Lwa Transcending -Cumbe Dance for Joy Recap Video

Dance for Joy 2025 is in the books!

Enjoy...

Excerpts from "Lwa Transcending"

Performed by Cumbe RISE Community Dance Company 

Choreography by Candice Michelle Franklin

Dance 4 Joy Recital December 7, 2025 Recap

Performed at The Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY

Produced by the Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance

Nacala Jendayi, Director of Programming

Candice Michelle Franklin
Artistic Director of
Cumbe RISE Community Dance Company

Drummers:

Olatunji Ojore & Fitz Sam

Cast:

Candice Michelle Franklin (Featured Role:  Storyteller of Dance) 

Val (Spoken Word Vocals, Featured Role: Mambo) 

Tanya (Music Vocals, Featured Role Erzulie Fréda)

Sadie (Music Vocals for Maman Brigitte)

Elle (Featured Role:  Maman Brigitte) 

Dianne (Featured Role: Èrzulie Dantòr) 

Chris (Featured Role:  Damballa) 

Luna (Featured Role:  Ayida-Weddo) 

Asia (Dance Captain, Featured Role:  La Sirène) 

Hetty (Dance Captain, Company Manager) 

Alicia (Dance Captain, Rehearsal Assistant) 

Leyla (Dance Captain, Swing) 

Izzy 

Mariah

NaiRobi

Coutney

Jernee

Christine

Nedra

Nicole

Rae

Laryssa

Mary

Year 2025 Extended Family of Dancers
Andrea
Yolande
Ain
Stephanie
Shania
Jenny
Mariam
Jim & Cate

Company Class: 
Dunham-Informed Jazz Performance Workshop

Miss Candice Michelle Franklin, Instructor
Open Level
Location:  Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance, Brooklyn, NY

Day:  Saturdays (Ongoing - nearly all Saturdays throughout the year)
Time:  Noon - 2:00 pm

We are Community.  We are Family.
Open to All!

Dance for Joy is an annual 10-week donation-based workshop series that culminates in an end-of-year performance.

Cumbe RISE Community Dance Company is Cumbe Center's flagship dance group.  Open to all levels, this community dance group REQUIRES NO AUDITIONS...  just a will to dance and a passion to make magic.  Cumbe RISE performs throughout New York City for festivals, fashion shows, health fairs, and non-profit groups.  Cumbe RISE meets on Saturdays at Noon for "Dunham-Informed Jazz Performance Workshop" with Miss Candice, the official company class for Cumbe RISE Community Dance Company.  

Hope to see you there!

So Grateful! Cumbe RISE Community Dance Company

 

Just counting my blessings...

Happy Holidays!  

I just wanted to post my thanks for all the fantastic things I received from you all... from the wonderfully written cards, the gorgeous flowers, my plant "Aries" from graduation that's thriving and magically still alive, and most importantly, your truly wonderful dancing!  I even learned new things from you all and our "extended family," that's just going to make us all dance with more purpose and POWER than ever before!  

Ya'll ROCK, and I love you.  And so many incredible performances this year...  Your dedication is fantastic, and you DELIVER every time, and that just makes me want to work on an even higher level than before.  

You all are outstanding.  Powerful dancers.  And boy-oh-boy am I deeply grateful.  Truly AMAZING!

Can't wait to see you all next year...

Happy Holidays!

Much happiness, music, and dance,

Miss Candice :)

Candice Michelle Franklin - Dance Educator for Academia and Arts Institutions

CANDICE MICHELLE FRANKLIN

Dance Educator, Specialist in Jazz Dance and Historical Jazz Dance
Technique Specialties:  Studio Jazz, Dunham-Informed Jazz, and Dunham Foundational Syllabus
Additional Dance Expertise:  Musical Theatre, Historic Jazz Vernacular, Commercial Jazz, Afro Contemporary Jazz, Latin Jazz, Salsa On2, East Coast Swing, and Lindy Hop

List of Dance Education Appointments

College University Adjunct Positions

• Sarah Lawrence College -John Jasperse, Dance Department Chair

• Kean University -Rachel Evans, Theatre Department Chair

• University of Massachusetts - Amherst -Dr. Paul Anthony Dennis, Dance Department Chair

Conservatory

• Joffrey Ballet School (New York, NY) -Era Jouravlev, Ballet Trainee Artistic Director 

• Joffrey Ballet School Jazz & Contemporary (New York, NY) -Angelica Stiskin, Artistic Director

• Pro Arte Dance (Vancouver, BC, Canada) -Astrid Sherman, Artistic Director

DOE Department of Education Dance Teacher Workshops
  Teaching NYC Public Schools Dance Teachers for their Professional Development

• DOE DECC - Dance Educators Collective Concert (Instruction and Choreography Commission) -Shirlene Blake, Director of Dance for NYC Public Schools

• DOE Dance Educator’s Lab -DEL at 92nd Street Y -Jody Gottfried Arnhold (Founder), Erin Lally (Director), Ann Biddle (DEL Professional Learning Curriculum Consultant)

