Our History
Dwennimmen African Dance Community (DADC) was born 8 years ago out of the love that Lark Daniel has for African dance and her desire to share it with the community. DADC is formed by students that dedicate their time, energy, and love to the art of African Dance. The beauty of our group is that it includes the community and gives them opportunity to showcase their love for African dance.
DADC has had the honor to perform at many events including The Multi-Cultural events as well as the Imani Festival in Carlisle, The Multi-Cultural State Black History Program and many others including the It Makes A Village annual fundraiser event, Messiah University African Student Union Annual Karibu event, as well as Penn State University Harrisburg Campus African Student union’s Night in Africa event as Penn State University York Campus, Nathaniel Gadsden’s Annual Kwanzaa event. DADC has also been invited to hold a residency at CASA and Messiah University.
Through the love for the community DADC established Dwennimmen. Dwennimmen is a non-profit educational and cultural organization with a mission to serve the broader community to preserve, share and celebrate the collective African History. Dwennimmen has create an annual wellness festival entitled Soulfit festival, quarterly wellness workshops and Dwennimmen has also started African dance and drumming workshops for afterschool and summer camp programs.
DADC has had the honor to perform at many events including The Multi-Cultural events as well as the Imani Festival in Carlisle, The Multi-Cultural State Black History Program and many others including the It Makes A Village annual fundraiser event, Messiah University African Student Union Annual Karibu event, as well as Penn State University Harrisburg Campus African Student union’s Night in Africa event as Penn State University York Campus, Nathaniel Gadsden’s Annual Kwanzaa event. DADC has also been invited to hold a residency at CASA and Messiah University.
Mission
Our Directors
Lark Daniel
Artistic Director
Lark Daniel has been a lifelong student of dance who was first inspired to move to music at the age of 7 yrs old. She believes that if you can walk, you can dance. Lark was first introduced to African dance 30 yrs ago, and through her love of African dance and commitment to preserving African dance and culture, the Dwennimmen African Dance Community was born. Lark started dancing jazz, ballet, tap and gymnastics at the age of 7. As a young adult she began to study African dance under the direction of Rafiyqa Muhammad, the founder of Neema Dance Company and Ngozi Inc, for 10 yrs. She then joined her company and began performing. Lark then continued her study of African dance for 15 years under the direction of Sonya Mann-Mcfarlane, the founder of Lancaster-based Imaniedutainers. There she was given the opportunity to teach classes and choreograph dance pieces for the Imaniedutainers annual concerts. Lark began teaching in her local community 8 years ago, and from there she founded Dwennimmen African Dance Community. Throughout the years Lark has been able to continue her studies of African dance from professional African dance instructors such as Jihan Von Hendricks, founder of Keur Khaleyi African Dance Co; and Cachet Ivey, of Kulu Mele; along with various Master Instructors such as Youssouf Koumbassa from Guinea Conakry and Tenefig Dioubate and Esther Grant-Walker.
Lark Daniel is Artistic Director of Dwennimmen which is a non-profit educational and cultural organization with a mission to serve the broader community to preserve, share and celebrate the collective African history, heritage and culture through performing arts and wellness events. In alignment with Dwennimmen’s mission Lark teaches weekly community traditional African dance classes and performs with Dwennimmen African dance Community at various community and local university events, to include sharing culture and education to the next generation like to children at the Salvation Army Summer Camp.
Dwennimmen continues to host its annual Soulfit Festival along with various other wellness events throughout the year in its continuous effort to keep the Harrisburg community happy, healthy and strong.