Linda Lombardi

Member Spotlight: Kyaien Conner

Posted by Linda Lombardi, Oct 12, 2020 0 comments


Linda Lombardi

Kyaien (Kya) Conner, PhD, LSW, MPH, began studying West African Dance at the age of six and became a professional West African Dancer at 14. Trained in dance forms of Djembe, Sabar, and Kutiro, she is a member of Kuumba Dancers and Drummers in Tampa, Florida; teaches West African Dance at the University of Tampa; and has taught West African dance nationally and internationally. Conner also is a tenured professor of Mental Health Law and Policy at University of South Florida, specializing in health disparities and the benefits and effects of culturally relevant psychiatric treatments and community-based intervention in older African Americans.

What attracted you to dance, specifically West African dance?

Dance has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, I watched videos on MTV and BET, learned all the choreography, and danced around the house. My parents put me in ballet, but I never had the body type for ballet. I have flat feet and my hair didn’t fit neatly in a bun. I felt out of place, though I loved being on the dance floor.

In elementary school, I took a West African Dance class with a teacher from Ghana who incorporated live drumming. I was so excited, yet nervous. I am a biracial woman, who now identifies as African American or Black, but as a child, I struggled with my racial identity. I was not sure how I would fare in a class focused on traditional dance from Africa—a part of my identity I desperately wanted to connect with, but felt disconnected from given my mixed heritage and not knowing where my father’s family came from before they were slaves.

These fears quickly dissolved as I realized I had a natural skill for West African dance. I could feel the rhythms from the drums deep in my soul. I felt as if my ancestors were guiding me through my dancing. I realized that THIS was my connection to my identity that I was so desperately searching for. I dance many other styles, including afrobeat, hip hop, and jazz, but I have a special place in my heart for traditional West African dance. This has led to further study of this art form and numerous travels to West Africa. I often bring students and bring what I learn back to the United States. West African dance is a huge part of my life and who I am.

How did you get involved with Kuumba Dancers and Drummers?

As a student at University of Pittsburgh, I danced and performed with Balafon West African Dance Ensemble and the Shona Sharif African Dance and Drum Ensemble. Dancing was a huge stress reliever for me and helped me get through my undergrad and graduate studies, as well as my post-doctoral training. When I moved to Tampa, it was critical that I find a new dance family for my social, spiritual, and emotional health.

Kuumba Dancers and Drummers has been in Tampa since 1980 and is one of the longest running West African Dance companies in the country. I attended one of their community classes and knew I had found my new dance home. Seven years later, I’m the lead choreographer for the Kuumba dancers and my husband, Cheikh N’Dong, is the lead musical director for the Kuumba drummers. We perform locally, at Black History Month events, parties, cultural events, and schools, as well as at larger venues, including the World Bank in Washington, D.C., on a Black Panther-themed Carnival Cruise, and recently in the upcoming film sequel of Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. We have been very blessed to have the opportunity to do what we love, and to do it as a family.

Kuumba performed at a Black Lives Matter protest in Tampa this past July. How does dance speak to this time of change and uncertainty?

Dance is a universal language and connects us in ways we might not fully understand but can definitely feel. The protesters did not know our choreography, but you can see them fully engaged—singing, chanting, dancing, and being empowered. This was our vision, and it could not have been better executed. We recognize our work as contributing to the new field of protest art—creative works produced by activists and social movements, utilized by a cross section of collectives to inform and persuade the community. Our group has engaged in numerous protest art dance pieces, including one we posted on social media on July 4th to remind the masses that African Americans were not free on July 4th and that it is important to remember our history.

Click photo to watch video of Kuumba West African Dancers of Tampa, featuring Kyaien Conner, Aiyetora Amadi, Markquis Kordale, Beryl Colbert, and Annie Connally. Video by Sowele Productions, editing by Lala Belle.

How has the pandemic affected Kuumba as a dance group?

We had many performances that had to be canceled and we are still reeling from the loss of those revenues. I started a West African dance and drum conference in Tampa three years ago, called Naniobolo, a Wolof word (Senegalese) that means “coming together.” We bring Master dancers and drummers to Tampa from across the globe for a weekend of classes and conclude with a finale concert. We are currently planning to conduct our fourth annual Naniobolo virtually, November 6-8, to stay connected to our community and engage in these classes using a virtual format.

You're also a professor and researcher specializing in mental health practices and treatment for African Americans with depression. What drew you to that field?

There was a time when I thought becoming a professional dancer was the career path for me. However, I come from a family of hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses who were concerned that I would be limiting myself if I studied dance in college. The only other thing that interested me was psychology. I knew I wanted to help people who were living with mental illness and understand why there was so much stigma in the Black community about mental health. Although Black people are 20% more likely to experience psychological distress, only 1 in 3 seek professional mental health treatment.

One of the strategies I use is culturally based arts initiatives. I have a study which examines the impact of West African Drumming on psychosocial outcomes among older African Americans with Alzheimer’s Disease and their caregivers. I have also published in the Journal of Dance Education about the physical and mental health benefits of West African Dance. These projects combine my passions for mental health and cultural arts. I have carved out a unique career path which allows me to feel completely fulfilled in my work. I work with students to help them achieve the same thing. When what you do is something you are passionate about, it never feels like work.

What relationship do you see between your work in dance and your work in mental health?

On the continent of Africa, dance is a part of everyday life. There are dances for every event, age group, ethnic group, and for daily tasks. They use dance, music, and song to help get through difficult times and to celebrate happy times. We have seen this translated to Black slaves in the U.S., who used dance and song to cope with 450 years of enslavement. This is a part of our cultural healing process, so it makes sense to see dance correlated to positive health and behavioral health outcomes. I have seen this anecdotally in my own life and in the lives of dancers who I have worked with, trained, and taught. It is my mission to help provide scientific evidence to support this connection, so that we can get more funding to develop and run important cultural arts-based initiatives to address health disparities in the community. Internationally, we are beginning to recognize that the arts have healing properties—that engaging in the arts can have a strong impact on health outcomes. We have not gotten there yet in the U.S., but we are on our way. The more research we have that scientifically supports these connections, the more we can ensure communities have culturally relevant arts-based interventions that can be viewed as treatments for mental health.

How have you been staying creative during this time?

We have learned a lot over these past seven months in quarantine and have developed strategies for effective online dance and drum classes. The one silver lining is that artists in Africa and other countries, who have never been able to come to America to teach, now can teach virtually and have access to American dancers as well as the diverse array of dancers from all over the world. This has allowed us to connect again through dance, despite our different languages, customs, and beliefs. In the dance class, we are all students, and we are all speaking the same language.


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