Diaspora Performance Artist

Arnaud Loubayi

Arnaud Loubayi is a dancer and choreographer from Congo-Brazzaville with worldwide teaching and performing experience. In 2006 he started touring internationally with the National Ballet of Congo and Ngoma Za Kongo. Moving to the US in 2011 he founded Gata Bantu, a traditional Congolese dance company based in Santa Cruz, CA. Loubayi teaches regularly in Santa Cruz, the Bay area, and throughout the US, and is currently a partner artist for the cultural non-profit Cheza Nami Foundation. Loubayi has produced the Ha Mbongui African Dance and Drum Conference in Santa Cruz for the past 10 years, and has been a featured choreographer at TWDCC’s Deep Roots Dance Fest in 2022 and 2025.