Collaborating Artists
Gansango Music & Dance company members based in Seattle, Washington are periodically joined by guest performers based in the USA, France, Austria, and West Africa.
Etienne Cakpo Etienne Cakpo, a professional dancer and choreographer from Benin, is the director and lead choreographer and dancer of Gansango Music and Dance. Etienne has been building his repertoire of traditional and modern dance for nearly twenty years. In addition to conducting personal research to learn regional dances and musical traditions in his country, he has worked in remote areas of Benin with international ethnomusicologists, musicians and filmmakers. Etienne has performed with artists from many countries, including Haiti, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Senegal, France, Mali and the United States. He currently lives and works in Seattle.
Etienne Cakpo CV.pdf


Achille Acakpo is a native of Ouidah, Benin, the cradle of voudoun culture. Achille has delved deep into his traditional culture to seek inspiration for his work as a dancer and percussionist. He has traveled throughout his country researching traditional dance forms of different ethnic groups. Based in Vienna, Austria, Achille teaches African dance and percussion, joining Gansango for international performances.

Achille Acakpo

Carrie Lee Hansen

Carrie Lee Hansen is an accomplished modern dancer who has dedicated years to the study of traditional and modern African dance styles. She is continually inspired by movement and dance. As a young adult, she studied ballet with Kay Englert, the director of Washington Contemporary Ballet, a non-profit school in Lakewood, Washington. She later took a five year sabbatical from dance to explore America's wilderness and diversity of people. She now lives and works in Seattle, and studies African dance and rhythm, performing regularly with Gansango.

Kane Mathis plays the Kora, a 21-string African harp, one of the most beautiful and complex instruments in the world. For years Kane has studied under master kora player Malamini Jobarteh in the Gambia, West Africa, refining his skill, expanding his repertoire and deepening his knowledge of and dedication to the traditional culture and music of the Mandinka people of West Africa. Kane holds a diploma from the Teramang Traditional Music School endorsed by the Gambian Minister of Culture, and has produced several recordings available on CD from Kaira Records. www.kairarecords.com

Kane Mathis

Won Ldy Paye is a member of the Tlo Ker Mehn, the class of professional storytellers who are also accomplished musicians and keepers of Dan oral heritage in Liberia. A major factor in his upbringing was the reliance on masked spirits appearing as teachers, judges, messengers, police, dancers and entertainers. He directs Village Drum and Masquerade in Seattle, and collaborates regularly with the Seattle Art Museum. www.wonldypaye.com

Siya Manyakanyaka is an accomplished dancer and singer from South Africa. She has performed with the Iintombi Zilapha Dancers from South Africa, Gansango Music & Dance, Sankofa Theatre's Maafa Experience, and Seattle Theatre Group's Dance This!

Béatrice Aspirot holds certificates in the practice and instruction of African dance from the 6th Parallel of Bordeaux, affiliate of FEIDA, the International Federation of African Dance. Over the past 6 six years she has studied African dance under West African master dancers such as Koffi Koko from Benin, Doudou N'diaye Rose Junior from Senegal, Flora Théfaine from Togo and Memba Camara from Guinée. She lives in Southern France, where she manages her own dance association, Mamiwata.

Marthe Bolda hails from Cameroun and has resided in France since 2002. An accomplished dancer and choreographer, she has been a member of several dance companies based in Africa. In recent year she has performed with the traditional dance group Don in Mali and worked with Anouscka Brodacz, Germaine Acogny and Koffi Koko in Bamako. She taught dance at the American School of Bamako, and currently teaches and performs with a variety of dance groups in France.
Nikki Pete was first introduced to Ghanaian dance at age 16. Since then she has studied various forms of dance including one year of Haitian movement. A native Oklahoman, she moved to Seattle three years ago and began studying Senegalese and Guinean dance under the instruction of Sawe McGlone. Nikki teaches dance at a local Montessori school, The Learning Tree.

Josélito Atchade is a professional saxophone player. He resides in his home country of Benin, but lived in Chicago and Seattle in 2001-2002, when he contributed to the album Ji, produced by Gansango Music & Dance.

Adrian McDermott is a professional photographer, specializing in dance. With an acute sense of timing, form, motion and light, Adrian deftly masters the camera to capture movement and style of dancers. He is currently based in his home city of Chicago.