Drum & Dance
Aboubacar Sidick Camara
Master Drummer/Dancer--West African Forms
Camara is a Master Drummer and Dancer born in West Africa with family roots in Dakar, Senegal and Conakry, Guinea. He trained for seven years as a professional dancer with the Troupe D’Enfants of the Republique of Guinea (Children’s Troupe of the Republic of Guinea). From 1997-2002 he was the lead dancer and professional head of the performance group Bougarabou in Dakar, Senegal. Under his leadership they toured and performed in Japan, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Australia and Switzerland.
Since living in the USA he has led and participated in numerous performances. From 2004-2006 Aboubacar worked at Walt Disney’s Universal Studios as the leader of his own group Africa Sanké (Root of Africa). He has taught West African drum and dance classes and workshops at the elementary, high school and college level. He has also conducted workshops for community organizations.
He speaks French and English as well as several West African languages. His repertoire includes a
wide variety of traditional African dances as well as the accompanying songs, stories and rhythms.
The rhythms include: Koukou, Sinté and Sonsoriné (from the Beyla and Boké regions of Guinea), Lamba & Mandiani (from the Malinké people dispersed throughout Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso and Mali), and Liberté, a dance created by Laurent Camara to celebrate Guinea’s national independence.
Aboubacar lived in Oklahoma from 2012-2021, where he has one of the Teaching Artists on the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Roster from 2014. He and his wife relocated to Rhode Island in 2021. He has currently a Teaching Artist on the Rhode Island Arts Council Roster, and he teaches West African Percussion in the Music Department at URI and West African Dance from time to time for Africana Studies. He can teach drum and dance to people from kindergarten age all the way to retired seniors