I learned to dance in Malawi, where I was born, and Zambia where I later lived. My great love of dance started with my mother who loves to dance too,  and we would go with her to local ceremonies in and around Ntondwe in Malawi.

In England I maintain and develop my practice through ongoing training with African dance tutors such as Peter Badejo of Badejo Arts and Gabs Maboungo, Congolese dance specialist, and in Zambia, with our neighbours, the Kaloko Trust Dance troupe.

I specialise in:

• Traditional and contemporary African dance, teaching and performance
• Afro-samba dance creation, teaching and performance
• Afrobics - exercise, dance, and stretch to African music
• Aerobics - movement, exercise and stretch for all levels and ages

My education practice is informed by 16 years experience of choreography, teaching and performance in over 200 projects. Many of these have been one or more week residencies such as:

• Clovelly Primary School, North Devon - An African story with drumming and dance, 7 Nov - 12 Dec 2006
• Chittlehampton Primary School, North Devon - African Arts Week - story, dance, textiles, beading, head dress, drumming by African drummer, and performance, 22 - 26 May 2006
• Combine Truro Schools, Cornwall - Arts events (textiles, drumming with Denis Kigongo and dance),8 - 10 Feb 2005 
• African dance for Torbay Schools, South Devon, 24 – 28 March 2003; 
• Pathfield School, Pilton, Barnstaple, North Devon – African Arts Week – story, cookery, textiles & drumming (learning & physical disabilities) 7 – 8 June 2004;
• Abbey Gateway, Barnstaple, North Devon, (learning & physical disabilities adults) Summer carnivals project (dance and drumming with a drummer) 1 July – 23 Sept 2000.
• And many more
  
• Performance at Clovelly Primary School, Project from 25 Feb -1 March '04 (insert pic)
• 

WORKSHOPS
In the last five years I have added storytelling with dance, costume, masks, African
textiles and food workshops to provide a holistic African experience. For the same reason,
I like to collaborate with other artists and teachers. Examples of these arre:      

• St Edmunds Junior School Dorchester One week African arts collaboration of painting, drumming, sculpture and dance 24 – 28 May 2004; 
• Milbur Junior School Sun arts week collaboration of textiles, puppets, music & dance artists,  21 –25 June 2004; 
• North Devon Theatres – Deadly Sins – a Secondary School collaboration with contemporary dancers and a theatre specialist, 19 – 24 Aug 2002;

Shirwell Primary School performance to heads of Devon schools conference, Santon Sands – A look at African and contemporary dance from the zulu warrior, village dances to Afro Caribbean reggae Feb – April 2002
 
 
Shirwell School performance, Landmark Theatre, April 2002

My workshops always begin with a little history and geography and introduction to an African language. They can lead to performance and exhibition of creations and also help meet school curriculum requirements.

WORKSHOP CONTENTS

• Traditional, contemporary and creative cultural dance from West, Central, Southern & South Africa.
• Storytelling with song and dance.
• Creation of costumes – may involve African textile design including batik, indigo, mud, block printing or tie-dye, techniques.
• Mask making.
• African food.
• AFROBICS – utilising the high and low energy dances and music from Africa for an athletic aerobic workout, including exercises and stretch.

PERFORMANCE
 
Performing with Samba Sol, Hartland Carnival Aug 2006 (insert pic)

Performance of creative and traditional cultural dance in collaboration with African
drummers, and Devon's samba bands at out door and indoor events. I choreograph, teach
and lead dance troupes at festivals and carnivals. All dancers I train benefit from these
exciting live performance outlets.

 Party Animals' New Year's Eve 2006, Bideford, North Devon (insert pics of New years eve 2005 &2006)

'WORKSHOP SIZES & MATERIALS
Maximum of 30 for dance, and 20 for textiles, with access to dance hall and art room.
Costumes are mostly made from recycled materials. All items including dyes, glue, cotton
and paints are available at cost price.

COMMENTS FROM TEACHERS, AGENTS AND PUPILS
The following are some of the comments from various pupils, teachers and agents:
 

 "Rebecca has worked with DAISI on a number of school project days and is
currently also working as an Area Group tutor within the 3D A Chance to Dance
programme.
We always receive positive feedback from the schools Rebecca works with where
staff and pupils alike feel that she brings a great deal of enjoyment, learning and
creative opportunity to everyone involved"
Liz Hill, Director, DAISI. 17 Oct 2006
DAISI gave me 17 projects in 2005 – 2006.
     

"Dear Becky,
At first I did not know how to dance, but you taught me and the rest of the school
amazing dances. You can do so much and do it so well, and the activity was so
exciting. Thankyou for teaching us. We are really grateful for what you have done.
Yours sincerely,
Chloe Green."
Milbur Community Jnr. School, Monday 28th June 2004
 
"Hi Rebecca,
Thank you so much for giving us such a good day – we all really enjoyed it. You must
have taught the children really well because they remembered the dance just about
perfectly the next day, and the older ones came down in their sarongs and bandanas
and performed brilliantly. I was very dubious about the song but the year 6 girls were
excellent and headed up the school practice in assembly with great poise….
Thank you again,
Celia" – Head of Exbourne Primary School 22 Sept 2006
 
"Thank you for helping us with the pen knife when we were cutting out and the
nice African dancing. It was fun making masks because we got to paint and create.
Thank you for letting us do are own African dancing.
Tamsin." Black Torrington C of E Primary

 MY FAMILY BACKGROUND

My maiden name was Rebecca Moxon, the daughter of Major Peter Moxon and Grace Agnes Chongo. My father, was an English army officer educated at Marlborough College. He did his army training at Sandhurst. He was posted in Kenya and then Zambia in Africa during the second world war. By the time he retired from the British army after the war, he had completely fallen in love with Africa, and decided to live there, so he bought a farm in  Ntondwe, Malawi. He met my mother, a Chewa by tribe, who came from a nearby village called Nankumba. I was the second of their three children between Jennifer my elder sister, who is an administrator at Oxford University, and John, my younger brother who, among his other professions, as a motor mechanic and farmer,  is currently a vet in the wild in Botswana, developing a fishing and wild game camp in the Okavango Delta, one of the most beautiful places on earth. My mother had a son from her first marriage, my eldest brother, Evans, who lives in Mufulira, Zambia and farms at Luansobe, our farm in Ndola rural. My father had three daughters from his first marriage, Elizabeth, Diana and Penny, who were brought up by their mother in Jersey, in the UK. Diana is Dame Diana Mossop who has become a renowned professor and specialist in alternative medicine with a practice in Jersey. My family represents three colours and cultures: mixed, white and black. I feel blessed with this fantastic heritage. This surely makes me well suited to my mission to build bridges between cultures!

I am registered with partnership agents with schools such as Devon Arts in Schools (DAISI),

KEAP (Cornwall), SPAEDA (Somerset) and arts organisations such as Devon Arts Culture,

Dance in Devon where I have served as advisor on African culture, and professional bodies

such as Dance UK, and Dance of the African Diaspora. I am currently on the working

committee of the North Devon Respect Festiva, and coordinator of South West Dance

Culture. I hold a valid CRB Certificate.

To be continued.