July 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Kofago Dance Ensemble, a premier African Diasporic dance ensemble based in New York, is training dancers this summer to perform across the state, as a means to build the next generation of dancers and cultural ambassadors. The company founded by our guest, Kevin McEwen, is also hosting the The Culture Rising Dance Conference, August 22-23rd at Lehman College, free to Bronx residents.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to get connected in the season of summer jobs,
but there are a few like this. Cofago Dance Ensemble,
a premiere African diasporic dance ensemble based in New York,
is training dancers to perform across the state as a
means to build the next generation of dancers and cultural ambassadors.
Our guest is Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble.
(00:34):
Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You can find out more about both at Coofago Dance
dot Net. It's Kofago Dance dot net and kofagoschool dot com.
Let's start with Cofago Dance Ensemble Cofago Dance Institute. What
does the name mean? Where did it come from?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
So the word Colfago is an amalgamation of two different words.
I spent the majority of my career immersed in African
diaspora culture. So looking at two elements from different countries,
we have the country of Nigeria and Ghana. In Nigeria,
they have the deity known as Shango who was kind
(01:15):
of the lord of the dance and the drum. And
in Ghana you have san Kofo, which is the concept
of always.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Remembering where you come from.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And so what I did is I took Shango g
O and then I took Sankofa Kofa and came together
with Coofogo, bringing two of those elements together to kind
of represent our passion for the drum and dance, but
also remembering where we come from.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So, if you started this company in twenty fifteen, what
was your impetus to start and what was your original conception?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well, I tend to think of it as Colfogo one
point oh versus two point zero Colfogo one point oh.
I started when I was still living in the DC
metropolitan area and it was an all male troop and
it was just trying to highlight the need to support
young black men. But then I ended up relocating up
(02:08):
to New York City for grad school in twenty fifteen,
and so what ended up happening is in twenty eighteen,
I graduated from grad school. But then my father passed
as well too, And in that year that he passed,
in twenty eighteen, I was working with an organization Sessame
(02:28):
Flyers International, and I.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Got a group of young people to perform at.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
A repass and after they performed at the repass, it
was like, Yeah, we've got this amazing, beautiful energy here.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
We got to keep this thing rolling.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And then our first performance was at the Making Moves
Dance Festival with the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning
in Queens, Jamaica, Queens and it they wanted to stay together,
they wanted to keep seeing where this thing was going.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
And eight years later, here we are.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I want to definitely go back to your background a
little bit interesting to me, but let's talk about Kago Taraji,
which is a new program this summer for teens and adults.
What is it and what did you want to address
with that?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
So?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Kofago Taraji is a summer youth employment program. It's it's
made along the lines of providing training and opportunity to
young people, but also making sure that they get paid
for those opportunities as well. We were very fortunate to
get a grant from Flushing Town Hall in Queens to
(03:30):
provide funding.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
For the work that we're going to be doing. One
of The major things about this is that we are.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Providing training for these young people, and the training is
not just in dance, it's in social skills, right, making
sure that they know how to communicate effectively as young adults,
making sure they know how to engage as young people.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And to represent themselves.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
The reason why that's so important is because I felt
that coming out of COVID our young people, particularly those
any of them that have missed those two years of
social skills of being in high school or being in
middle school, they were missing something and it was kind
of hard to put my finger on, but I felt
(04:14):
that Taraji could be the intermediary of these young people
as they're in there that senior year of high school
going into college, to kind of jump start them in
the right way of knowing what it is to communicate effectively,
be present, be aware, but also take advantage of the
opportunity and the training that's being given to them.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
What's interesting about that is there some sort of overlap
with any kind of dance. I think dance like whips
you into shape, right, like mentally, you got to focus,
you got to pay attention, you got to mind your
p's and q's, like it's very much a structured atmosphere
in the best way you can be creative, but you
got to kind of stick with it.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Indeed, indeed, it's it's a focus, right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I think that you know, dance is a vehicle, and
it's a vehicle just like you know. I always tell
my young people, we chose dance as the vehicle. Your
vehicle could have been basketball, it could have been basket weaving,
it could have been any number of things.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
But with respect to the.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Concentration that is needed for performing artists and even athletes,
there's a certain level of focus that you have to
have and a certain level of commitment, and that's what
we're asking for in the program.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
So the program, the dancers you're starting with, the young
people you're starting with, can you talk about the background
you were looking for? Were they dancers to begin with?
Or where do they come from? And yeah, all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Sure, So what.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We tend to focus on are those that do have
a dance background. They don't necessarily have to have a
background in African diasporic dance, but they have to have
a passion for dance. So we did focus on and
I focused on recruiting from various different programs in the city.
I am also a lecturer at Lehman College in the
(05:58):
Department of Theater, a multi medium dance and so I
saw our need, even with the students that I have
in my program, that Okay, once school is over, they're
going to need an extra push, and I would love
to be able to guide them through what that extra
push would look like.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So we focused on the specific.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Age range of eighteen to twenty two and we ended up,
funny enough, we ended up all of the students that
we got are from the City University of New York CUNY, right,
so they're all coming from various different CuNi facilities throughout
New York City. And it's been it's been a beautiful
journey to see them grow, to see them make mistakes
(06:39):
and learn from those mistakes, and to see them acknowledge
that in Cofago they have a safe space where they
can learn and grow.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So there's the training program and then there's the portion
where they go out and perform and they work tell
us about that.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yes, so we have this is a community thing. So
we have partnered with the Queensboro Dance Festival and so
we're a part of the festival Colfago is and what
Coolfago Taraji is doing is that they're literally on tour
throughout the Borough of queens and a number of different
live installations that the Queensboro Dance Festival has set up.
