Regine B. Ndounda is Director and Executive Board Chair of the Congolese Dance & Drum Workshop. Revered for her fiery yet feminine brand of Congolese dance, she currently teaches popular classes in Palo Alto, CA and at Oakland's Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. In addition to teaching, she trains and mentors current dancers in Fua Dia Congo through her role as artistic advisor.
Regine is a unique and versatile African dance professional. She has combined a brilliant career as a choreographer-performer with teaching and a deep commitment to broadening the recognition for the works of African female choreographers.
In 1977, Regine relocated from the Congo to the United States and became the principal dancer of Fua Dia Congo, an African repertory company dedicated to broadening access and knowledge of Africa’s rich cultural heritage throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. As a principal dancer of Fua Dia Congo, Regine led in many groundbreaking performances at major venues in the U.S.A. These include several seasons at the nationally known San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival at Herbst Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., a sold-out seasons at the largest African cultural arts extravaganza in the United States: The African Cultural Festival, Calvi J. Simmons Theater, Oakland, Ca, and Harambee African Festival.
Regine has led several workshops and residencies throughout the United States, including the Congolese Dance & Drum Workshop, Lisangua Ya Bato Dance and Drum Camp (New York), Redwood Dance and Drum Festival (Mendocino, CA), Harambee African Festival Master Class & Workshop (Houston, TX), and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Company Workshops.
Regine garnered much acclaim as a principal performer in Fua Dia Congo and was featured in a number of documentary films and televised broadcasts. ‘And Still We Dance,’ a documentary on the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and PBS documentary entitled African Dance at Jacob’s Pillow, broadcast in 1988 and 1989, are just two of the films in which she has been featured.
Class Schedule
2011 Poster for Regine's Sunday class in Palo Alto (color)
