Ko-Thi Dance Company
The renowned Ko-Thi Dance Company will host its 45th Year Fundraiser Thursday, January 30, 2014 in the Empire Ballroom of the Hilton Milwaukee City Center.
Featuring the Adekola Adedapo Ensemble, a 5:30 reception will be held in the Monarch Lounge with Hors D ‘Oeuvres Buffett served at 6:30.
A performance by Ton Ko-Thi will be highlighted as the evening’s entertainment.
The anniversary program will additionally include a 25 minute video of “Reflections Throughout the Years” as well as a published article display on Ko-Thi.
“As we turn into our 45th year, I am amazed by the current members of the company who have stepped up to the plate,” says Ferne Yangyeitie Coulker Bronson, Founder and Artistic Director of Ko- Thi Dance Company and Department Head of the Performance & Choreography – African Diaspora Track at UWM.
She adds that dance ensemble members, “are working fervently to help secure Ko-Thi in a new era.
They respect the past while understanding the future vision.
They inspire me!”
Founded in 1969, Ko-Thi Dance Company is both a nationally and internationally acclaimed company of artists trained in the history, methodology and techniques of dance and musical art forms from within the African Diaspora.
Dedicated to the preservation and performance of traditional African American and Caribbean dance and drumming, Ko-Thi offers audiences what the founder terms as a “touring gem” of research, training and expertise.
A native of Sierra Leone, West Africa, Bronson founded Ko-Thi upon her return from a research trip where she studied with the National Dance Company of Ghana at the University of Ghana in Legon.
She served as a Full Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Department of Dance where she had been teaching since 1971.
Bronson created for her department the university’s first dance track on the techniques and history of African, African American and Caribbean dance.
In 1995, she was awarded a Fullbright Research Fellowship allowing her to spend 3 months in Tanzania, East African where she taught at the University of Dar es Salaam.
In 2001, Milwaukee’s Professional Dimensions honored her with their prestigious Sacagawea Award given annually to two outstanding women of achievement.
Bronson has participated on numerous panels to include the 1999-2000 State Superintendent’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Arts in Education and the Arts 2000 Dance Panel and has served on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Arts Board.
“This 45-year event is in itself more than a mere point of arrival,” the company founder says.
“It took an immense amount of effort with a team that was willing to work hard and put in long hours and tons of personal sacrifice.
I am proud of them and immensely grateful.”
For Ko-Thi Dance Company 45th Year Fundraiser ticket and cooperate table information, please call (414) 273-0676 or on their web site at www.ko-thi.org.