Dale Monnin

Dale Monnin is a founding member of the Drum Cafe in the USA. With a lifelong passion for drums, Dale realized a dream with this opportunity to meld his professional experience with the art of drumming to drive organizational health. With an MBA in International Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Dale spent the first half of his career working for Fortune 100 firm IBM, as well as other top global technology firms Parametric Technology (PTC) and NCR Corp. His role as Seller and Sales Leader for these corporate organizations serves him well as he works with Drum Cafe clients to co-create value-based programs that drive towards very specific outcomes, chief among them being Change Leadership/Management and high-performance Teamwork.  An avid traveler personally as well, his adventures have taken him through over 150 cities in more than 50 countries with Antarctica being the only Continent yet to have set his feet upon (as of now, he says!) Now, after 16 years of leading the Drum Cafe, Dale claims over 1,000 organizations as customers, having touched well over a million attendees…and growing.

Mpho Rasenyalo

Mpho is the lead facilitator of Drum Cafe Johannesburg. Born in Soweto Mpho Rasenyalo is the Drum Café’s lead facilitator and has been with Drumstruck since 2005. She is an outstanding all round performer, she is South Africa’s best female djembe player, she has her own marimba band called Basadi and she is also a qualified traditional healer. She has toured with Drumstruck in Japan and China and was a cast member for the year and a half run of Drumstruck on Off-Broadway’s Dodgers Stages now known as New World Stages. Mpho has a unique gift of uniting and leading an audience.

Bronwyn Dillon

Bronwyn, born and raised in South Africa, graduated from UNISA after completing a BCom degree and joined the Drum Cafe Johannesburg team in 2001.
Bronwyn  has been with the team ever since and manages Drum Cafe International as well as Drumstruck and is an integral part of the organisation. With a passion for uniting and uplifting people from all walks of life and all cultures, Drum Cafe and Drumstruck is the perfect fit. Having organised thousands of events for corporates, schools and non profit organizations both locally and internationally, being organised is an assist that Bronwyn embraces.

Munkie Ncapayi

Ncapayi has been drumming since the age of 7 and for the most part he is self-taught. His natural talent of drumming and percussion has made him a very successful Master Drummer and has played for a wide variety of Dance Companies, bands and solo performances throughout South Africa, Canada and Europe and is the star performer for the Drum Cafe theater production –

Munkie is regarded as one of South Africa’s top ethnic drummers as well as one of the best drum teachers in South Africa. As a master percussionist Munkie has toured Amsterdam, Germany, Austria, Italy and Canada.

Warren Lieberman

Warren Lieberman (Top Left) with the cast of Drumstruck and Dolly Parton. Warren has a BSc Physics and Applied Maths  BSc Honors in Electrical Engineering and has a Completed conversion course to BCom. Warren started the Drum Cafe from his home in 1997. During the past few years, the Drum Cafe has performed at the corporate functions of nearly every major company in South Africa. In 2001 Warren wrote Drumstruck, a world renown Broadway show.

His work at the Drum Cafe has instigated a shift in business practice from that which is centred on the individual to that which is centered on the group community.

Larry Lok

Larry Lok is the program and marketing director for Drum Café Taiwan. He is a leading communication professional with 15 years of management experience. Larry has facilitated for the world’s largest companies, including: Apple, Samsung, Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft. As a Director for Drum Cafe Asia, his expertise covers teambuildings, conferences, learning & development, event management, goal setting, business planning and consulting. He has extensive international experience, having worked with leading clients in Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Korea. He has presented and organized over 100 events for audiences of up to 15,000 people. He has worked with top CEOs to prominent leaders. He is a speaker, facilitator, trainer and presenter for the Drum Cafe, the world’s leader in interactive teambuilding & training with over 20 offices globally.

Aviva Nash

Aviva Nash is a founding member of Drum Cafe in the USA.  Born and bred in South Africa, Aviva graduated from theater school in London, and moved to Manhattan, fulfilling a lifelong dream to live and work in New York City.  As an actor, Aviva worked in theater, spoken word, and video. For the last 16 years, Aviva has led Drum Cafe as a woman-owned business and counts many of the strongest brands in the world as her clients, including Google, Johnson & Johnson, Jeep and GE.  As a facilitator, Aviva inspires authentic connection, ignites potential, and expands pathways for collaboration and leadership.  She has worked with groups ranging from 5 to 5,000 people, across all sectors including corporate, non-profit and entertainment.  Having lived on four continents, Aviva brings a broad multi-cultural perspective with adaptive skills to the boardroom and stage.  Aviva is also a mother, and a storyteller.

