Celia Weiss Bambara is a
dance artist and scholar as well as a dual citizen of the US and Burkina Faso.
She is the artistic director of the CCBdance Project, which was co-founded with
Burkina Faso born dance and theater artist, Christian Bambara in 2006. Her
choreography, improvisation and/or site-dance work has been shown in the United
States, and internationally in the Caribbean, West Africa, and in Europe. This
work has been shown at venues including: Dancespace (NYC), Movement Research
(NYC), Zacho Studios (SF), Links Hall (CHI), Drucker Center (CHI), Base
Experimental (Seattle), Northern Michigan University, Institut Francais in
Abidjan, Goethe Institut in Abidjan, Alliance Francaise (CHI), Jane Addams Hull
House (CHI), African American Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Occidental College,
University of Southern California, National Theater in Abidjan (CNAC), INSAAC
(National Arts Conservatory in Abidjan), Cannes at the MJC Picaud, Laboragras in
Berlin, National Television in Haiti, Trinidad at Alice Yard, in Jamaica at the
Caribbean Studies Association, Donko Seko in Mali and at the Belk Theater at UNC
Asheville. She is currently working on multi-media works in dance-film,
site-dance, and photography. Her work has been awarded grants or residencies by
the Puffin Foundation, Maryland Arts Council, Cornish College of the Arts, The
Djerassi Foundation, Ecole Des Sables (Senegal), Donko Seko (Mali), Tanzart
(Germany), UCIRA (University of California Institute for Research in the Arts),
the State Department among others.
Celia's movement research combines the base of Haitian dance with other African forms, modern/contemporary dance, yoga and Klein Mahler technique and Body Mind Centering. Celia has recently completed a 27-minute solo project, Who Fears Not Death, which has been shown in France (at CIE Tene’s Festival in Nice), Germany (through residency at Tanzart), San Francisco (at Zacho Studio’s through the Mbonqui Square Festival), North Carolina (at UNC Asheville), and in New York (at Dancespace). The dance theater work was premiered through Northern Michigan University's Theater Series in the Summer of 2021 in collaboration with lighting designer Dan Zini and musician Kimathi Moore. The dance theater work addresses mourning on an inter-continental scale through accumulated scores and mise-en-scene. This work is the 4th long duration solo work that she has created for the CCBdance Project. Celia has also recently completed a film made with scores for a small ensemble work, "Je Te Souhaites Du Bien et Après" which has been shown as research at Ecole des Sables in Senegal, Donko Seko in Mali, and at CIE Tene’s festival in Cannes, France. This work was screened at the Dance Studies film track and at the Body IQ Somatics Festival in Berlin along with a presentation on process, somatics, and dramaturgy. The project was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council grant for its final completion. Other dance films for the CCBdance Project have been screened and received awards at film and screen dance festivals in the US, Middle East, South Asia, the US, Africa, Canada and in Europe. Site dance has been shown in Chicago, Trinidad, Baltimore, Asheville, and Seattle. Her screen dance work and site-dance work made for the CCBdance Project have been conjoined through projections made for proscenium presentations as well as in the creation of new screen dances with site-adaptive scores. Celia's movement research combines the base of Haitian dance with other African forms, modern/contemporary dance, yoga, and Klein Mahler technique. She has begun study of BMC (Body Mind Centering) in Asheville and has continued her somatics study through conference and training. She has danced for Florencia Pierre/JAKA in Port-au-Prince, Shirley Martin/MKM Cultural Center, Elizabeth Chin/Ayizan in Los Angeles, and Rachel Thorne Germond. She has collaborated with notable artists including Abou Bassa, Kimathi Moore, Djenane St. Juste, Jean-Luc Okou, Kayla Hamilton, Jessica Ray, Loren Earle, Jana Schmuck, and Yacouba Badolo.
Celia teaches choreography, improvisation, dance studies, dance administration, contemporary technique, yoga, and somatics. She also teaches Haitian traditional dance classes. Bambara has taught at institutions including INSAAC (National Arts Conservatory in Abidjan) as a guest artist and then as faculty, Cornish College of the Arts, UNC Asheville, and in West Baltimore at Coppin State University (an HBCU). Through teaching master classes and ateliers, she has contributed to professional dance and theater communities in Burkina Faso at Ecole De Danse Edit, Adreya Ouamba’s teaching series in Senegal through Premier Temps, and Un Pas Vers L’avant Festival in Abidjan, as well as too Kettly Noel’s Donko Seko Laboratories in Mali among others. In the US, Caribbean and Europe she has taught workshops at Links Hall, Dance New Amsterdam, Grinnell College, Shawl Anderson Studios, USC, Occidental College, University of the West Indies in Trinidad, Haiti at JAKA studios, Akademie Remscheid in Germany, and at Laborgras through the Body IQ festival in Berlin. She has been invited to teach at the Texas Dance and Improvisation Festival at Texas Woman's University.
