Karukera Jazz Dance

Karukera Jazz Dance is a company founded by Hanna Ndiaye, Marie Ndiaye and Stephen Atemie in 2022. The aim of the company is to offer workshops, performances and talks exploring vernacular jazz dances and era. For this Workshop, you will also meet Claire Miller for the tap section. Details of the Founders and the Teachers below:

Hanna “Hotcha” Ndiaye - Teacher & KJD Founder:

She has been dancing almost as long as she has been walking, training mostly in modern Jazz. She fell in love with and trained in Lindy Hop and other African American Vernacular Jazz dances since 2010 when her sister took her to a dance festival called Barswingona in Barcelona, Spain. Later, she also started to sing Jazz and perform with bands.

Mentored by her sister Marie Ndiaye, as well as Angela “cookie” Andrew and Chester Whitmore, Hanna had many opportunities to showcase both her dancing and singing talent as a chorus girl in Herräng Dance Camp, Sweden (created and led by Marie Ndiaye), and as a dancer for troupes like Jazzy Jasmines (an international troupe also led by Marie Ndiaye) or JazzMad created by Sharon Davis in London. She taught in France, Sweden, and London.

Currently, Hanna is a member of the BLHF ( Black Lindy Hoppers Fund) an organization dedicated to support African and African diasporic dancers and artists in Lindy Hop and Jazz and strongly support CVFC (Collective Voices for Change) - an organisation focusing the issues of cultural appropriation and racial inequities in the dance scene.

Stephen Atemie - Teacher & KJD Founder

He is a fresh young talent emerging from the new generation of Lindy Hoppers. Balancing successfully a career as a Mechanical Engineer with his artistic pursuits this UCL alumnus is equally at home tutoring STEM subjects as he is dancing in front of the camera shooting tv commercials.  He is also a Parkour and Wing Chun Kung Fu practitioner. 

    In 2017, Stephen travelled to South Africa to spend a month working with the charity Sing Inchanga. There he shared skills with local children & young people across their own dance styles and lindy hop.

Following three years representing Swing Patrol as a core teacher, Stephen began his apprenticeship with Angela in 2018 to delve deeper into the roots of jazz dance and exploring Lindy Hop with Ron Leslie. Stephen is also a board member of Collective Voices For Change, advocate for cultural and racial equity within the Lindy Hop and Jazz scene. 

Stephen's performance/competition credits include 10 Downing Street, Harrods (Boxing Day Sales), Savoy Cup (France), ILHC (USA).

Claire Miller - Teacher

She is a tap dance performer, choreographer and educator from London, UK.  She is the founder and director of London Tap Academy and it passionate about authentic jazz dance education for children and adults. 

Claire performs improvised work with live jazz music and can be seen at various jazz festivals, jams and lindy hop events across London and the UK.  Her credits include Love Supreme Jazz Festival, the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room, and the London Southbank Centre as well as regular performances at the London Tap Jam and the SOFF music jam.

In 2016-17 she was part of Tapestry Dance Company in Austin Tx where, under the direction of Acia Gray, she performed in productions of ‘Just Tap’ and ‘Of Mice and Music: A Jazz Nutcracker’.  She is an alumnus of the Jacob’s Pillow Tap Dance Programme (2021), directed by Michelle Dorrance, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Derick K Grant, and has studied with dancers such as Josette Wiggan, Heather Cornell and Roxane Butterfly.

Claire is interested in the historical context of tap dance and its connection to ‘vernacular’ jazz dances such as blues, charleston, jazz and lindy hop.  She also likes to make short dance films!

Dr. Marie N'diaye (PhD) - KJD Founder

She is a Jazz Dance choreographer, performer and educator as well as a dance researcher. She specialises in Jazz Dance (African American Vernacular Jazz) and its partnered form (Lindy Hop), focusing on the legacy of Harlem dancers from the Savoy Ballroom as well as the chorus line tradition from night clubs and theatres (such as the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club,  Connie's Inn...) and has applied her scientific method and dance education to conduct an embodied practice-based research of Jazz dance through the study of original video clips, and collaborations with elders and other established dancers.

Marie is the founder of the non-profit organisation "Collective Voices for Change" aiming to promote cultural appreciation and respect of African American Jazz Dances. She is also a board member of the "Black Lindy Hoppers Fund", whose mission is to support and promote Black artists in their practice, performance, and transmission of Jazz Dances especially Lindy Hop.

She is currently completing her Masters in Anthropology of Dance & Ethnochoreology as part of the international ERASMUS program: "Choreomundus" involved in the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).