Lisa Traiger X Assane Konte

In this special Artist Talk, Lisa Traiger reminisces with Assane Konte, Co-Founding Artistic Director of KanKouran West African Dance Company. They touch on history, dance technique and more!

Extra Archival footage of Assane provided by Denaise Seals. (@slingshotvideo)

I have been a dancer all my life. It’s all I have ever wanted to do. My career as a professional dancer began at age 15, and for 12 years I traveled throughout West Africa performing and training with some of the best dancers in the region. In 1978, I came to the United States to pursue a career as an independent artist with a vision to start my own dance company. I founded KanKouran Dance Company in April 1984, in Washington, DC. Through my experiences traveling and working in various communities, I knew that I wanted my company to preserve and promote traditional West African culture by providing quality entertainment and educational programs to facilitate cross-cultural enrichment. My objective, as an artist, has always been to provide intercultural and educational experiences and to increase audiences’ understanding and appreciation of African culture through the presentation of traditional African dance.  My greatest accomplishment, however, is that as I approach my 76th birthday, I am teaching the grandchildren of some of the original members of my dance company. I am so grateful to still be living my dream as a dancer, teacher, performer, and choreographer. It’s not just what I do. It’s who I am.

-Assane Konte, Co-Founding Artistic Director, KanKouran Dance Company

KanKouran is supported, in part, by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (An Agency Supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts), the Mellon Foundation, Events DC, and the International Association of Blacks in Dance. In addition, I would like to sincerely thank all of our donors, long-time supporters, community members, and countless Friends of KanKouran. This company was founded as a community-based organization, and it is only through community that we have been able to fulfill our mission to preserve and promote traditional values of West African culture through dance and rhythm for 43 years and counting.

Visit KanKouran Dance Company’s website: (https://kankouran.org/)

Visit KanKouran Dance Company’s Instagram: (@kankourandance)

Lisa Traiger  (she/her) (@dcdancewatcher) has been an arts journalist and critic since 1985. She wrote the dance column for The Washington Post Weekend section from 1999 to 2014. She edited From the Green Room, Dance/USA’s online eJournal, from 2008 to 2022. As a freelance dance critic for The Washington Post her reviews appeared in the Style section from 1997-2006.! You can read more about Juliana on our STAFF page!