Muntu Dance Theatre is a Chicago-based company that performs authentic and progressive interpretations of contemporary and ancient African and African-American dance, music and folklore. The Company has existed on the spirit and unbounded energies of its directors, dancers, musicians and staff since 1972 and has achieved an acclaimed reputation for making a consistent artistic statement of cultural and historical significance. A colorful and invigorating professional company, Muntu has brought its audiences into the aisles with its unique synthesis of dance, rhythm and song. The Company has received enthusiastic and critical acclaim not only in Chicago, but also throughout the United States and abroad. The Artistic Director, Amaniyea Payne, is an accomplished performer who has established herself as one of the country's leading and most rewarding choreographers in cultural dance. She has performed throughout the United States, the West Indies and Europe and has provided artistic consultancies and professional services to numerous arts organizations worldwide. It is a requirement of the Company that we research the cultural and historic significance of the dances and the societies from which they originate. In this manner, we are not simply a performing company, but a company of teachers as well - an essential element to the perpetuation of our art form and its accurate transmittal to our audiences. Muntu strives continuously to increase the level of awareness of, and appreciation for African culture in the context of a professional performing art form.