, Harold Cumberbatch, named here Donna Lynn after Miles Davis' composition, "Donna Lee", made popular by Charlie Parker.

Her participation in choirs both in church and school, and in particular, the All City High School Chorus under the direction of John Motley, proved to be a great training ground. She studied music formally at Herbert H. Lehman College and informally she studied, listened and learned from such great artists as Carmen McCrae, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson.

Ms. Cumberbatch has performed extensively in New York, the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, West Africa, and the continental United States. Her last European tour included performances with trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe, his quartet and a symphony orchestra performing his two symphonies, "Children of the Fire," and "Flames of South Africa". Other works by Hannibal in which Ms. Cumberbatch was the featured vocalist were "Fanny Lou Hamer", performed with the Kronos Quartet, and "Love Poems to God" with dancer/choreographer Dianne McIntyre.

Ms. Cumberbatch has also performed with John Hicks, The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Diedre Murray, Lonnie Plaxico, Onaje-Alan Gumbs, Curtis Lundy, Cecil Brooks III, Steve Wilson, Andy Bey, Al Harewood, Cecil Payne and Romero Lubambo to name a few. Ms. Cumberbatch currently works with the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, the Ray Abrams Big Band, the Cliff Smalls Septet, the Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble, and of course her own Magnificent Trio, which includes Donald Smith, p., Mark Johnson, d., and Rachiim Ausar-Sahu, b.

Ms. Cumberbatch has performed in numerous nightclubs, concert halls, colleges, and festivals, including the first W.E.B. Dubois Pan African Jazz Festival in Accra, Ghana.

Ms. Cumberbatch who does educational jazz workshops for elementary and junior high schools also has three recordings on Ki-Ki Records, "Harmony", "Lullabies In The Key Of Life-For The Child In All Of Us", and "Daughters of the Nile".

Dr. Marcia Heard has a PhD. in Dance History from NYU. Ballet, modern, jazz and African dance are areas she has pursued as a lover, student, and performer of dance. Her expertise has been used in various documentaries, like, Free to Dance, and articles on the dance world and history. Dr. Heard is currently a teacher in the New Jersey school system.

Clyde Wilder is a master of the Savoy style swing. His sojourn into swing has led him to work with living treasures like Mama Lu Parks, and Norma Miller of the original Whitey�s Lindy Hoppers. He�s won in the international Harvest Moon Ball competitions and is a recipient of the a New Jersey Folk arts grant, as a master swing teacher. Clyde Wilder is the director of MFOA (Message from our Ancestors) this performing ensemble performs dances from West Africa with a specialty in various African masquerades.

Recording: You must obtain permission from the teacher to record audio or video for any of our workhshops. If permission is granted, we ask you to focus any video recording of yourself learning the movement and to check with the other students to for their agreement to be recorded.

Dress: Dancers are usually asked to dance in their bare feet. Wear clothing that you can move in, including sweat pants, t-shirt, tights (footless), leotards, or shorts. Women and girls are asked to bring 2 yards of fabric to wrap as their lapa (African wrap skirt). For children it varies but you could start with 1.5 yards. I will show anyone how to wrap a lapa. At various times I also bring lapas for sale. *Please don't wear any sweats/leggings so long they hang under your feet.

Drums/Drummers: Please introduce yourself to the to the musicians. Your connection to the music is so important; its good for you to meet the musicians who guide your dancing body.