Ecole des Sables is located in Toubab Dialaw, a fishing village about 53 kilometers South of Dakar/Senegal, next to a laguna between the ocean and the savannah. Ecole des Sables, is an International Centre for Traditional and Contemporary African dances, also a school for theoretical and practical teaching, a laboratory for research, and a space for meetings and exchanges, conferences and artistic residences. The school is dedicated to professional training for dancers from all over Africa in traditional and contemporary African dances. Its objectives are to professionalize African dancers, allow them to be able to live from their art, encourage communication and collaboration between dancers, choreographers and companies from Africa and with the rest of the world; in short, to develop and promote contemporary African dance. Since 1998, school regularly organizes professional training workshops gathering dancers and choreographers from Africa, the African Diaspora and all over the world. It was created in 1998 by Germaine Acogny, considered as the Mother of Contemporary African Dance, and her husband Helmut Vogt. Germaine Acogny, former director of Mudra Afrique (1977-1982), a panafrican school founded by Leopold Sedar Senghor and Maurice Bejart, with the objective to give a professional education to African dancers and citizens to make them become responsible and autonomous through the art. The Centre is equipped with 2 dance spaces (400 m2 and 280 m2), 24 bungalows for accommodation, a restaurant, a conference room and an infirmary.