WADOMA :: About Us

Otehlia Kiser
Padraic Cassidy
Shawn Barry
Amy Kruger

Otehlia Kiser, Wadoma’s co-instructor and lead choreographer, is an energetic and charismatic dancer-educator whose graceful interpretations of traditional West African dance movement reveal artistry steeped in experience. Kiser’s onstage presence, like her classroom instruction style, embodies the explosive energy that is characteristic of West African dance.

Since her childhood in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Kiser has been a student of movement, beginning with ballet and later moving on to Middle Eastern and modern dance. In 1993, she began intensively pursuing her interest in traditional styles of dance, especially West African. From ’93 to ’98, Kiser studied with such renowned artists as Eno Washington, Denise Hawthorne Bey, Moustapha Bangoura and Abdoulaye Sylla.

In 1998, Otehlia Kiser moved to Madison to pursue a master’s degree in Conservation Biology, and also to further her dance career. She began a community dance class and founded Baraka Drum and Dance Ensemble. Since 2000, Kiser has taught African dance and has choreographed numerous pieces for the UW Dance Program. She continues to teach in the community and to conduct outreach programs in elementary schools throughout the area.

Between 1999 and 2001, Kiser spent one year living in Mali, Guinea and Cameroon, studying traditional dances within their cultural context. Kiser continues to study with Guinean and Malian dancers such as Djeneba Sacko, Mouminatou Camara, Moustapha Bangoura, Michael Markus, Sidiki Sylla, Seydou Coulibaly and M'Bemba Bangoura.

Padraic Cassidy, a native of suburban Chicago, is a local percussionist who has been active in Madison’s burgeoning African music scene for nearly a decade. He has traveled several times to Guinea to study under the tutelage of M’Bemba Bangoura and Les Ballets Africains, and to Mali to study with Abdoul Doumbia. Padraic has also studied and performed with members of Ko-Thi (Milwaukee), Muntu (Chicago) and Magbana (NYC) dance companies.

Paddy currently teaches a class in Malinke drumming and performs with the UW Dance Program. When he is not performing with Wadoma, you may catch him playing with Tani Diakite and the Malian Blues Band, or with Talking Heads cover band Houses in Motion.

He was recently a guest instructor for the UW World Percussion Ensemble, and arranged the African music of Claudia Melrose’s world dance trilogy, “Equatorial Rhythms.” His current recording project, entitled Figure Ground — Movement Sound, bridges the divide between tradition and innovation, combining jazz with West African drum repertoires.

Shawn Barry has been playing music from Guinea, West Africa for ten years. Shawn has performed with Kweku Ananse, Baraka Drum and Dance Troupe, and directed Dadawah Drum and Dance Company for 3 yrs. Shawn has traveled to Guinea twice and studied and performed with Les Ballet Africains. Some of his mentors include M’Bemba Bangoura, Michael Markus, and members of Les Ballet Africains and Ballet Djoliba. Shawn currently teaches drumming and is a member of Wadoma in Madison, WI.

Amy Kruger began her formal dance training at the age of fourteen. She studied modern dance at the Minnetonka Art Center and St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. For six years Amy worked at the University of Wisconsin Sports Medicine Center creating choreography and teaching aerobic dance. In 2000 she took her first African dance class and has been pursuing this style of movement with great focus and enthusiasm. She currently studies with Otehlia Kiser, and has received training from African Dance Masters such as Moustapha Bangoura, Sidiki Sylla, and Michael Markus.