Makeda Voletta

About me:

I am a 27 year old female of African and Native American descent. I was born and raised in Harlem/Washington Heights, NYC but I am currently a resident of Brooklyn, NYC. I grew up 5 blocks away from the Audobon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assasinated and I was born in the hospital where he died. I grew up in the apartment where the great Renaissance Man, Paul Robeson lived for many years. I grew up on Sugar Hill...above the Polo Grounds where the world famous street ball tournament...The Rucker took place. Yankee Stadium in the S. Bronx was so close that I could see the stadium and hear the games. Harlem is where Marcus Garvey set up his movement. HARLEM!! Harlem is the home of the Harlem Globetrotters, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Harlem Boys Choir, Columbia University, The Apollo...it is THE HOME OF AFRO AMERICAN GREATNESS! Currently, there is a renaissance in Brooklyn and I am in the mix! My favorite places are NEW ORLEANS, the Hawaiian Islands, Manhattan and Brooklyn. My parents are both of African and Native American descent...they descend from St. Augustine and Pensacola, Florida...the land of the Black Seminoles/Afro Seminoles. The Seminole tribe is the only tribe that was never signed a treaty with the US Government...the US Military launched three of the most expensive wars on trying to kill the Seminoles and Black Seminoles of Florida. Now you can find us in Mexico, Texas, The Bahamas and scattered throughout America. My mom's Seminole father fought as far up as Western Pennyslvania. I am very proud of my Black and Red ancestory. The Red and Black people of Florida fought to the death. My people are still owed, the red men and women had were raped of their land, identity and culture. The black men and women were ripped from their land, identity and culture and made to work for FREE for hundreds of years. I have family members who faught in the revolutionary war in this country. But like Fredrick Douglass said in his great Fourth of July speech...the Fourth of July is NOT MY HOLIDAY! I could never understand why colored people celebrate it because it has nothing to do with us...slavery didn't end to damn near 100yrs later and after that we endured 100years of a legal caste system. So you won't see me saluting no flags or singing no national anthems. My mother is a well known and respected labor organizer and my dad is a journalist and professor who was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. In case you didn't know...the Black Seminoles were some of the best organizers and fighters. So I guess my warrior spirit runs in my blood. RBG! FOR THE RED WOMAN, BLACK WOMAN AND THE GREEN FERTILE LAND OF OUR MOTHER. The history of many Native Americans and Africans in the Americas has been suppressed in order to survive. There is lost history that can never be retained in it's fullness, but it will return to us in pieces as it is needed as medicine for our Great Mother Earth and the good organisms who inhabit her. It return to us through the Goddesses and Gods that work through it's human vessels and the spirits of the trees, rocks, animals, insects, mountains, water and all other natural elements and vibrations. In the book "Black Indians -- A Hidden Heritage", scholar Loren William Katz writes, "Conspicuous by its neglect is the relationship on this soil between red and black people. In 1920 historian Carter G. Woodson called it "one of the longest unwritten chapters in the history of the United States." He wondered if Africans did not find "among Indians one of their means to escape" from slavery...Black Indians like other Afro Americans, have been treated by writers of history as invisible. Their contributions were denied or handed to others....It is not that US chroniclers of the past have failed to see a Black Indian heritage through the eyes of nonwhites, for that is understandable. Almost all were white. What is unforgivable is that some have insisted on seeing past events through the eyes of a slaveholding and Indian-killing class that has been dead for a century or more. But omission, not distortion, is the far more serious culprit in hiding the story of the Black Indians of the Americas. Observers, not expecting to find Africans among Indians, did not report their presence." I am a lover, fighter and peaceful warrior. I have returned to this Earth Plane to complete a VERY SERIOUS MISSION. Perhaps that is the reason why MySpace deletes my page every month. I'm not trying to be a threat but I know that I am. I am not a hater and I don't like nasty, hateful energy. Jealousy and hate is a pointless emotion to me. I believe that people should focus on their own growth. We all have things we can improve about ourself and if we stay focused on our progress we will help the progress of our people and all peoples who inhabit this Earth. Each one of us are our own mini universe. We are are a microcosm of the macrocosm. So if our great Mother Earth is off balance than then there is no way we can be completely balanced. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sports Science with a concentration in Strength and Conditioning and a minor in Nutrition from the University of Delaware. I am currently a Master of Science student at Columbia University in Applied Physiology and Nutrition. I decided to take a couple of years off to focus on my business. I am the founder and CEO of a small holistic fitness and nutrition education company called ART + SCIENCE, LLC (WWW.ELITEARTANDSCIENCE.COM) I competed in collegiate division I track and in high school my main sport was basketball. I also have experience with fencing with the great Peter Westbrook foundation, softball with the Harlem Little League and Soccer. Currently, I am getting into tennis and I have a serious calling for beach volleyball. I am a master at running fast, changing direction and jumping. I am 5'8" with arms of a 6 foot dude. I am also a trained dancer. I have been dancing for 21 years. My dancing career began at the Dance Theater of Harlem where I studied classical ballet and tap for about 8 yrs. At this time I am emerged in black dance from the Americas. I dance for a New York based Congolese dance company called FUSHA DANCE COMPANY and I danced with a Haitian folklore company called MIKERLINE'S DANCE COMPANY for a year. More recently, I began to train with HAITIDANSCO and I am studying Bomba Y Plena Percussion and Dance with the legendary Los Pleneros de 21. The DRUM is my favorite instrument. Thus far I have 5 