Boston’s OrigiNation Takes Student Dancers to Africa

OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center will lead a powerful international youth development experience this November, as seven student dancers from several Boston neighborhoods travel to the African island nation of Cape Verde for a weeklong cultural exchange. This marks OrigiNation’s 11th international youth arts and service tour since the program began in 2009.

The initial tours marked the first time some of the students travelled by plane, and their first time outside of the United States. While in Cape Verde, the students perform and teach dance in local schools and community spaces, participate in traditional meals, engage in peer-to-peer dialogue with local youth, and distribute needed supplies in the communities they visit.

“These trips aren’t about vacation—they’re about transformation,” says OrigiNation founder and Artistic Director Shaumba-Yandje wa Dibinga. “Through service, cultural exchange, and the performing arts, we open our students to a wider world and a deeper understanding of their own identity and values.”

This year’s youth cohort includes Nasya Baine of Dorchester, the South End’s Jay’dha Rackard and Amanie Yusef, Laila Smith from Jamaica Plain, Milton’s Samarah Marks, Makalah Brown from Mattapan, and Shaumba-Subira Dibinga-Robinson from Rosindale, with chaperones Sonia Lomba (an OrigiNation alum and current Board member), Shaumba-Yandje wa Dibinga, and OrigiNation Executive Director Musau Dibinga.

Since 2009, OrigiNation’s international programs have brought young people to Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica, Senegal, Trinidad, London, New Orleans and Barbados. In each destination, students take part in hands-on service projects—learning how to cook traditional meals, organizing soup kitchens for entire villages, digging drainage ditches to combat flooding, painting, cleaning and improving community centers.

“These trips are hard to replicate in a classroom,” says Dibinga. “They teach humility, patience, and perspective. The program also serves to remind the students to take advantage of opportunities they have, to be kind, and about the transformative power of love. Our students return home not just as stronger artists, but as emerging global citizens.”

To make the trip possible, each student raises $1,000 for their airfare through bake sales, performances known as “Conscious Cafes,” dance lessons, and community support. OrigiNation pays for meals and housing through grassroots fundraising and donations. Two ticketed fundraising events are planned for August: a Conscious Cafe at Black Market Nubian Square in Roxbury on August 15th at 7pm with family-friendly performances in spoken word and karaoke; and a community Line Dancing Workshop at the Dorchester headquarters of The Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO) on August 17th from 2 to 3:30pm.

With rising costs, the organization is calling on community leaders, philanthropists, and arts supporters to help ensure every student who earns a spot on the trip can take part, with a fundraising goal of $20,000.

“This is an investment in the future,” says Dibinga. “We’ve seen again and again how travel shapes our students—broadening their view of the world and igniting a lifelong commitment to service and cultural pride.”

For more information or to support the program, please visit the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center website at originationinc.org.

Image credit OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center