Bipeds of Brookland: Njambi Wynn

Bipeds of Brookland: Njambi Wynn


Njambi Wynn has taken DC public school students to perform in Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa. “The children loved it. We had a fabulous time. The children stayed with host families.  Living with a family is key. I raised money, I sold t-shirts. I asked everybody I knew, and every day I sold popcorn at lunch. You know you just try to come up with ideas to facilitate the trip.”

Njambi loves dance but “When I went to college there was no such thing as dance as a major, so I had to major in physical education.” While she was a PE teacher, a DC administrator developed a plan to integrate arts into the academic curriculum. “I did the dance movement component and we went into the elementary schools and we would train the teachers how to integrate the art forms.”  Njambi later became the coordinator for the Embassy Adoption Program for DCPS and then for Washington Performing Arts, connecting kids to the embassies in DC.

She studied Yoga in Canada with Swami Vishnudevananda and taught yoga to kids and adults. “In the evenings I would go to UDC and teach twice a week.”  She studied dance in East St. Louis with Catherine Dunham, who revolutionized American dance with Caribbean and African influences, and brought this back to DC. “I’ve been with Dance Place for 35 years I guess.  I started with them when they were in Adams Morgan. I was a member of the dance group and I took classes.” Children loved when she brought dance and yoga into PE class.

Njambi met her husband when she was a student in V.  She connected with him in DC again in 1991 when he was living on boat in Southwest.  They married and came to Brookland in 2001, where they still live.  “I’m happy to be a member of the Garden Club. I just recently joined their board and am in charge of their public pruning projects.

Bipeds of Brookland: A weekly series introducing the people who make Brookland their home, one step at a time.
Article and photo by Tom Sabella.