Abdoulaye Sylla and One World

Abdoulaye Sylla, master dancer and drummer from Guinea, West Africa, has been delighting students and audiences alike for more than 20 years with his energetic style and infectious smile. He began dancing professionally while still a youngster, winning numerous regional and national dance competitions in his country.

From 1989 to 1994 Abdoulaye was a principal dancer and percussionist with Les Ballets Africains, the national dance troupe of the Republic of Guinea, and from 1986 through 1994 a principal dancer, percussionist and the director of technique for Les Merveilles D'Afrique, a private folkloric troupe that trains dancers for the national company. He has performed on many of the great stages of the world and has toured and taught traditional dance throughout Africa, Europe and the United States.

In 1994 Abdoulaye relocated to the U.S. He has taught and performed at dozens of schools, churches, theaters, community centers, colleges and cultural festivals.

He is presently artistic director of Fotoba (formerly One World), a multicultural dance troupe based in Connecticut. He is an adjunct professor at Trinity College and he is on the staff of the Artists' Collective.

He has worked extensively with other Afrocentric folkloric groups such as Sankofa Kuumba, Ballet Bagata and the Bamidele Dancers and Drummers. He is a master teaching artist with the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and a member of the school's Urban Artists Initiative. —Courtesy Calabash Music