Sidi Mohamed Camara, popularly known as “Joh,” is a dancer, drummer, choreographer, musician, and teaching artist. He was born in Bamako, Mali in West Africa, and from the age of 5, trained in music and dance from his mother Fanta Kamissoko, a well-known Jali. Jalis, also known as Griots, are highly venerated in their traditional society as skilled oral historians who are not only singers, storytellers, and musicians, but also advisors and mediators. Camara came to the U.S. in 1995 with the renowned guitarist Zani Diabate and Troupe Mande.

Camara is an Associate Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a teaching artist at a number of institutions and schools including Harvard University, Wellesley College and the Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA. His awards include the Mass Cultural Council Artists Fellowship Award in the Traditional Arts, the Mass Cultural Council Traditional Arts Apprentice Award, Nigerian Community of New England Baba Olatunji Award, and the Somerville Arts Council Fellowship.

Joh Camara was chief choreographer for Troupe Mande and Troupe Sewa, an international ensemble of dancers and musicians that offer exciting, masterful performances of traditional West African drumming dance. The groups toured throughout West Africa, presented hundreds of shows, and became among the most renowned and competitive West African dance and drumming companies.