• DOE Dance Educator’s Lab -DEL at Gibney Dance -Shirlene Blake, Director of Dance for NYC Public Schools, Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Director, Susan Thomasson, Master Instructor Facilitator

Arts Institution Dance Education Programming

• The Joyce Theater Dance Education

• Yale University

• National Jazz Museum in Harlem

• Museum of the City of New York 

• Lincoln Center Summer for the City

• The Apollo Theater

• Harlem School of the Arts

• YAFFA Arts

• Greenwich House Music School
  
  

College Master Classes

• Yale University

• Webster University

• University of Kansas

Department of Education Public Schools Residencies

High Schools

• High School for Contemporary Arts (Bronx, NY)

• The Global Learning Collaborative High School (New York, NY)

• Talented Unlimited High School (New York, NY)

• Cicely Tyson High School of the Performing Arts (East Orange, NJ)

• Union County Academy for Performing Arts UCVTS (Scotch Plains, NJ)
  
  

Middle Schools

• Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (Vancouver, WA)

• L.S. 584 Intermediate School P10X Autism Program (Bronx, NY)

Elementary Schools

• P.S. 304 Early Childhood Lab School P10 Autism Program  (Bronx, NY)

• P.S. 333 The Longwood Academy of Discovery P10 Autism Program (Bronx, NY)

• P.S. 26Q Rufus King (Queens, NY)

• P.S. 87 William Sherman Elementary (New York, NY)

• P.S. 20 Anna Silver Elementary School, Lower East Side (New York, NY)

• P.S. 123 Mahalia Jackson School, Harlem (New York, NY)

Private School Guest Teaching 

• The Putney School

• The Stony Brook School

• Marymount School of New York

Citywide Public Community Performance/Instruction

• Jazzmobile - City Artist Corps Grant

• Jazzmobile -Jazz on the Great Hill

• Jazzmobile - Senior Community Residency Tours (Multi-years)

• Lincoln Center Summer for the City (Multi-years)

• Harlem One Stop (Multi-years)

• Harlem Summerstage (Multi-Dates)

• Harlem Arts Festival

• New York City Transit Museum - New York Public Library

• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York Public Library

• National Jazz Museum in Harlem -Jackie Robinson Park

• New York City Multi-Cultural Arts Festival -(Multi-Dates)

• Fort Greene Park Conservancy Dance Series

• Jazz at Governor’s Island X Cumbe Center for African Dance

• Flushing Town Hall

• Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAMcafé Live

Conferences

• IABD International Blacks in Dance Conference (Multi-years)

• Uprooted -Broadway Dance Center (New York, NY)

• The Legacy Jazz Dance Conference (León, Guanajuato, Mexico)

Studio Appointments

• Cumbe Center for African & Diaspora Dance (Brooklyn, NY)

• Uptown Dance Academy (New York, NY)

• Friends Dance Academy (Long Island, NY)

Studio Residencies

• Joffrey Ballet School Miami (Miami, FL)

• Center for Performing Arts Methuen (Boston, MA)

• Dance Prodigy Booking/Infinity Dance Company (Lyndon, WA)

• Pro Arte Dance (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

• Mauro Youth Ballet (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

• Jovan Miller Productions (Seattle, WA)

• Wyckoff School of Dance (Wyckoff, NJ)

• Young Dance Academy (Milwaukee, WI)

• Next Step Dance Studio (Milwaukee, WI)

• Expressions Dance Studio (West Union, IA)

• N'Ferno Performing Arts Center (Baltimore, MD)

• Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center (Bronx, NY) 

• Together We Dance (St. Louis, MO)

• Pinx Academy of Dance (St. Louis, MO)

• Angela Floyd Schools (Knoxville, TN)

• Suzanne's Main Street Dance Centre (Detroit, MI)

Full Studio List Upon Request

My Favorite Things -Rehearsal

I love a 6/8!  Dug this out of the crate...
"My Favorite Things"
Choreography by Candice Michelle Franklin

Pro Arte Centre
CatchingART, Astrid Sherman, Artistic Director
North Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Legacy Jazz Conference

September 27 and 28, 2025

International Jazz Dance Congresssecond edition

From New York 4 Masters of Jazz Dance legacies 

Artistic Director:  Meche Meza

So grateful for the opportunity to be on faculty
in the esteemed company with these DIVAS of Jazz dance at
The Legacy Jazz Conference in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.

SUE SAMUELS

SHEILA BARKER

TERESA PEREZ CECCON

CANDICE MICHELLE FRANKLIN

This conference was one of the warmest, engagingly remarkable, educationally enlightening, and fantastically organized conferences that I have ever had the pleasure to participate in.  We're all based in New York City, but the faculty really bonded on this trip, which helped us draw connections between all the styles we were presenting (Dunham-Informed Jazz, Frank Hatchett, JoJo Smith, Simonson Technique) to the incredible dance students and their teachers.  It was TRULY an AMAZING experience, and I will never forget it. 

Thank you, Meche, for having me!  I had a blast!