(07:19):
Our last performance was on July fifth, and it was
a far rockaway and it was such an amazing journey
to see them do what they do. They performed and
then they also did was call a dance Back. So
what they're actually doing is that they're actually getting out
into the community and teaching what it is that they've
learned to the people in the community.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Our guest is Kevin McEwan. He's founder of Cafago Dance Ensemble.
Kevin McEwan has over twenty years experience as a performing
artist and dance educator. His foundation in African diasporic art
forms is grounded in dance techniques from Senegal Molli in Guinea.
The Culturizing Dance Conference will talk about in the Moment
is August twenty second to twenty third at Lehman College,
(07:59):
offering free dance classes and workshops for the Bronx community,
highlighting styles rooted in the African diaspora. Registration is free
for the Culturalising Dance Conference for all Bronx residents. You
can find out more at cofagoedance dot net. You're listening
to get connected on one oh six point seven light FM.
Imina del Rio Back to you for a minute, Kevin.
(08:20):
Your roles in addition to this company are as you mentioned.
You're a lecturer at Lehman College's Department of Music, Multimedia,
Theater and Dance. You're also an adjunct lecturer at Queensborough
Community Colleges Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance. Did
you grow up with dance in your orbit? Where did
you start? Were you or African dance in your orbit? Like?
(08:40):
Where did what was your entry point into this?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's so funny that you asked that. I think my
route was not the normal route. I didn't start dancing
at the age of three, although my mother was a
dancer before me.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
My father.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
My mother is she grew up in Astoria, Queens and
so she went to the High School of Art and Design,
and so she was always dance was always around me,
but I didn't take it on until I was an adult.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I lived in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
This is around the time of nine to eleven, and
that's when I started dancing. I love to tell the
story of this to my young folks. I was at
the Smithsonian actually for a Black History Month event and
I saw this company, conquerand West African Dance Company, and
it was the most vain of things. I saw a
(09:35):
young lady and I was attracted to her. I tried
to get her number and it didn't work out. I
was like, I'm gonna go find her. And it led
me to Conquerant's class. And when I saw the community
that they had. This is on top of me moving
to Washington, d c. And not really knowing anyone. I
was just drawn to it. And it was the dance,
(09:57):
the drum and the community altogether. I was like, yo,
I need to be a part of that. So that's
what's kind of started me on the route to dance
after a while. And it's just known that, you know,
it's rare to see a young man at the age
of twenty two to twenty three wanted to be dedicated
to this. So when I got to Conceran, I was
(10:20):
offered the opportunity to study as an apprentice with the
Senior company.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And I was an.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Apprentice for about three years, and that's what kind of
took me off, and I stayed with Concoran for about
ten years, and then after that I was given an
opportunity to I had a passion for teaching, and I
started teaching with the Dance Institute of Washington and Washington,
d C. And also the Princess Moon Dance Institute in Washington,
(10:49):
d C. And then I got to a point where
was like, I know, I want to do more with this,
but I know if I want to do more with this,
I have to go back to school. And so that
is where I was able to transition from Washington, DC
to New York City, getting accepted into the Steinhardt School
of Dance Education, going after my Masters of Art and
Dance Education, which then led me to teach at Queensborough
(11:13):
Community College and now leam In College.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
As I mentioned before, your foundation are the things you've
been working on as far as African technique are Senegal,
Molly and Guinea. We don't have cameras here, no one
can see what we're talking about when we say African dance.
So I wonder could you talk about a little bit
about those styles of dance and why those particular countries.
I know it's probably a really long explanation, but what
(11:36):
is it about the styles of those particular countries. There's
a lot of places in East Africa.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So we're talking about those countries, we're talking about access
and independence. And this is where the historical and ethnographic
information comes into play. When you're looking at West Africa
in particular, any of the descendants of those West Africans
that are here in the Americas come from that specific
(12:01):
region of Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and I'll even throw cultivoir
Ghana that whole horn.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
If you will, of West Africa.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
So fast forward to when those countries gained their independence
from their colonizers. What ended up happening is that a
lot of the artists that were in those countries that
might have been held back by that colonados, started to travel.
And when they traveled, they came here to the United
States around the nineteen eighties era. My dance teacher Assan
(12:35):
Conte was one of them who came from Senegal.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And went to the Saint Louis area. And what Saint
Louis was a cultural hub.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Within the performing arts, because that's also where Catherine Dunham
was from right, So when you're looking at these historical contexts,
he came to Saint Louis, then he migrated to Washington, DC,
starting this company, conquerund West Africa Dance Company. So that
is just one example of how that migration of culture
and information came to the United States. But then in
(13:07):
the United States you had African Americans that wanted a
deeper understanding of where they came from. Because of slavery,
there was a disconnect. So there were also people like
non A Dinizulu that went back to West Africa himself,
went to Ghana, found out about his history and culture,
and then brought that culture back to the United States
(13:29):
as well too, to form the Dnizulu Dances and Drummers,
which is a historic dance company that's based in Queens.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
New York.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So there's so many interminglings, if you will, of culture
and a need to connect and a need to fill
out what the African diaspora is to be now versus
what it was back.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
In the eighties.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Since you mentioned people trying to tap into their culture,
it's interesting to me when we look at culture or
someone tries to discover their roots, people think the typical
things first you know, food, language, clothing, dance in this conversation,
What does dance actually bring to that conversation, to our
knowledge base and experience of a culture?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh Man, dance is culture, right, if you think about it.
