Biography

Teresa Smith (Queen Tarasa)

Teresa dazzles you with her brilliant smile, warm personality and child’s enthusiasm. Much more than a dancer, Teresa is big fun! Whatever the dance style, she performs it beautifully – from the grace of French ballet to the sweat of African pulsating. Teresa uses her gifted polycentric body to exude the “segmented inside movement” traits of complex African dance and also the “movements through her whole body space,” that is important in European choreographies. To honor her ancestry, she mastered these intricate techniques under famous instructors from Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon and the Congo. As a dance choreographer, performer and aficionado, Teresa shows that African dance is among the most stylized and complex art forms in the world.

Teresa has performed in a myriad of dance companies including Harambee African Dance, Nuba Dance Theater, Maureen Haley Dancers, Fogo Na Roupa, Kouman Kele West African, Kanbassa, Abalayal, Drum Spirit, Ambianz Muzic Experienz and Niancho Nialay. She annually performs at the Los Angeles African Marketplace and the Long Beach Ocean of the Pacific. She also performs with Mareme Faye, Nzingha Camara, Marietou Camara, Youssouf Koumbasa, Assane Konte, Mabiba Baegne, Aziz Faye, N’Deye Gueye, Titus Fotso and Mouminatou Camara. Teresa performed traditional Guinea style West African dance in multi-platinum Senegalese recording artist Akon’s music video “Pot of Gold” alongside Le Ballet de Kouman Kele. She also toured with Sheila E. in her “Percussion Showdown Tour” and exhibited funky dance steps behind MC Hammer in his video, “Here Comes the Hammer.”

Teresa studied Brazilian Samba with Carlos Aceituno and modern dance with Evelen Thomas, Reggie Savage, Alonzo King, Lynn Coles and Lady Walquer Vereen. This began her love of contemporary West African Dance. She also studied Dunham and Graham modern dance techniques at the Alvin Ailey Dance School in New York.

The multi-faceted career of this Los Angeles based dancer began when she was three, in her hometown, Oakland, California, were she immersed herself in Modern Jazz. Dance icons including Katherine Dunham, Kemoko Sano, Alvin Ailey, Assane Konte and Josephine Baker inspired her.

Programs and Descriptions:

Dance, Drums & Songs

Teresa Smith (Queen Tarasa) & Chazz provide a dance demonstration along with djembe drums played at times with up to twenty volunteers. Then they challenge their audience to dance and sing to African songs and rhythms. Their simple drumbeats create a pulse that holds the songs and dancers together. Teresa instructs the dancers to sing with and follow the beats that Chazz teaches the drummers. Overall, Tarasa & Chazz describe and mimic traditional dance movements and standard rhythms using basic musical jargon in this exciting, interactive program.