TACA Bantaba

TACA’s Founder/Executive Director Rita Addico Cohen began performing as a Traditional Ghanaian Dancer and singer at the age of 4 in her hometown of Accra, Ghana. Beginning in college, she has performed as a professional musical theatre/opera singer from New York all the way down to Texas, including having sung with Virginia Opera; and toured with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra in the title role of Treemonisha.

Mrs. Addico Cohen has been a licensed Zumba® Instructor since 2009. The Zumba Home Office selected her to become a Zumba® Jammer in 2013, presenting Choreography workshops to other instructors nationally and internationally, and was a Presenter at the 2018 & 2019 (and 2020, before it was canceled because of the Pandemic) Zumba Instructor Convention in Orlando. Her exuberant and joyful personality and teaching style have taken her to schools, fitness centers, and Dance studios all across the country, as well to France. She has also created, and presented I <3 Afrobeats Workshops in Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia since 2016.

A fluent speaker of 10 languages and a lifelong dancer trained in many international Dance formats, Mrs. Addico Cohen has combined her linguistic and artistic abilities to create a dance based three tier African Cultural Education program that she has been presenting since 2015 for: K-5/Family; Middle School; and High School & Above levels. They are now being offered through the Virginia Commission for the Arts, where she (TACA) is on the Teaching Artists Roster. They can all be offered virtually, as well as in person.

A graduate of the Norfolk Academy, Mrs. Addico Cohen holds a BA in Classical Music from UVA; and a Master of Music in Classical Voice Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. She and her ODU/Hampton U. professor husband Andrew reside in Virginia Beach, where they are enjoying life as brand-new empty nesters.