Unity II: Afro, Semba, Kizomba, Konpa,

About the event

“Unity” is meant to bring together dancers and community from dance styles connected to the African diaspora in the Pacific Northwest through classes, shared meals, and music. Last year we had classes for Semba, Ndombolo, West African drumming with Djembes, and Afro-Dancehall. This year will be focused on Kizomba/Semba (Angolan partner dance), Konpa (Haitian partner dance), Amapiano (South African dance), West African Dance and singing.

The aim is always to have the lineup be minimum 75% POC sharing cultures they are connected to, and this year, the lineup is also 100% women. On the Friday night there is a shared dinner of Ethiopian food, and on Saturday and Sunday there are classes all day for different dance styles, music, facilitated community conversations and a party as well. The event will be March 20-22, 2026. We have vendors join us to share clothing and food by black local businesses, and visitors come to join us from across Canada and the US. 

Why should you sponsor?

Collective Events is a women-led, local organization whose main focus is to create events, classes, workshops & educational opportunities to exchange across cultures using dance, music and food, We have been focused on especially amplifying the voices of POC, women and artists across North America, and now we’re looking for sponsors to help us grow and expand the vision and who we can support in return. 

We would love to share businesses who support culture and community and drive business to these groups. In person shoutouts, logos on the website and promotional materials, an opening to offer discounts and incentives to our community and tickets to join us at the event are just some ways we can halp to share and support our sponsors!

Lena Deschner

My name is Lena and I am the owner of Collective events. I have been working in the dance scene for almost 10 years, teaching and travelling to teach. In the past 4 years, I have started to run successful events that have lead me to realize a dream of event planning through "Collective Events" and our annual anchor event "Unity".

Knowing the ins and outs of events from a participant, artist/teacher and organzier perspective means that I can see problems and windows of opportunity and growth from many perspectives and before they arrive. Having grown up supporting the family business of artist retreats and hosting alongside my mother, I feel that I have been preparing all my life for this work, and a diploma in Digital Marketing after my bachelors and experience in web design and SEO has also been immensely helpful in creating what we see today. 

Being born in Germany and growing up split between there and Canada as a dual citizen, I did not grow up in African dance, and believe that this fusion of experiences and my own journey of learning can help me be a bridge across demographics. My dance partner and I have invested enormous amounts of time to engage with and learn about other cultures (primarily Angolan as we mainly teach Kizomba, but many other related styles within the African Diaspora) and I have a strong belief in healing colonial wounds through the sharing of culture.

With collective events I put the teachers and leaders coming from the represented cultures at the forefront, creating a platform for them to reach more people without changing their content to fit in. I believe that Collective Events can make meaningful and lasting change in a difficult and divided world, and I would love your support to do it. 

Contact the Organizer Contact the Organizer