My Mission is to Educate and Draw Awareness of the Historical and Spiritual Traditions of West Africa and the Diaspora as a Guide for Deep Rooted Healing and Body Liberation through Dance.
BIO:
Tanya Agunbiosu Melendez aka “Nena Soul Fly” is a Puerto Rican artist, designer, dancer born and raised in North East Los Angeles. Tanya has studied Traditional Folkloric Dances from West Africa and the Diaspora for over 15yrs. Studyig under some of LA’s leading instructors, Master Dance and Drum Teachers, Omowale Orisayomi and Adebayo Francis Awe of the Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Master dance teachers Munneco and Teresita, both of the Mantanzas Family in Cuba. Joining the Nigerian Talking Drun Ensemble in 2000, Tanya has performed at various summer festivals, weddings, Orisa ceremony’s, and Concert Halls throughout Southern California. In 2004 she joined a new formed dance troop from the Ivory Coast (Cote d’Lvoire), “SHOLA” , an intense traditional dance and drum troop specializing in masquerade. Tanya has taught at after school summer youth programs in Pasadena and Compton and in 2005 she began teaching as an Enrichment Instructor at a Charter School in Inglewood, grades K-7th. In 2008 she join the first Afro-Boriken (Puerto Rican) “Bomba” Dance and Drum group in LA,” ATABEY”. In 2011 Tanya formed her first adults dance class at Ijo Ija Academy of Martial Arts in Los Feliz. With a focus on her traditional Nigerian Orisa dance training, Tanya has chosen to infuse aspects of all of her formal Afro Diaspora dance training into her classes, as a educational tool for drawing awareness to the historical and spiritual connections of West Africa and the Diaspora, as a guide for deep rooted healing and body liberation. With a long line of history of women spiritualist and healers of the Orisa/Ifa practice in her family, Tanya knew that this was her divine call.
VENUES:
Mariachi Plaza
IJO IJA Academy of Martial Arts
1146 N. Vermont Ave. Los Feliz, CA 90029
(cross Street Vermont Pla.)
Twinkle Toes Dance Company
5917 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Orisa Dance and Workout Class 