# Cairo contemporary dance center

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center (CCDC) is an independent space for contemporary dance in Egypt. It’s the first Contemporary Dance school in Africa and the Arab world, offering a 3-year full-time professional training program for young dancers, choreographers and dance teachers. It also provides artistic residencies, as well as open classes and workshops in different kinds of dance and activities.

## Mission and Vision

CCDC's vision: Contemporary dance has grown its roots in the Egyptian society and is in exchange with the world.
CCDC’s Mission: To become a hub for contemporary dance in the Arab region with a steadily growing community of performers, choreographers, teachers, learners, and audiences by offering vocational training, open classes, a repertoire, and employment opportunities in the creative sector as well as broadly reaching out to less exposed communities.

## History

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center was founded in 2012 by Karima Mansour, under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, at the Creativity Center on the ground of Cairo Opera House.
It moved to its current location in January 2014, and currently operates as an independent project under the umbrella of MAAT for Contemporary Art.
Both CCDC and Karima Mansour are recognized members of the UNESCO International Dance Council.

## The School

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center offers a 3-year full-time educational program dedicated to train professional contemporary choreographers, dancers, dance teachers and dance researchers.
The first generation of students graduated in June 2015, and a new generation started the 3-year program in September 2016.
The 3-year program provides a holistic approach of Contemporary Dance, to raise bodies and minds that are fully aware of their context. Through daily classes, the program provides advanced professional training in contemporary dance, but also in traditional techniques from different regions (martial arts, vernacular dances, African dance, etc.), as well as theoretical classes. Invited teachers come from Europe, but also the MENA region or beyond, in order to give the students a maximum exposure to the latest trends in regards to contemporary dance techniques, methodologies and backgrounds from all over the world.
CCDC today stands as the first and only professional Contemporary Dance full-time school in Africa and the Arab world. The professional training program is officially recognized by the UNESCO International Council of Dance, which provides the certificates.

## Open classes and workshops

In addition to its professional training, Cairo Contemporary Dance Center also offers to the general public open classes and workshops for adults and children in several disciplines covering dance, martial arts and other activities. All classes and workshops are animated by recognized artists and teachers, certified and experienced, who are generally the same teachers that teach at the school.
Adults open classes include: Contemporary Dance, Oriental Fusion, Modern Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, Gong Fu, Taiji, Wing Tsun, Yoga, Pilates and more.
Children classes include: Creative Dance, Ballet, Hip Hop, Yoga.
In addition to the open classes, workshops are also regularly organized with invited local and international artists, in different disciplines such as Contemporary Dance, Contact Improvisation, Jazz, Contemporary Ballet, Acting, Tango, Yoga, etc.

## The Teachers

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center welcomes every year a diversity of international and Egyptian teachers.
Currently teaching at CCDC are:
* Karima Mansour (Contemporary Dance, Egypt)
* Angelique Rochemont (Vernacular Dance Techniques: Hip-Hop, France)
* Taha Hassouna (Martial Arts: Shaolin Kung Fu, Taiji, Wing Tsun, Egypt)
* Reem Hegab (Contemporary Dance, Egypt)
* Anamaria Bagaric (Ballet/ Modern Jazz, Slovenia)
* Nicole Roerick (Contemporary Dance, USA)
* Anna Maria Suykerbuyk (Contemporary Dance, The Netherlands)
* Libertad Pozo (Contemporary Dance, Spain)
* Hany El Metennawy (Bio Mechanics, Egypt)
* Ahmed Rayan (Anatomy, Egypt)
Former teachers include:
* Lucien Arino (Ballet)
* Shawn Lent (Ballet and Jazz)
* Dr. Hala Barakat (Body Mind Centering BMC: Yoga)
* Miriam Giavarini (Body Mind Centering BMC: Pilates)
* Aya Soliman (Body Mind Centering BMC: Pilates)
* Dalai El Abd (Contemporary Dance Technique)
* Dr. Madgy Saber (Classical Dance: Ballet)
* Sarah Taki (Pilates)
* Amr El Ashry (Aikido)
* Florence Moutin (Body Mind Centering, BMC)
* Dr. Mohamed Al Hag (Anatomy, Physiology and Nutrition)
* Laurance Rudic (Somatics)
Visiting Guest Teachers (Workshops) include:
* Salah El Brogy (Egypt/UK)
* Maher Shawamreh (Palestine)
* Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa / France)
* Christian Ubl (France)
* Goran Bogdanovski (Slovenia)
* Athanasia Kanellopoulou (Greece)
* Mark Tompkins (USA / France)
* Khalid Benghrib (Morocco)
* Olivier Dubois (France)
* Toméo Vergés (France)
* Benjamin Lamarche & Claude Brumachon (France)
* Constanza Macras Company (Argentina / Germany)

## Artistic Residencies

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center regularly welcomes and supports national or international emerging artists as a residency and research space.
In the recent period, Cairo Contemporary Dance Center hosted:
* Shaymaa Shoukry (Egypt)
* Shadi Abderahman and Amani Atef (Egypt)
* Willy Prager, Galina Borissova and Iva Sveshtarova (Bulgaria)
* Libertad Pozo (Spain)
* Zosia Jo Dowmunt (UK) and Mounir Saeed (Egypt)
* Jean-Paul Mehansio (Côte d'Ivoire)

## Other activities

Cairo Contemporary Dance Center is a vibrant actor of the independent contemporary art scene in Egypt, and regularly organizes performances or dance presentations.
In the recent years, CCDC has participated in or organized the following events:
* Hal Badeel Arts Festival (April 2013)
* Kalamonology exhibition at Cairo’s Ofok Gallery (May 2013)
* CCDC Platform, an international gathering of dancers from all over the world (December 2014)
* Nassim El Raqs (2014/2015)
* D-CAF (April 2015)
* Dance in Transit/ Mahatat (February 2016)
Cairo Contemporary Dance Center also has an outreach program, providing contemporary dance workshops to specific audiences, such as children in street situation. In this framework, CCDC started collaborating in 2016 with SamuSocial International Egypte.
Cairo Contemporary Dance Center also organizes movie screenings, in collaboration with local partners such as Zawya cinema.