AADE Mission 
Our mission is to preserve and share the finest traditions of African and African American Dance and Music through research, education, performance and entertainment. With our motto: "Peace, Love, Respect for Everybody" the Ensemble celebrates traditional African culture, aesthetics and values to encourage cross-cultural dialogue, cooperation and understanding.
AADE Vision
Through Dance we become the means by which men and women, boys and girls, come to see something of the human condition. Imprisonment, famine, poverty, drug dependency, slavery and war can be juxtaposed with celebration of liberation, bountiful harvests, marriage and birth in an artistic blend that demands attention to the realities it represents. We will prove and affirm that the arts, has a message which not only condemns the worst and celebrates the best of the human condition, it encourages us to do something about the negative and reinforces the positive. That all our people who attend our performances and seminars will depart feeling one with themselves the world and the dancers and musicians who brought it all together.
AADE History
The African American Dance Ensemble is over 25 years old. Our dance company is located in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Chuck Davis Dance Company came to Durham in 1980 at the request of the American Dance Festival (ADF). His company at the time, the Chuck Davis Dance Company (CDDC) was ADF’s “Artist In Residence” each season from1980-1984. The Durham community along with ADF could not let go; Dr. Davis was tethered to the Durham community. During the 1984 season Dr. Davis realized that there was a developing core of local dancers whose levels of proficiency were approaching those of the professionals from which they were learning. He moved to Durham in 1984and formed the African American Dance Ensemble. Auditoriums and stages could not contain the performances, the environment became the stage, and the audience became the performers. In the 1985 season of ADF, the African American Dance Ensemble stood on its own and took its place among the other established companies when it premiered two new Chuck Davis works, “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning” and “Drought” both of which were commissioned by the American Dance Festival.
For over 25 years the African American Dance Ensemble (AADE) has thrilled audiences nationally and internationally. Vibrant colored costumes and energetic dancers and musician have brought Davis’ choreography to life and left audiences awe-struck and dancing in the aisles.
AADE presents an annual KwanzaaFestevent in Durham on January 1 st. This event is free and open to the public; it opens the door for many citizensregardless of economic and geographiccircumstances to witness such a display of artistry. With his mantra “Peace, Love, Respect for Everybody”, he wows the audience and requests everyone to hug three people. The phrase is more than a catch to end a performance, and the African American Dance Ensemble is not just another dance troupe. The Ensemble is an agency of positive social change reinforcement of the best of human values.
AADE continues to serveover 35,000 students, teachers and adults each season in venues ranging from kindergarten, nursing homes, churches, mental facilities, universities to the North Carolina State Legislature.
|
Events
|
