Sue-Ann Letta Forde
Collaborating Artist, National Gallery of Art Performance

Sue-Ann Letta Forde, dancer and dance instructor, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, moved to Washington, D.C. when she was 8 years old, where her dance training started. During her early years of training, in ballet, modern, tap and jazz, she danced with the Treanna Inspirational Dance Troupe. Sue-Ann later moved on to further her dance training at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In the spring of 1988, Sue-Ann had her first encounter with Assane Konte, and started traditional West African dance training primarily in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and the Gambia that summer. Sue-Ann was a part of the original Kankouran Junior Company. In 1990, after high school, she became a senior company member of Kankouran and pursued degrees in Nutritional Sciences and Health Administration at Howard University and Seton Hall University respectively.

During her 34 years of dance with Kankouran, Sue-Ann became one of the instructors of the Kankouran Junior Company, she also teaches adult dance classes and serves as the Assistant Artistic Director. She has also studied and performed choreography by many noteworthy dancers and choreographers, such as Mariama Basse, Sherrill Berryman-Johnson, Ronald k. Brown, Mouminatou Camara, Babacar Mbaye, Babacar Niang, Babacar Ndiaye, Djibi Traore, and Marie Basse Wiles. Sue-Ann continues to perform all over the United States, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey with Kankouran.