Mabiba Baegne was born in Brazzaville in the Congo and was initiated into dance by her grandparents when she was eight years old.



She joined the National Ballet of the Congo at age 18 and toured the world with them as a principal dancer for seven years.



With the help of a UNESCO grant, Mabiba Baegne then went to Paris to study different dance techniques (Martha Graham, Katherine Dunham, etc.) with Matt Mattox. She also studied West African dance (Guinea, Mali and Senegal) during that time



During her European sojourn, from 1979 – 1992, Mabiba Baegne participated in major French dance and music Festivals, toured with Les Grand Ballet d’Afrique Noir and with Bolle Bantu. With Bolle Bantu, she worked as artistic director, choreographer and taught dancing, drumming and singing plus performed with children (from kindergarten through university level) and also with adults.



Mabiba Baegne has worked under the tutelage of Grand Master Djembe players Famoudou Konate and Mamady Keita. Mabiba has toured and performed with both djembe players. She teamed with Mamady in the famous Zig Zag School of African dancing and drumming in Belgium.



As a singer Mabiba Baegne has toured with Salif Keita, Mamady Keita, and Samba Ngo. She appeared on television and radio programs singing with well-known French singer, France Gall. She is a featured singer on Mamady’s first CD (“Wassolon”) and was a member of Sewa Kan.



For many years, Mabiba Baegne has been in high demand as a dance and drumming teacher throughout the United States.



In the United States, Mabiba Baegne has been instrumental in teaching Central and West African dancing and singing. As well as being the first woman to teach traditional West African (Guinea) dununs in the U.S. She was the first woman to produce a dunun training tape here.



Mabiba Baegne has given Master classes at Stanford, San Francisco State, Oregon State, University of Washington (Seattle), UC Santa Cruz, Mills College (Oakland), etc.



Among her US performances, was Mabiba Baegne's role as “Djinga (the King Queen of Angola)” at Brooklyn Academic of Music, in Minneapolis, MN, at the Shakespeare Center in Washington, DC and at Mills College (Oakland).