drums. My Haitian Petwo drum, and Haitian Mama drum, a little Conga drum, a Congolese Engoma drum and two djembes. My next to drums are going to be a Barrile (used in Bomba) and a frame drum, I am also VERY interested in studying Afro Cuban and Afro Brazillian drumming. I am a very serious student of Haitian drumming with the great drummer and teacher Peniel who teaches at Djoniba and Alvin Ailey in NYC. I am also a dedicated student of Congolese dance with the wonderful Fumilayo who also teaches at Djoniba dance studio and Alivin Ailey amongst other schools. Most of the popular dances of the African diaspora derive from the Congo...this includes, samba, meringue, salsa, dancehall, soca, calypso, breakin', capoeira and even the way James Brown dances. I was also a dancer on the Reggae Gold 2006 DVD. I choreograph hip hop, salsa, meringue, bachata, cumbia, samba, dancehall/reggae and r&b. I study various dances from the african diaspora including the rumba complex from cuba, bomba from puerto rico, capoeira angola (which is the authentic african shyt)and dunham technique. I am on a mission to learn as many dances in the Americas that has been touched by Africans as my body can retain. These dances have not been documented well. Often times we are at the mercy of th evil, confused and wicked European settlers who colonized the Americas. They had no idea what they were looking at and whether you read primary documents from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, New Orleans or Brazil they constantly say that the Africans dance too sexual. There are many statements about the use of the black bootie in dance and too many times it is negative. Today, many common folk complain about "that girl over there shakin' her a@$". In the book "The Black Dancing Body -- A Geography from Coon to Cool", author Brenda Dixon Gottschild writes that, "The positive or negative male fixation on the female backside seems to be a given (at least in Europeanist and Africanist cultures), regardless of era or ethnicity. The buttocks are a secondary-in for what they hide-the labia, the vagina. As sexualized as other characteristics may be-from feet and legs,to hair and skin, and most of all, breasts- the butt is the sentinel standing guard over the hidden treasure. It is the back door of sexual encounter and points to renewed cultural interest in anal sex. Yet, just as the female genitals themselves have been regarded alternatively as beautiful or ugly (at least in Europeanist cultures), the buttocks are the contested ground of stigma-cum-seduction. The female butt is part of a gendered discourse, with sexually charged energy surrounding the female fanny in general and the black bottom in particular, not only in dance but also in daily life. Fear and restraint of buttocks power, especially the dancing buttocks, is a fundamental component of Christianity's dialectic on the corporeal capacity for sin. In an essentialist fashion the early church differentiated itself from 'pagan' practice by its radical stance regarding the (dancing) body. Using evidence from cave and pottery art, Jean Luc Henning, in his eloquent and witty volume on the buttocks, traces the use of the rear end as a principal instrument in expressive dance back to Dinoysian feasts." From a kinesiological standpoint, the gluteus maximus generate the most force and power in the body. One can not run fast or jump high without it. It is essential. Glute contractions are much responsible for the tantalizing and hypnotic moves you see in bellydancing. Oh yes, I am also a student of belly dance and ancient Hawaiian Hula. I am all about empowering women...women need to reclaim their power and be in control of their minds, bodies, and sexuality. When the women are off balance, the men will be off balance and so everyone will be off balance. Why? Because Men come from women. Everyone comes from Women...hence MOTHER EARTH and MOTHER NATURE. We do not live on the sun but the sun does provide the seed to fertilize our Great Mother. My body is a vessel...that is being used my the Great Spirit and the various Goddesses who are strongly associated with me. WE ALL COME TO THIS EARTH FOR A REASON. I will be coming out with a calendar for my company ART + SCIENCE which features all artistic nude images and braniac scientific facts about the human body. The calendar will be released on my birthday August, 1st 2008. It will be like nothing that has ever been done before. I was the first born of twins, rough birth with my fists up. Was in the incubator with my fists up and the doctor told my mom "this is going to be a STRONG little girl". My grandmother said I had my fists up every morning upon awakening for the first three years of life. Pay attention to children and what the familiarize themselves with...what comes easy, what they pay attention to. These are items that can give you clues about their past life. I was born on the first of August. The feast day for one of the most ancient Goddesses...Sekhmet. The Lion headed dark Goddess of destruction and sexuality. She was also a physician a very powerful healer. Shakti the Indian Kundalini Goddess descends from Sekhmet. My dad named me Makeda...after the Queen of Sheba. The Warrior Queen from Ethiopia who ruled her QUEENDOM alone. Owned by NO ONE. I do not believe in ownership of people, animals, land, water or air. We should all be able to go as we please and eat from the trees that talk to us. As temporary inhabitants of the Earth it is essential that we walk humbly, lightly and ask for permission. Ask the animals for permission to use their skin for drum heads and their organs for food. We must ask the plants for permission before picking them to eat as food or to make furniture out of it. There is much attention given to killing animals for food and clothes, but we must seek balance in everything. I have never come across a movement that addresses all the paper and wood used for pencils, furniture, magazines, school paper, etc. If we want to address the issues we must look at the full picture and not just pick what supports our personal agenda. Let's all strive to be righteous. Think about the vibrations you send out into the universe.

SENSUAL STRENGTH W/ MAKEDA VOLETT ON BLOGTALK RADIO

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For those of you who are interested in learning more about my SENSUAL STRENGTH class (and the importance of strengthening your sexual organs & cultivating sexual energy) please feel free to listen to this radio show. This was recorded live on May 3rd.