One of the things that has been so amazing to
watch over the years is how hip hop was started
in the Bronx, New York and in Queens, New York,
and how it has become a global phenomenon. It was
it became a competitive event in the Olympics, right. So
(14:35):
there is something to be said about dance. There's something
to be set about movement. There is a saying that
dance is the ultimate manifestation of spirit, and when you
look at it within that context, it is the ability
for people to move what they feel internally and make
it something that people can see externally. So when you're
looking at dance and how it connects people and how
(14:56):
movement connects there's also the concept of a genet or
genetic echo, where how is it that someone that lives
in Oakland, California can do a movement and a dance
that's similar to what they find in Bikina Fasso, right,
and they've never been there and they've never been connected.
There is a genetic lineage that connects people and they
(15:19):
don't even realize it. But through dance you can see
the similarities, and through dance you can see the cultural
connections that connect us all. At Queensborough Community College, I
teach a dance history class and I'm always fascinated to
see the similarities that exist between somebody that's from Jamaica
versus somebody that's from Bahrain and they're like, oh my gosh,
(15:42):
we do those movements too. We have those same types
of movements. I didn't know that, and it's like, oh, okay,
we do this same dance as well too. That's how
dance connects us and that's how we use dance to communicate.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Our guest is Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble.
You can find out more Cofago Dance and kofagoschool dot com.
The Cultureising Dance Conference is August twenty second to twenty
third at Lehman College, offering free dance classes and workshops
for the Bronx community, highlighting styles rooted in the African diaspora.
So let's talk about that. The event coming up in August.
(16:17):
What can you say about the Culturising Dance Conference.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yes, So what I'd like to do is acknowledge the
Bronx Arts Council and the Bronx Arts Council gave my organization,
co FAGO a grant, and what we wanted to do.
Part of that grant is to facilitate dance opportunities.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
For those that might not necessarily have them. So we
came up with this idea.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To have a mini dance conference and partner with Lehman
College to make sure that we could make this happen.
And so that's when we came up with the Culturizing
Dance Conference. It's going to be a two day dance conference,
four classes each day, and it is geared specifically towards
the Bronx community, which I now serve as a member
(17:03):
of Lehman College's faculty. It's going to be a way
to let people know what it is that we have
available at Limit, but it's also going to be a
way to let the community know.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
That as educators, we are here.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
To serve the community, and we want people to know
that we are here to serve the community. So what
I'm doing is I'm leveraging the funds that we got
from the Bronx Art Council to just bring these young
people into the door. We're focusing specifically on young people
that are in middle school, high school, and college, but
(17:36):
it's open to the entire community. So if Auntie Janet
wants to come and dance and she lives in the Bronx,
she's more than welcome to do so.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So you'll have traditional West African on the menu, Afro Latino,
Afro Caribbean, hip hop, modern contemporary. It's free for everybody.
Why was it important to be free?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It was important to be free, and what I'll say
is it's free to Bronx. We wanted to focus on
the residents of Bronx because sometimes what I found is that,
you know, there might be things that go on in Brooklyn,
there might be things that go on in Queens, but
I didn't really see things like this going on in
the Bronx. And I've been working in the Bronx now
(18:18):
for the past two years, and me being from Brooklyn,
I didn't know anything about the Bronx. And that's how
it is in New York because the city is so big.
So me being in the Bronx and getting to know
the people, getting to know the community, actually being able
to be a part of the community.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
There's a lot of similarities that I see in people
in Brooklyn, and so the.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Beauty of it is is like, we need to be
able to serve this community in a way that is
respectful of who they are as well as supportive in
trying to create streams of opportunity to figure out who
they can be in the future.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And so that's what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
This is more so about bringing young people to the
other and exposing them to the best that Lehman has
and the best that Colfago has from a performing arts perspective,
and then col Fogo leaning into its dance community and
its network to bring people to work with in this opportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So the event is August twenty second to twenty third.
Can people still register and how many people you're expecting
or planning for?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yes, people will be able to register. I think next week.
The registration is going up and it'll definitely be available
within a week's time. We can go to colfago dance
dot net slash culture Rising and they can get the
information there. We have a web page set up and
people can register what we're looking for. If people are
(19:46):
under the age of eighteen and they would like to participate,
you still need an advisor or a guardian to register
for you. We're going to be reaching out to a
number of the school programs and community based pro to
see if we can get like a faculty advisor or
someone to kind of be a guardian for these young
(20:08):
people when they come to just for safety reasons, right
to make sure that they can come to it.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Anybody eighteen or older they can register for themselves. But
that's the focus.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We're going to be focusing specifically on school programmings and
even community based schools where they have young people and
they're willing to have them come through because it's free
and we want to be to be able to take
advantage of that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So back to the Kufago Taraji program. This is the
mentorship to teach young dancers to perform in African styles
and go out and become cultural ambassadors this paid program.
Do you anticipate continuing it next year?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Oh? Yes, definitely, I think so.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Right now we have seven participants and that's good because
you know, this is our first time starting out.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I think we're definitely going to double those numbers next year.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
The hope is, you know, I've been out canvassing the community,
getting in contact with city officials.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Our hope is.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
That, you know, we will be able to get a budget,
a discretionary fund's budget from the city council, and that
would really really help us out to facilitate this because
right now, the way that things are going, we have
to actually turn down events because we've got so many.