***

Sammy and Candy Sizzle Reel

Sammy and Candy Sizzle Reel

Check it out!

Al Minns Next Generation New Orleans Edition 2025

 

Al Minns Next Generation
New Orleans Juneteenth Edition 2025

So freakin' proud to be apart of the inaugural New Orleans Juneteenth group of Al Minns' Next Generation Project featuring Black Lindy Hoppers from all over the United States. My goodness... what a fantastic week of brilliance and dance. Thank you for having me and can't wait to see you all again next year!

Shout out to our fearless leader Mama Denise Minns and our teachers/ national treasures, Chester Whitmore, Sugar Sullivan, Barbara Billups, and Marie N'Diaye, Yaaaaaaas!

To find out more about this fabulous organization, go to the Pacific Dance Foundation and donate to www.bit.ly/alminns.

CLICK HERE - PLEASE DONATE TODAY TO
AL MINNS NEXT GENERATION PROJECT

Miss Candice is in the Museum of the City of New York

Hey friends! I have the great honor of being included (and my dance partner, Sammy) in an interactive dance installation at the Museum of the City of New York. It's called Urban Stomp curated by Derrick Leon Washington, PhD! It covers Hip Hop, Vogue, Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Lindy Hop, Hustle, and so much more... Costumes, instruments, and dance shoes and New York DANCE culture. I'm presenting in the Charleston and Lindy Hop kiosk. I'm the first kiosk off the elevator. Come check it out and learn some new moves. Runs for 10 months through February!

Click Here for more information about the exhibit,
Urban Stomp:  https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/urban-stomp

Check out these stills!

 

Pro DANZ® Group

Candice Michelle Franklin
CEO & Head Choreographer of The Pro DANZ® Group

Dance Artist
*Choreographer
Creative Director
Producer
Dance Coach
**Teaching Artist
Master Teacher in Jazz Dance Arts
Traditional Jazz Technique Trainer
Beginning to Professional

*Specializing in choreography for live music concerts, musicals, music videos, stage shows, concert dance, festivals, dance conventions, dance camps, master classes, education workshops, high school dance programs, collegiate dance programs, film, television, web shows

**Teaching Artist of Open Level Creative Movement in Jazz Studies accompanied by live Contemporary and Traditional Jazz Music

Dance Choreography Specialties:
Commercial Jazz, Contemporary Concert Jazz, Afro-Fusion Jazz, Musical Theatre Jazz, Industrial Technique Jazz, Latin Jazz, Salsa On2, East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Urban Contemporary Jazz, Retro Jazz Soul

 

Music Styles:
Neo-Soul, R&B, Hip Hop, Acid Jazz, House, Funk, Blues, Samba, Afro Cuban Jazz, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Cha Cha, Boogaloo, Boogie Woogie, Swing, Jazz Standards, Contemporary Jazz, Bollywood, Bollywood Hip Hop Fusion

 

Dance Casting:
Live Stage Shows, Music Videos, Back-up Dancers, Theatrical Production, Industrials, Special Events

 

Professional Dancers-for-Hire:
Commercial Pop/Hip Hop Dancers Choreographed for
Recording Artists, Music Videos, Industry Events, Special Events, & Fashion Shows

 

Other Custom Choreography Services:
Custom Choreography Packages for Wedding First Dance, Wedding Court/Sweet 16 Routines, Quincinera,
Father/Daughter Dance, Office Party Routine/Funny Video, Milestone Birthday (I Still Got It! Routine)

 

***Wedding Dancers-for-Hire***  Express your love on your wedding day in a super special way with a professionally danced “LOVE” duet!  ***Hire professional dancers to perform to your favorite love song at your ceremony or reception.  “LOVE DUETS” are Candice’s specialty!  Whether it’s a sexy, current R&B tune, a romantic old-school Soul song, a flirtatious, yet gritty Blues, or an elegant Jazz classic a la Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, let Candice create a dance just for you.  Dances can be performed to live or recorded music.  Rates start at $500.  Custom choreographed performances start at $600.  Call for details. (212) 426-1305

 

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Hire Professional
LIVE MUSIC & DANCE ENTERTAINMENT

Hire JAZZ AIN’T DEAD® for your next special event!  Jazz Ain’t Dead® consists of a Live BAND and DJ performed with Live DANCERS in a high-energy floor show.  Sets are 15 minute, 30 minute, 45 minute, 60 minute, and 75 minutes.  Entertainment can be planned up to three hours with band and dancers, and up to four hours with floor shows spread throughout the evening.  Music styles include Funk and R&B, Funk Jazz Fusion, Jazz Standards, 20’s, 40’s, House, Acid Jazz, and Top 40 requests.  Rates start at $2500.  Call for additional information on rates and set descriptions.

Miss Candice Michelle Franklin is the Choreographer and the Artistic Producing Director of 
JAZZ AIN’T DEAD®.

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Pro DANZ® Group
Dance Industrial Professionals, Inc.
(212) 426-1305

Candice Michelle Franklin is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA.

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