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Oakland Tribune, May 29, 2004
Arts
building may honor dancer
Move is afoot
to rename Alice Arts Center for Casquelourd
By Laura
Casey
Auguste Leonard
Malonga "Casquelourd," killed
last year on Father's Day in an accident caused by a suspected
drunken driver, was more than a drummer and dancer who dedicated
his life
to promoting African culture in Oakland.
He was an
Oakland arts pioneer who never gave up. Every Saturday for 25
years, he taught African dance in Oakland,
his longest tenure
at the Alice Arts Center. And when there was a threat
to close Alice Arts Center, Casquelourd led the public
crusade
to keep its doors
open through parades, letter campaigns and marches.
His commitment
to arts in Oakland, and especially the Alice Arts Center, is
the reason his family and
friends
want
to rename the downtown
arts building the Malonga Casquelourd Center for
the Arts.
"
My father had a long history in not only just the dance and arts
community but in giving to the arts community," said
Casquelourd's oldest son, Kiazi Malonga. He served at the
Alice Arts Center
since moving his dance company to the building when it opened
in 1987
and back in 1993 after a renovation.
Casquelourd
was one of the best-known Congolese dancers in the world, and
an accomplished drummer,
choreographer,
singer and professor.
He was born
in Douala, Cameroon, and spent years apprenticing at Community
Fetes, learning
Congolese
cultural traditions.
He became
a principal dancer of the National Congolese
Dance Company, then resident choreographer
and principal
performer with
Le Ballet Diaboua,
a Congolese repertory company in Paris.
Casquelourd
helped found Citicenter Dance Theater in downtown Oakland, which
is still
at the
Alice Arts
Center. Over
the years he brought
dignitaries from around the world to teach
and speak at Alice.
"
Whenever they came here he would set up workshops so they could share
the culture with the community," said Casquelourd's
widow, Cynthia Phillips.
He also established
Fua Dia Congo, a nonprofit performing arts company, the
Congolese
Dance and Drum Camp,
and Ballet Kizingu, the youth
division of Fua Dia Congo. He taught
at San Francisco State University for
26 years.
Alice Arts
Center was built in 1927 and originally housed Oakland's women's
clubs
like the Alameda
County Birth
Control League and the
Oakland Opera Lecture Club. The Mediterranean-style
building held banquet halls, an underground
swimming pool, rooftop
tennis courts,
and a 1,000-seat theater.
The city
signed a 20-year lease-to-buy option on the property in 1986
and
turned it into
the Alice
Club
Hotel and Arts
Center. The
city paid about $8 million to renovate
the building in 1993, changing
the name to Alice
Arts Center.
Those who
knew Casquelourd said attaching his name to the building
would mean
a lot to the
Oakland
arts community.
"
Who is Alice?" Dominique Walker, 18, said. She danced with Fua
Dia Congo since she was 7 years old. "Why wouldn't Alice
Arts Center be named after a man that brought dance to the
center? He
was the first African teacher to ever arrive at the Alice.
Why shouldn't this be his center?"
Kiazi Malonga
brought the idea to Councilmember Nancy Nadel
(Downtown- West Oakland),
who supports his
efforts and
brought the issue before
the council. Nearly 300 members
of
the Oakland dance and arts
community signed
a petition
to support the
name change.
The Rules
Committee endorsed the name change, and sent
the matter
onto the
full council,
which will
take up
the issue on June 1. Council
President Ignacio De La
Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale) was
absent, and Councilmember
Larry
Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland)
abstained from the
vote.
Reid said
he could not support Councilmember Nadel's
proposal
because she would
not endorse his desire
to rename a stretch
of Market Street
in West Oakland after
the former pastor of St. John's
Missionary
Baptist Church.
The cost
of renaming the center will be minimal,
according to a report
from the
city staff.
Nadel remembered
Casquelourd as an extraordinary
drummer and a
inspiration
to the community.
Casquelourd's
daughter, Muisi-Kongo Malonga
said the renaming
of the Alice Arts
Center would be
a fitting
tribute to
her father, who
she said worked
tirelessly to ensure that the
center remained
open to
the public.
"
It is quite fitting that the place where he dedicated his life should
honor him," Malonga said. "He is a pioneer, and
an ambassador."
Rashida Knox,
29, one of
Casquelourd's students,
said the center's
new name would
send a message
of hope
and inclusiveness
to the community.
"
His name is synonymous with pride and fearlessness," Knox
said.
Staff writer
Heather
MacDonald
contributed
to this
report.
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