And so if we can double, in my mind, from
a logistics perspective, we can double the numbers and still
(21:28):
provide payment for the director of the program as well
as the young people that are in the program. Sky's
the limit, you know, and that's what we're looking forward
to in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What do you hope this cohort of participants takes away
from the event this year, the program this year.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I want them to take away that there is power
in community, right, power in community in the sense that
when you are collaborating and working together, there is more
than you can do as a collective than you can
do as an individual. I want them to also take
in the fact that they can empower themselves, meaning that
(22:10):
they are awesome and amazing in their own right, but
they just need to see how awesome and amazing that
they are. And lastly, I want them to be able
to take away the cultural and performance information and really
create beautiful work when they go back to school in
the fall semester.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
What has been a response from their parents, by the way.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
You know what's been interesting.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Some of the parents have been very, very supportive, But
then some of the parents have been very very I
guess concerned, right, wanting details. And it's not necessarily a
bad thing. It's more so incumbent upon the participants to
be able to communicate effectively what it is that they're
doing while answering the needs of their parents. And sometimes
(22:58):
that can be good. Sometimes it's not. But I always
tell the students, I tell them, listen, if your parents
have any questions, here's my email, here's my phone number,
they can call me directly. I am more than ready
and willing to set up a zoom call with the
program director. Shout out to Serena Maximilian, she's the Colfago
Tarajia program director. And what we'll do, We'll get on
(23:20):
a zoom and if anybody has any questions, we can
answer any questions I got a presentation prepared for them,
and we'll just go through any concerns that they have,
because we want these parents to know that we are
welcoming their family into our Cofago community, and so we
need them to know that their kids and their young
(23:41):
people are.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Going to be safe.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Get some of that. That's probably a bit about what
is my kid doing all this summer hanging out all
over Queens? Where are they? And it's a bit like
what you said earlier. You learn how to communicate with
this and talk to adults and present yourself.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, and it's not even Queens, because there's been situations
all For Juneteenth, we have performance in Middletown, New York
that's probably about two hours out from New York City,
and this coming weekend we're going to Baltimore, right So
the Baltimore trip is going to be an overnight trip.
We leave six o'clock in the morning on Saturday, and
(24:15):
then we're going down to a dance conference out there
where they're actually performing with some of the members of
the senior company, the main Cofogo dance company, and that's
going to be a totally transformational experience for them. But
it has to be one. Parents got to know where
they're at, what they're doing, who they're going to be with,
how's it going to go down, are they being compensated?
(24:38):
We all of that stuff, and we have answers for
all of it, and we're just excited that we have
a committed group of young folk that are ready to
have this experience.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
This goes back to the introduction, right, it's the summer job,
but it's not the normal summer job, so it's hard
sometimes maybe for parents or in this case, they need
a little bit more detail indeed.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Indeed, and it's not you know, most summer jobs, you're
going to one locate in one space either from nine
to five Monday through Fridays, and that's where it's.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Going to be at.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And this one is a lot more dynamic and a
lot more fluid than that, because that's how the performing
arts are, right. So, like we sent out a schedule
of what the Queensboro Dance Festival was going to be
and what dates and what times those those performances are.
But as a dance company, we might get an opportunity
to do something last week. A good example, we applied
(25:31):
for a festival that's taking place in Hobogan, New Jersey.
We got accepted and now we're going to be performing
there at the end of July. Right, So that wasn't
on the original schedule, but heads up, because Colfago got
it invited. Guess what, Colfago Taraji is going to be
performing there as well. So they have to be open,
they have to be malleyable, they have to be willing
(25:54):
to grow, change and evolve at a very very fast rate.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
And I can say that I'm honestly proud of the
young people that we're working with.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
This is a company that seems to have been evolving
over time. You're experimenting as you go. What do you
look to to chart the course of the work and
what do you want to add next? If you've given
a thought?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You know what's so funny about your your your question?
I So I went to rehearsal last night just to
you know, peep my head in. I'm not I let
the people do what they need to do. And so
as I was sitting there.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
And as the artistic.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Director of the company, Baker refall, he's doing a choreography
on them right now, and he sat them on the
floor and I'm just looking at them and I felt
that after being around for seven going on eight years,
I think we finally have a methodology and a system
in place that is going to be so beneficial not
just to the company, but to the overall community as
(26:54):
well too. And it's been it's been trial and error
just getting up to this point. And it was so
funny that I posted up on my ig account that
I am just happy to be where we are right
now because it's like, aha, we finally got it right.
We finally got a system in place that is going
to be beneficial not just to the community, but to
(27:17):
the young people and to the company itself. And so
it's a good space to be in now. All we
have to do is grow it and that's where we're
going to be in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
So just last word, performance is upcoming for the public.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Yes, check on our website.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
It is a Colfagoedance dot net slash Colfago Taraji and
we have a schedule of all the dances, all the
performances that we have excuse me, and so those performances,
particularly the ones with the Queensborough Dance Festival, are all free.
Just just make your way out there and you will
see some great stuff. I'm happy to be a part
(27:56):
of this transformative project and we are looking forward to
grow owing it more in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Six and the Culture Rising Dance Conference is August twenty
second and twenty third Lehmancollege, offering free dance classes and
workshops for the Bronx community, highlighting styles rooted in the
African diaspora. The websites are Cofegodance dot net and Cofegoschool
dot com ko fagoschool dot com. Our guest has been
(28:22):
Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble. Happy summer, and
thank you for being on to get Connected.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Thank you for having me have a gay day.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to get connected in the season of summer jobs,
but there are a few like this. Cofago Dance Ensemble,
a premiere African diasporic dance ensemble based in New York,
is training dancers to perform across the state as a
means to build the next generation of dancers and cultural ambassadors.
