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Members of the Steamboat Springs African Dance & Drum Ensemble have used master Guinean dance and drum teacher Moustapha Bangoura's instructional DVDs in their classes for years.

They didn't expect Bangoura to contact them about coming to Steamboat Springs to teach a series of workshops about his craft during a Colorado tour.

"He actually heard about us through miscellaneous master teachers," said Dance & Drum Ensemble instructor Nicole Idzahl. "I guess we've really created a name for ourselves, and (the master teachers) are really enjoying coming to our master classes."

Bangoura will lead classes in Guinean-style dance and drumming - and one session that combines the two - Tuesday through Thursday.

Dance and drum classes are at 5:30 and 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday at the Depot Art Center.

A dunun dance class, using large bass drums played with sticks, is 8 p.m. Wednesday in the community room at Bud Werner Memorial Library.

The cost for each class is $15.

Bangoura choreographs his classes and routines in a "ballet style," making it easy for dancers of any experience level to learn the routines, Idzahl said.

"Each dance is very finished and very exact, so when he teaches Americans, he can say exactly what to do, all the way up and through your fingertips," Idzahl said.

Bangoura is a 22-year veteran of Les Ballets Africains, a company that started in Paris in 1952 and has been the national ensemble of the West African nation of Guinea since 1958.

A Chicago resident, Bangoura teaches and tours around the world and is the artistic director for Le Bagatae Dance and Drum Ensemble in Chicago.

Bangoura is "sponsored by the Republic of Guinea's Ministry of Youth and Culture as an official art and culture representative," according to the Steamboat Springs African Dance & Drum Ensemble Web site.

To learn more about Bangoura and the Steamboat Springs African Dance & Drum Ensemble, go to the dance group's page at www.yampa

valley.info.