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