Our guest is Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble.
(00:34):
Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You can find out more about both at Coofago Dance
dot Net. It's Kofago Dance dot net and kofagoschool dot com.
Let's start with Cofago Dance Ensemble Cofago Dance Institute. What
does the name mean? Where did it come from?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
So the word Colfago is an amalgamation of two different words.
I spent the majority of my career immersed in African
diaspora culture. So looking at two elements from different countries,
we have the country of Nigeria and Ghana. In Nigeria,
they have the deity known as Shango who was kind
(01:15):
of the lord of the dance and the drum. And
in Ghana you have san Kofo, which is the concept
of always.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Remembering where you come from.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And so what I did is I took Shango g
O and then I took Sankofa Kofa and came together
with Coofogo, bringing two of those elements together to kind
of represent our passion for the drum and dance, but
also remembering where we come from.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So, if you started this company in twenty fifteen, what
was your impetus to start and what was your original conception?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well, I tend to think of it as Colfogo one
point oh versus two point zero Colfogo one point oh.
I started when I was still living in the DC
metropolitan area and it was an all male troop and
it was just trying to highlight the need to support
young black men. But then I ended up relocating up
(02:08):
to New York City for grad school in twenty fifteen,
and so what ended up happening is in twenty eighteen,
I graduated from grad school. But then my father passed
as well too, And in that year that he passed,
in twenty eighteen, I was working with an organization Sessame
(02:28):
Flyers International, and I.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Got a group of young people to perform at.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
A repass and after they performed at the repass, it
was like, Yeah, we've got this amazing, beautiful energy here.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
We got to keep this thing rolling.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And then our first performance was at the Making Moves
Dance Festival with the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning
in Queens, Jamaica, Queens and it they wanted to stay together,
they wanted to keep seeing where this thing was going.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
And eight years later, here we are.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I want to definitely go back to your background a
little bit interesting to me, but let's talk about Kago Taraji,
which is a new program this summer for teens and adults.
What is it and what did you want to address
with that?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
So?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Kofago Taraji is a summer youth employment program. It's it's
made along the lines of providing training and opportunity to
young people, but also making sure that they get paid
for those opportunities as well. We were very fortunate to
get a grant from Flushing Town Hall in Queens to
(03:30):
provide funding.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
For the work that we're going to be doing. One
of The major things about this is that we are.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Providing training for these young people, and the training is
not just in dance, it's in social skills, right, making
sure that they know how to communicate effectively as young adults,
making sure they know how to engage as young people.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And to represent themselves.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
The reason why that's so important is because I felt
that coming out of COVID our young people, particularly those
any of them that have missed those two years of
social skills of being in high school or being in
middle school, they were missing something and it was kind
of hard to put my finger on, but I felt
(04:14):
that Taraji could be the intermediary of these young people
as they're in there that senior year of high school
going into college, to kind of jump start them in
the right way of knowing what it is to communicate effectively,
be present, be aware, but also take advantage of the
opportunity and the training that's being given to them.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
What's interesting about that is there some sort of overlap
with any kind of dance. I think dance like whips
you into shape, right, like mentally, you got to focus,
you got to pay attention, you got to mind your
p's and q's, like it's very much a structured atmosphere
in the best way you can be creative, but you
got to kind of stick with it.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Indeed, indeed, it's it's a focus, right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I think that you know, dance is a vehicle, and
it's a vehicle just like you know. I always tell
my young people, we chose dance as the vehicle. Your
vehicle could have been basketball, it could have been basket weaving,
it could have been any number of things.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
But with respect to the.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Concentration that is needed for performing artists and even athletes,
there's a certain level of focus that you have to
have and a certain level of commitment, and that's what
we're asking for in the program.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
So the program, the dancers you're starting with, the young
people you're starting with, can you talk about the background
you were looking for? Were they dancers to begin with?
Or where do they come from? And yeah, all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Sure, So what.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We tend to focus on are those that do have
a dance background. They don't necessarily have to have a
background in African diasporic dance, but they have to have
a passion for dance. So we did focus on and
I focused on recruiting from various different programs in the city.
I am also a lecturer at Lehman College in the
(05:58):
Department of Theater, a multi medium dance and so I
saw our need, even with the students that I have
in my program, that Okay, once school is over, they're
going to need an extra push, and I would love
to be able to guide them through what that extra
push would look like.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So we focused on the specific.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Age range of eighteen to twenty two and we ended up,
funny enough, we ended up all of the students that
we got are from the City University of New York CUNY, right,
so they're all coming from various different CuNi facilities throughout
New York City. And it's been it's been a beautiful
journey to see them grow, to see them make mistakes
(06:39):
and learn from those mistakes, and to see them acknowledge
that in Cofago they have a safe space where they
can learn and grow.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So there's the training program and then there's the portion
where they go out and perform and they work tell
us about that.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yes, so we have this is a community thing. So
we have partnered with the Queensboro Dance Festival and so
we're a part of the festival Colfago is and what
Coolfago Taraji is doing is that they're literally on tour
throughout the Borough of queens and a number of different
live installations that the Queensboro Dance Festival has set up.
