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Lainie Towell is The Sufi Girl. Based in Ottawa Canada, she works as an independent dance artist. Lainie is captivated with Guinean Ballet and has traveled to Guineé Conakry to study dance on several occasions with Le Troupe Gbassikolo de Kaloum.
Lainie first met her master, dancer and choreographer Fodé Bamba Camara (National Ballet Djoliba and Le Troupe Gbassikolo) in Ottawa Canada during the 2001 International Jeux de la Francophonies. By coincidence, (or is it destiny?) the two met again in Conakry in 2004, and decided to begin working together. Over the past few years, Lainie and Bamba have developed an incredible relationship based on respect, humor, friendship, and of course a love for dance. Lainie has also trained in Conakry with Guinean dancers’ Salé Keita (Gbassikolo), and Mabinty Bangoura (Ballet Djoliba, Ballets Africains, and wife of internationally renowned Drum Master Aboubacar Fatouabou Camara), and has studied Improvisation and Indian Classical dance in Ottawa.
Lainie’s interest in Guinean ballet has led her towards an inquiry on how the dance transforms when it’s taken out of its traditional context. She has coined this phenomenon as “the immigration of dance,” and continues focusing her dance research in this innovative area.
Along with her interest in Guinean dance, Lainie has choreographed and presented contemporary performance pieces in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. She teaches Guinean ballet and presents other artists’ as teachers and performers in Ottawa, while working as a dance administrator and publicist for Le Groupe Dance Lab- a center for choreographic research and development.
When she is not occupied with the world of dance, Lainie enjoys talking…blah blah blah, likes drinking good coffee and painting abstract canvases. She has shown her work in Ottawa at Memories Café, The Mercury Lounge, The Body Shop, and was featured in Ottawa Life Magazine. Lainie holds a degree in Art History.