“We need to delve deeper into our traditional dances and be steadfast to use the embodied materials to create our dances for today to have some relationship with the past while remaining keen on its relevance for the generations to come.”
Mustapha Braimah
Assistant ProfessorDance
Mustapha Braimah brings a lifelong practice with over two decades of international experience and high artistic acclaim to his roles as an artist-scholar born and raised in Ghana, West Africa. He is a choreographer, educator, administrator, curator, musician, and performer. He holds an M.F.A, Dance Performance, and Choreography from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also graduated from Ohio University (OU) with an M.A in African Studies and B.F.A in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Ghana, Legon. He is a co-recipient of the International Program for Creative Collaboration & Research Grant. This project aimed to foster cross-cultural dialogue between students of The School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana and the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. He collaborated through a series of workshops, where students discuss challenges within the current socio-political climate and devised a piece that was publicly performed for audience members at the University of Ghana and the University of Maryland respectively. Braimah’s art practice is deeply rooted in contemporary, popular, and traditional African dance forms as well as drumming and singing. He attended the American Dance Festival in 2010 with a stagecraft apprenticeship scholarship and worked with world-renowned companies and choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Pilobolus, Martha Graham, African-American Dance Ensemble, Eiko & Koma, etc.
Prior to joining the dance faculty at Goucher College, he served as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of Dance Program at the University of North Carolina Asheville. His art practice and creativity are deeply rooted in contemporary, popular, and traditional forms. In addition to his teaching, Braimah tours annually with Azaguno Inc., an international touring group, which focuses on research, preservation, education, and performance of traditional African American, Caribbean and, Latin America music and dance and maintains a lifelong affiliation with the National Dance Company of Ghana where he has had his professional training. His research examines dance from an ethnographic perspective and an embodied practice of deconstructing “African Dance” as an aesthetic category. He delves deeper into sub-Saharan traditional African dance and Diasporic forms. Choreographically, he explores indigenous performance traditions, staged folkloric spectacles, and emergent contemporary forms rooted in sub-Saharan African, resulting in original works that challenge the notion of identity, linguistics, race, humanism, coloniality, and immigration.
Publications
Braimah, M. “African Work Songs for Pounding Grain: 'Lazybones' and 'A Shared Husband I Do Not Want (Chichewa).'" In Global Humanities Reader: Ancient Worlds and Perspectives, edited by Brian Hook, Sophie Mills, Keya Maitra, and Katherine C. Zubko, 54-57. Asheville, NC: University of North Carolina Asheville Humanities Program, 2021 [distributed through UNC Press].
Braimah, M. “Song for Dance of Young Girls (Didinga).” In Global Humanities Reader: Ancient Worlds and Perspectives, edited by Brian Hook, Sophie Mills, Keya Maitra, and Katherine C. Zubko, 105-110. Asheville, NC: University of North Carolina Asheville Humanities Program, 2021 [distributed through UNC Press].
Braimah, M & Semwaza, F. “Islam, Poverty and the Media Portrayal of the North - South Divide in Ghana”: Islam and Muslim Societies: A Social Science Journal Vol., No.1 (2015)
Exhibits or Performances
Peace Ball, Dances of Resistance , National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC
Dance Africa, Dance Place ,Washington DC
NextNow Fest – The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, Maryland
Millenium Stage - Kennedy Performing Arts Center, Washington DC.
Gauteng Dance Manyano, Amazintaba Resort, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) – Burkina Faso
HEARD.AKRON by Nick Cave, Akron Art Museum and Summit Lake Community Center, Akron Ohio.
Ohio University World Music & Dance Concert, Templeton – Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Athens Ohio
Mayor’s Office on African Affairs 10th Anniversary Celebration Lincoln Theater, Washington D.C
Dance Africa Dance Place, Washington D.C In collaboration: Soul in Motion Players
Ghana Dance Ensemble, Conferment of Honorary Degree to ExPresident of Mexico - Ernesto Zerdillo, The Great Hall, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra – Ghana
Azaguno and Ghana National Dance Company, AZA, National Theatre of Ghana, Accra - Ghana
Dance Immersion Showcase, Expression … Now, World Premier: Africa Meets Asia II, a 47 minutes choreographic work by Zelma Badu Younge, original music composed by Paschal Yao Younge, Enwave Theater, Habourfront Centre Toronto ON Canada
NOYAM African Institute for Launching of Vodafone Telecommunication Network, Kumasi, Ghana
Michael Jackson Peace Concert sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Songs Performed: Thriller, Smooth Criminal, Earth Song and Bad. Efua Sutherland Drama Studio, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra - Ghana
External Awards, Honors, Grants
International Program for Creative Collaboration and Research
Celebrating Research, Scholarship, and Creative Achievement
Invited Talks
National Center for Choreography, University of Akron
Dance Department, Eastern Carolina University
Dance Department, Oberlin College
Cleveland School of the Arts
Department of Black Studies Program, Cleveland State University
Master Classes at ACDA Conference including, Ohio University, West Virginia University, University of Maryland College Park
OhioDance Festival
Dance Studies Department Retreat, University of Ghana
Academic or Professional Associations
Collegium of African Diaspora Dance
World Dance Alliance Americas
Azaguno Inc.
American College Dance Association
Council of Ewe Association of North America
Dancers Without Borders
Ghana National Dance Company
Noyam African Dance Institute