(07:19):
Our last performance was on July fifth, and it was
a far rockaway and it was such an amazing journey
to see them do what they do. They performed and
then they also did was call a dance Back. So
what they're actually doing is that they're actually getting out
into the community and teaching what it is that they've
learned to the people in the community.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Our guest is Kevin McEwan. He's founder of Cafago Dance Ensemble.
Kevin McEwan has over twenty years experience as a performing
artist and dance educator. His foundation in African diasporic art
forms is grounded in dance techniques from Senegal Molli in Guinea.
The Culturizing Dance Conference will talk about in the Moment
is August twenty second to twenty third at Lehman College,
(07:59):
offering free dance classes and workshops for the Bronx community,
highlighting styles rooted in the African diaspora. Registration is free
for the Culturalising Dance Conference for all Bronx residents. You
can find out more at cofagoedance dot net. You're listening
to get connected on one oh six point seven light FM.
Imina del Rio Back to you for a minute, Kevin.
(08:20):
Your roles in addition to this company are as you mentioned.
You're a lecturer at Lehman College's Department of Music, Multimedia,
Theater and Dance. You're also an adjunct lecturer at Queensborough
Community Colleges Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance. Did
you grow up with dance in your orbit? Where did
you start? Were you or African dance in your orbit? Like?
(08:40):
Where did what was your entry point into this?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's so funny that you asked that. I think my
route was not the normal route. I didn't start dancing
at the age of three, although my mother was a
dancer before me.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
My father.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
My mother is she grew up in Astoria, Queens and
so she went to the High School of Art and Design,
and so she was always dance was always around me,
but I didn't take it on until I was an adult.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I lived in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
This is around the time of nine to eleven, and
that's when I started dancing. I love to tell the
story of this to my young folks. I was at
the Smithsonian actually for a Black History Month event and
I saw this company, conquerand West African Dance Company, and
it was the most vain of things. I saw a
(09:35):
young lady and I was attracted to her. I tried
to get her number and it didn't work out. I
was like, I'm gonna go find her. And it led
me to Conquerant's class. And when I saw the community
that they had. This is on top of me moving
to Washington, d c. And not really knowing anyone. I
was just drawn to it. And it was the dance,
(09:57):
the drum and the community altogether. I was like, yo,
I need to be a part of that. So that's
what's kind of started me on the route to dance
after a while. And it's just known that, you know,
it's rare to see a young man at the age
of twenty two to twenty three wanted to be dedicated
to this. So when I got to Conceran, I was
(10:20):
offered the opportunity to study as an apprentice with the
Senior company.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And I was an.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Apprentice for about three years, and that's what kind of
took me off, and I stayed with Concoran for about
ten years, and then after that I was given an
opportunity to I had a passion for teaching, and I
started teaching with the Dance Institute of Washington and Washington,
d C. And also the Princess Moon Dance Institute in Washington,
(10:49):
d C. And then I got to a point where
was like, I know, I want to do more with this,
but I know if I want to do more with this,
I have to go back to school. And so that
is where I was able to transition from Washington, DC
to New York City, getting accepted into the Steinhardt School
of Dance Education, going after my Masters of Art and
Dance Education, which then led me to teach at Queensborough
(11:13):
Community College and now leam In College.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
As I mentioned before, your foundation are the things you've
been working on as far as African technique are Senegal,
Molly and Guinea. We don't have cameras here, no one
can see what we're talking about when we say African dance.
So I wonder could you talk about a little bit
about those styles of dance and why those particular countries.
I know it's probably a really long explanation, but what
(11:36):
is it about the styles of those particular countries. There's
a lot of places in East Africa.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So we're talking about those countries, we're talking about access
and independence. And this is where the historical and ethnographic
information comes into play. When you're looking at West Africa
in particular, any of the descendants of those West Africans
that are here in the Americas come from that specific
(12:01):
region of Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and I'll even throw cultivoir
Ghana that whole horn.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
If you will, of West Africa.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
So fast forward to when those countries gained their independence
from their colonizers. What ended up happening is that a
lot of the artists that were in those countries that
might have been held back by that colonados, started to travel.
And when they traveled, they came here to the United
States around the nineteen eighties era. My dance teacher Assan
(12:35):
Conte was one of them who came from Senegal.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And went to the Saint Louis area. And what Saint
Louis was a cultural hub.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Within the performing arts, because that's also where Catherine Dunham
was from right, So when you're looking at these historical contexts,
he came to Saint Louis, then he migrated to Washington, DC,
starting this company, conquerund West Africa Dance Company. So that
is just one example of how that migration of culture
and information came to the United States. But then in
(13:07):
the United States you had African Americans that wanted a
deeper understanding of where they came from. Because of slavery,
there was a disconnect. So there were also people like
non A Dinizulu that went back to West Africa himself,
went to Ghana, found out about his history and culture,
and then brought that culture back to the United States
(13:29):
as well too, to form the Dnizulu Dances and Drummers,
which is a historic dance company that's based in Queens.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
New York.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So there's so many interminglings, if you will, of culture
and a need to connect and a need to fill
out what the African diaspora is to be now versus
what it was back.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
In the eighties.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Since you mentioned people trying to tap into their culture,
it's interesting to me when we look at culture or
someone tries to discover their roots, people think the typical
things first you know, food, language, clothing, dance in this conversation,
What does dance actually bring to that conversation, to our
knowledge base and experience of a culture?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh Man, dance is culture, right, if you think about it.
