|
Oakland Tribune, June 3, 2004
Arts
center's new moniker a tribute to dancer
Council OKs Alice change for Malonga Casquelourd, beloved promoter
of African culture
By Heather
MacDonald, STAFF WRITER
The Alice
Arts Center is now the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts,
honoring
the
Oakland
drummer and dancer who dedicated his life to promoting
African culture in the East Bay.
The Oakland
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to rename the Arts
Center to honor Auguste Leonard Malonga "Casquelourd," who
was killed last year on Father's Day by a suspected drunken
driver.
More than
a dozen members of Casquelourd's extended family told the council
the center's new name would
send a message
of hope
and inclusiveness 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 worked tirelessly to ensure that
the center remained
open
to the public.
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.
"
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.
Casquelourd
moved his dance company to the Alice Arts Center 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 the Alice.
Casquelord
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
such as 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.
Councilmember
Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), sponsored the latest
name change after nearly
300 members of the
Oakland dance
and arts community signed
a petition in support.
"
It is quite fitting that the place where he dedicated his life
should honor him," Muisi-Kongo Malonga said. "My
father was a pioneer, and an ambassador."
E-mail
Heather MacDonald at hmacdonald@angnewspapers.com .
|