Dr. Bambara’s work addresses the intersections of practice as research in contemporary and African diasporic dance as well as the work of other global contemporary artists. Her current book project addresses overlapping Jewish and African diasporas through questions of improvisation and processes as practices of interculturalism. This practice as research project situates African Contemporary Dance as a geo-political set of practices: research questions and answers that she has negotiated as a dance artist through creating work and dancing with artists in the Caribbean, US, and West Africa. The work centralizes African based improvisational practices in global contemporary dance by analyzing "de-colonial" views on the hierarchy of dance making and presentation.
Celia's movement research combines the base of Haitian dance with other African forms, modern/contemporary dance, yoga and Klein Mahler technique and Body Mind Centering. Celia has recently completed a 27-minute solo project, Who Fears Not Death, which has been shown in France (at CIE Tene’s Festival in Nice), Germany (through residency at Tanzart), San Francisco (at Zacho Studio’s through the Mbonqui Square Festival), North Carolina (at UNC Asheville), and in New York (at Dancespace). The dance theater work was premiered through Northern Michigan University's Theater Series in the Summer of 2021 in collaboration with lighting designer Dan Zini and musician Kimathi Moore. The dance theater work addresses mourning on an inter-continental scale through accumulated scores and mise-en-scene. This work is the 4th long duration solo work that she has created for the CCBdance Project. Celia has also recently completed a film made with scores for a small ensemble work, "Je Te Souhaites Du Bien et Après" which has been shown as research at Ecole des Sables in Senegal, Donko Seko in Mali, and at CIE Tene’s festival in Cannes, France. This work was screened at the Dance Studies film track and at the Body IQ Somatics Festival in Berlin along with a presentation on process, somatics, and dramaturgy. The project was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council grant for its final completion. Other dance films for the CCBdance Project have been screened and received awards at film and screen dance festivals in the US, Middle East, South Asia, the US, Africa, Canada and in Europe. Site dance has been shown in Chicago, Trinidad, Baltimore, Asheville, and Seattle. Her screen dance work and site-dance work made for the CCBdance Project have been conjoined through projections made for proscenium presentations as well as in the creation of new screen dances with site-adaptive scores. Celia's movement research combines the base of Haitian dance with other African forms, modern/contemporary dance, yoga, and Klein Mahler technique. She has begun study of BMC (Body Mind Centering) in Asheville and has continued her somatics study through conference and training. She has danced for Florencia Pierre/JAKA in Port-au-Prince, Shirley Martin/MKM Cultural Center, Elizabeth Chin/Ayizan in Los Angeles, and Rachel Thorne Germond. She has collaborated with notable artists including Abou Bassa, Kimathi Moore, Djenane St. Juste, Jean-Luc Okou, Kayla Hamilton, Jessica Ray, Loren Earle, Jana Schmuck, and Yacouba Badolo.
Celia teaches choreography, improvisation, dance studies, dance administration, contemporary technique, yoga, and somatics. She also teaches Haitian traditional dance classes. Bambara has taught at institutions including INSAAC (National Arts Conservatory in Abidjan) as a guest artist and then as faculty, Cornish College of the Arts, UNC Asheville, and in West Baltimore at Coppin State University (an HBCU). Through teaching master classes and ateliers, she has contributed to professional dance and theater communities in Burkina Faso at Ecole De Danse Edit, Adreya Ouamba’s teaching series in Senegal through Premier Temps, and Un Pas Vers L’avant Festival in Abidjan, as well as too Kettly Noel’s Donko Seko Laboratories in Mali among others. In the US, Caribbean and Europe she has taught workshops at Links Hall, Dance New Amsterdam, Grinnell College, Shawl Anderson Studios, USC, Occidental College, University of the West Indies in Trinidad, Haiti at JAKA studios, Akademie Remscheid in Germany, and at Laborgras through the Body IQ festival in Berlin. She has been invited to teach at the Texas Dance and Improvisation Festival at Texas Woman's University.
Dr. Bambara’s work addresses the intersections of practice as research in contemporary and African diasporic dance as well as the work of other global contemporary artists. Her current book project addresses overlapping Jewish and African diasporas through questions of improvisation and processes as practices of interculturalism. This practice as research project situates African Contemporary Dance as a geo-political set of practices: research questions and answers that she has negotiated as a dance artist through creating work and dancing with artists in the Caribbean, US, and West Africa. The work centralizes African based improvisational practices in global contemporary dance by analyzing "de-colonial" views on the hierarchy of dance making and presentation.