One of the things that has been so amazing to
watch over the years is how hip hop was started
in the Bronx, New York and in Queens, New York,
and how it has become a global phenomenon. It was
it became a competitive event in the Olympics, right. So
(14:35):
there is something to be said about dance. There's something
to be set about movement. There is a saying that
dance is the ultimate manifestation of spirit, and when you
look at it within that context, it is the ability
for people to move what they feel internally and make
it something that people can see externally. So when you're
looking at dance and how it connects people and how
(14:56):
movement connects there's also the concept of a genet or
genetic echo, where how is it that someone that lives
in Oakland, California can do a movement and a dance
that's similar to what they find in Bikina Fasso, right,
and they've never been there and they've never been connected.
There is a genetic lineage that connects people and they
(15:19):
don't even realize it. But through dance you can see
the similarities, and through dance you can see the cultural
connections that connect us all. At Queensborough Community College, I
teach a dance history class and I'm always fascinated to
see the similarities that exist between somebody that's from Jamaica
versus somebody that's from Bahrain and they're like, oh my gosh,
(15:42):
we do those movements too. We have those same types
of movements. I didn't know that, and it's like, oh, okay,
we do this same dance as well too. That's how
dance connects us and that's how we use dance to communicate.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Our guest is Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble.
You can find out more Cofago Dance and kofagoschool dot com.
The Cultureising Dance Conference is August twenty second to twenty
third at Lehman College, offering free dance classes and workshops
for the Bronx community, highlighting styles rooted in the African diaspora.
So let's talk about that. The event coming up in August.
(16:17):
What can you say about the Culturising Dance Conference.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yes, So what I'd like to do is acknowledge the
Bronx Arts Council and the Bronx Arts Council gave my organization,
co FAGO a grant, and what we wanted to do.
Part of that grant is to facilitate dance opportunities.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
For those that might not necessarily have them. So we
came up with this idea.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To have a mini dance conference and partner with Lehman
College to make sure that we could make this happen.
And so that's when we came up with the Culturizing
Dance Conference. It's going to be a two day dance conference,
four classes each day, and it is geared specifically towards
the Bronx community, which I now serve as a member
(17:03):
of Lehman College's faculty. It's going to be a way
to let people know what it is that we have
available at Limit, but it's also going to be a
way to let the community know.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
That as educators, we are here.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
To serve the community, and we want people to know
that we are here to serve the community. So what
I'm doing is I'm leveraging the funds that we got
from the Bronx Art Council to just bring these young
people into the door. We're focusing specifically on young people
that are in middle school, high school, and college, but
(17:36):
it's open to the entire community. So if Auntie Janet
wants to come and dance and she lives in the Bronx,
she's more than welcome to do so.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So you'll have traditional West African on the menu, Afro Latino,
Afro Caribbean, hip hop, modern contemporary. It's free for everybody.
Why was it important to be free?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It was important to be free, and what I'll say
is it's free to Bronx. We wanted to focus on
the residents of Bronx because sometimes what I found is that,
you know, there might be things that go on in Brooklyn,
there might be things that go on in Queens, but
I didn't really see things like this going on in
the Bronx. And I've been working in the Bronx now
(18:18):
for the past two years, and me being from Brooklyn,
I didn't know anything about the Bronx. And that's how
it is in New York because the city is so big.
So me being in the Bronx and getting to know
the people, getting to know the community, actually being able
to be a part of the community.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
There's a lot of similarities that I see in people
in Brooklyn, and so the.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Beauty of it is is like, we need to be
able to serve this community in a way that is
respectful of who they are as well as supportive in
trying to create streams of opportunity to figure out who
they can be in the future.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And so that's what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
This is more so about bringing young people to the
other and exposing them to the best that Lehman has
and the best that Colfago has from a performing arts perspective,
and then col Fogo leaning into its dance community and
its network to bring people to work with in this opportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So the event is August twenty second to twenty third.
Can people still register and how many people you're expecting
or planning for?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yes, people will be able to register. I think next week.
The registration is going up and it'll definitely be available
within a week's time. We can go to colfago dance
dot net slash culture Rising and they can get the
information there. We have a web page set up and
people can register what we're looking for. If people are
(19:46):
under the age of eighteen and they would like to participate,
you still need an advisor or a guardian to register
for you. We're going to be reaching out to a
number of the school programs and community based pro to
see if we can get like a faculty advisor or
someone to kind of be a guardian for these young
(20:08):
people when they come to just for safety reasons, right
to make sure that they can come to it.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Anybody eighteen or older they can register for themselves. But
that's the focus.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We're going to be focusing specifically on school programmings and
even community based schools where they have young people and
they're willing to have them come through because it's free
and we want to be to be able to take
advantage of that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So back to the Kufago Taraji program. This is the
mentorship to teach young dancers to perform in African styles
and go out and become cultural ambassadors this paid program.
Do you anticipate continuing it next year?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Oh? Yes, definitely, I think so.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Right now we have seven participants and that's good because
you know, this is our first time starting out.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I think we're definitely going to double those numbers next year.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
The hope is, you know, I've been out canvassing the community,
getting in contact with city officials.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Our hope is.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
That, you know, we will be able to get a budget,
a discretionary fund's budget from the city council, and that
would really really help us out to facilitate this because
right now, the way that things are going, we have
to actually turn down events because we've got so many.
