ENRICH.
EDUCATE.
ENTERTAIN.
ABOUT THE ASASE YAA CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION
Asase Yaa (“Mother Earth”) began life as the vision of brothers Kofi Osei Williams and Yao Ababio. They pooled their childhood experiences, knowledge, community conscience, and performance skills to start African dance and drumming workshops in the `90s that grew into thriving summer camps, art schools, and spectacular concert performances with outreach to other like-minded dance companies. As the concept expanded, Kofi’s future wife, Rubie, first joined their dance troupe as a dancer and later took on a series of administrative positions, and now is the Director of Operations.
They attracted professionals from all over Africa and the Caribbean to Broadway to participate as educators and consultants to create an affordable program for children, adults, seniors, and entire families to partake. In the past two and a half decades, the Foundation has successfully launched and sustained four thriving programs:
AFRICAN AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
CHILDREN’S SUMMER ARTS CAMP
SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
ARTS OUTREACH
AFRICAN AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
Since its inception, they have been devoted to sharing the real cultural history of Africa and its rich arts and culture. They are passing on the strong sense of pride they feel about their link to the great continent, and the abounding wisdom that has expanded their consciousness, self-worth, healthfulness, community ties, and unity.
Key to their teachings is that Africa is, contrary to how it is often portrayed in the media, not a monolith but a continent with a variety of singular expressions spread across its many countries and indigenous people. After starting the Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater in 2001, founder Yao Ababio enlisted his brother Kofi Osei Williams to serve as Executive Director of Asase Yaa and the tandem booked its first major concert, “Africa: A Journey in Dance,” on Saturday, June 28, 2003, which featured three companies from New York (representing Guinea, Ghana, and Senegal) and one from Washington, D.C. (Ivory Coast & Guinea). Over the past two decades, the Asase Yaa has featured the African American Dance Theater in 18 original productions, numerous domestic and international headlining performances at major venues and music festivals, including participation in 2005’s acclaimed Dance Africa program under the mentorship of Artistic Director Chuck Davis, multiple times. That initial performance established Asase Yaa in the eyes of the public. So much so that parents wanted their children to study with them.
CHILDREN’S SUMMER ARTS CAMP
They launched our Children’s Summer Arts Camp with just 6 campers in 2006. Our annual Children’s Summer Arts Camp is a 6-week multidisciplinary summer performing arts program and day camp, and the only one in Brooklyn, NY that offers youth (ages 4-13) a chance to contribute, create, and produce an original live production. Every year at the end of camp for the past nineteen years, we have presented a theatre work created by the campers to a captive audience of family and friends.
SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
An initial dream to renovate a Brooklyn brownstone into “The House That Dance Built” never came to fruition, but through further alliances, the Asase Yaa School of the Arts was cofounded by its Artistic Director Zakiya Harris and K.Osei Williams, who unveiled it in September 2011. It incorporated modern, hip hop, ballet, tap, and more, all under one very soulful roof. “It’s been a great mission. Without performance arts schools in our communities, most kids have no other way of receiving arts education,” explained Asase Yaa’s Executive Director, Kofi Williams. “Many parents of the children who started with us in summer camp immediately registered for our school when it opened. That foundational support enabled us to prove that we could help their children elevate and achieve their goals,” he added.
ARTS OUTREACH PROGRAM
The genesis of their current program originated as T.E.A.C.H. in September 2012. In 2018, we rebranded it as Arts Outreach and expanded our services. Mad Science is an original play written and directed by K. Osei Williams, Executive Director of Asase Yaa. The story is based on the wild adventures of a curious African scientist and his assistant. It initially premiered live at the Kumble Theater, Brooklyn, NY, in 2014. Our program has been consistently active over the past 16 years.
This past season, their Arts Outreach Program served 26 public and charter elementary, middle, and high schools within New York City. We are excited about launching a more robust and exciting program for the 2025-26 school year in support of the 25th Anniversary of the Asase Yaa Cultural Foundation.
Meet us
EXECUTIVES & STAFF
Yao Ababio
KOFI OSEI WILLIAMS
Executive Director, Co-Founder, School of the Arts
Zakiya Harris
Co-Founder and Artistic Director, School of the Arts
Rubie Inez Williams
Director of Operations
Renee Smith
Managing Director
PLATFORM FOR ALUMNI TO PURSUE ENTERTAINMENT CAREERS
Asase Yaa has been a fertile ground for developing youth who had never danced before when they started, to launching thriving careers in the entertainment industry. One such dancer toured with superstars such as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Drake, and Sean Paul. Several of our alumni have earned college degrees in Theater at notable colleges and universities. A couple of their dancers were part of Block Entertainment, which places dancers with major artists for full tours, fill-ins, or an artist’s major event. They remain proud to have cultivated their talents and helped them grow to a level where they can succeed in the performing arts.
In addition, they have sustained long-term connections to the Alvin Ailey American Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Harlem School of the Arts. The Asase Yaa Foundation is proud to carry the torch for Brooklyn’s long-standing history as a major hub of culture in New York, from visual arts, music, and literature to dance. Being in Bedford-Stuyvesant also places them in the realm of timeless legends from Lena Horne and Max Roach to Spike Lee to Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z, who grew up in there.
Asase Yaa’s School of the Arts not only teaches African and African Diasporic Dance and Drumming, but our curriculum also includes teaching African history, musical instrument performance, musical theater, and acting.
