Iddrisu Saaka

Iddrisu Saaka is an award-winning West African dance and music performance artist and teacher who specializes in Ghanaian dance and music as well as contemporary dance. Saaka holds a Diploma (with distinction) from the University of Ghana and an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has performed and taught nationally and internationally in several venues including Los Angeles, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, Florida, Israel, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. In 2003, he performed for the president of Israel. He has created original multifaceted works that address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ghana and Malawi and has worked with youths in detention centers across Connecticut as well as with physically challenged youth in Israel, using dance and music to equip them with lifelong skills such as anger management, respect for cultural diversity, and self-dignity. Saaka has also served as visiting instructor of Dance at Connecticut College, the University of California, Los Angeles and San Diego, and the University of Ghana. He is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Wesleyan University and a recipient of Wesleyan’s prestigious Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching award in 2018.