And so if we can double, in my mind, from
a logistics perspective, we can double the numbers and still
(21:28):
provide payment for the director of the program as well
as the young people that are in the program. Sky's
the limit, you know, and that's what we're looking forward
to in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
What do you hope this cohort of participants takes away
from the event this year, the program this year.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I want them to take away that there is power
in community, right, power in community in the sense that
when you are collaborating and working together, there is more
than you can do as a collective than you can
do as an individual. I want them to also take
in the fact that they can empower themselves, meaning that
(22:10):
they are awesome and amazing in their own right, but
they just need to see how awesome and amazing that
they are. And lastly, I want them to be able
to take away the cultural and performance information and really
create beautiful work when they go back to school in
the fall semester.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
What has been a response from their parents, by the way.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
You know what's been interesting.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Some of the parents have been very, very supportive, But
then some of the parents have been very very I
guess concerned, right, wanting details. And it's not necessarily a
bad thing. It's more so incumbent upon the participants to
be able to communicate effectively what it is that they're
doing while answering the needs of their parents. And sometimes
(22:58):
that can be good. Sometimes it's not. But I always
tell the students, I tell them, listen, if your parents
have any questions, here's my email, here's my phone number,
they can call me directly. I am more than ready
and willing to set up a zoom call with the
program director. Shout out to Serena Maximilian, she's the Colfago
Tarajia program director. And what we'll do, We'll get on
(23:20):
a zoom and if anybody has any questions, we can
answer any questions I got a presentation prepared for them,
and we'll just go through any concerns that they have,
because we want these parents to know that we are
welcoming their family into our Cofago community, and so we
need them to know that their kids and their young
(23:41):
people are.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Going to be safe.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Get some of that. That's probably a bit about what
is my kid doing all this summer hanging out all
over Queens? Where are they? And it's a bit like
what you said earlier. You learn how to communicate with
this and talk to adults and present yourself.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, and it's not even Queens, because there's been situations
all For Juneteenth, we have performance in Middletown, New York
that's probably about two hours out from New York City,
and this coming weekend we're going to Baltimore, right So
the Baltimore trip is going to be an overnight trip.
We leave six o'clock in the morning on Saturday, and
(24:15):
then we're going down to a dance conference out there
where they're actually performing with some of the members of
the senior company, the main Cofogo dance company, and that's
going to be a totally transformational experience for them. But
it has to be one. Parents got to know where
they're at, what they're doing, who they're going to be with,
how's it going to go down, are they being compensated?
(24:38):
We all of that stuff, and we have answers for
all of it, and we're just excited that we have
a committed group of young folk that are ready to
have this experience.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
This goes back to the introduction, right, it's the summer job,
but it's not the normal summer job, so it's hard
sometimes maybe for parents or in this case, they need
a little bit more detail indeed.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Indeed, and it's not you know, most summer jobs, you're
going to one locate in one space either from nine
to five Monday through Fridays, and that's where it's.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Going to be at.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And this one is a lot more dynamic and a
lot more fluid than that, because that's how the performing
arts are, right. So, like we sent out a schedule
of what the Queensboro Dance Festival was going to be
and what dates and what times those those performances are.
But as a dance company, we might get an opportunity
to do something last week. A good example, we applied
(25:31):
for a festival that's taking place in Hobogan, New Jersey.
We got accepted and now we're going to be performing
there at the end of July. Right, So that wasn't
on the original schedule, but heads up, because Colfago got
it invited. Guess what, Colfago Taraji is going to be
performing there as well. So they have to be open,
they have to be malleyable, they have to be willing
(25:54):
to grow, change and evolve at a very very fast rate.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
And I can say that I'm honestly proud of the
young people that we're working with.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
This is a company that seems to have been evolving
over time. You're experimenting as you go. What do you
look to to chart the course of the work and
what do you want to add next? If you've given
a thought?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You know what's so funny about your your your question?
I So I went to rehearsal last night just to
you know, peep my head in. I'm not I let
the people do what they need to do. And so
as I was sitting there.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
And as the artistic.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Director of the company, Baker refall, he's doing a choreography
on them right now, and he sat them on the
floor and I'm just looking at them and I felt
that after being around for seven going on eight years,
I think we finally have a methodology and a system
in place that is going to be so beneficial not
just to the company, but to the overall community as
(26:54):
well too. And it's been it's been trial and error
just getting up to this point. And it was so
funny that I posted up on my ig account that
I am just happy to be where we are right
now because it's like, aha, we finally got it right.
We finally got a system in place that is going
to be beneficial not just to the community, but to
(27:17):
the young people and to the company itself. And so
it's a good space to be in now. All we
have to do is grow it and that's where we're
going to be in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
So just last word, performance is upcoming for the public.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Yes, check on our website.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
It is a Colfagoedance dot net slash Colfago Taraji and
we have a schedule of all the dances, all the
performances that we have excuse me, and so those performances,
particularly the ones with the Queensborough Dance Festival, are all free.
Just just make your way out there and you will
see some great stuff. I'm happy to be a part
(27:56):
of this transformative project and we are looking forward to
grow owing it more in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Six and the Culture Rising Dance Conference is August twenty
second and twenty third Lehmancollege, offering free dance classes and
workshops for the Bronx community, highlighting styles rooted in the
African diaspora. The websites are Cofegodance dot net and Cofegoschool
dot com ko fagoschool dot com. Our guest has been
(28:22):
Kevin McEwan, founder of Cofago Dance Ensemble. Happy summer, and
thank you for being on to get Connected.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Thank you for having me have a gay day.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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