Brett Schlesinger

Brett Schlesinger has a Bachelors in Arts English and Psychology, University of Witwatersrand
Bachelor of Music Therapy, University of Cape Town.
He has been a drum circle facilitator for 14 years and has been drumming for 35 years.His work has taken him across all aspects of drumming from performance drumming to music therapy and finally to interactive sessions for business. Having facilitated over 2000 events in 30 countries, he brings a wealth of experience in group energy to Drum Cafe

Amit Dhuri

Amit has been associated with Drum Cafe, conducting interactive team building sessions for the past 12 years. Ex Endorsee- Meinl Percussions, Amit has performed for the biggest corporate organisations over the years and also for massive events like IPL, ISL, all over India, South Africa, Dubai, Thailand & Sri Lanka. Amit has been associated with Zee Tv(Sa Re Ga Ma Pa), MTV(Sound Tripping) and has performed at festivals like Channel V India Fest, Dumru Festival, and many more. Amit studied at Chinai College of Commerce and Economics . He now lives in Luxemborg.

Mariko Hoshiyama

Drum Cafe Japan started in Japan in the city of Sendai in 2009 by the current CEO Mariko Hoshiyama. In 2014 Drum Cafe Japan’s main office moved to Tokyo but our operations in Sendai still continue mainly through Drum Cafe Japan NPO which focuses more on schools and communities devastated by the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami which hit the Tohoku region on March 11th 2011.

Drum Cafe Japan, just like all the other Drum Cafe branches around the world, provides universal team building skills and maximizes companies’ potential and values through unique programs created by some of the world’s most prominent academics, consultants and phychologists in collaboration with Drum Cafe. In Japan we work with numerous international and national corporations, embassies, schools non-profit and government organisatons but mostly focus on corporate team building for corporations listed on the Fortune 500 index.

Natalie Spiro

Dr Vinod Hasal

Dr. Vinod Hasal has won several awards in India like the Menaka Trophy for the best dancer of Maharashtra, First Place in Classical Kathak at the Inter-Collegiate Competition conducted by the University of Bombay as part of 22nd Annual Youth Festival ,First Place in Mood Indigo 1989 an annual youth cultural festival of IIT Bombay,First Place in Malhar 1986 an Inter-Collegiate Youth Cultural Festival and many many more in India before leaving for South Africa in 1991. Dr. Vinod Hasal has performed for former presidents of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, Mr. Thabo Mbeki and the current President Mr. Zuma several times. Dr. Vinod won the prestigious, “Hind-Ratna” award from the President of India. Mr Abdul Kalam Azad in the year “2002”. Dr. Hasal himself and his family have been involved in performing for the last nine generations, teaching and propagating Indian Classical Kathak dancing world-wide. Dr. Vinod and Aliya Hasal run Drum Cafe India, with 5000 drums and counting. Drum Cafe in India is the biggest drumming company in Asia.

Patrick Tromp

Patrick Tromp is geboren en getogen in Nederland. Patrick houdt van muziek, vooral van de opzwepende Afrikaanse ritmes. Hij volgde diverse percussielessen van zowel Nederlandse als Afrikaanse leraren en in 1995 vertrok hij voor het eerst naar het Afrikaanse continent.
Daar verpande hij zijn hart aan Senegal, een van de muzikaalste landen van Afrika.
Hij kwam terug met twintig trommels en ging zelf les geven. Inmiddels heeft Patrick een uitgebreide collectie drums en andere instrumenten, onder andere verzameld tijdens zijn reizen naar Senegal.
En is een ervaren leermeester geworden die de Afrikaanse ritmes met passie overdraagt op een eenvoudige en speelse manier. “Of je nu ritmegevoel hebt of niet, iedereen kan muziek maken”, aldus Patrick. Met humor weet hij snel een goed sfeer te scheppen. Het gaat vooral om het genieten van het muziek maken en het gevoel van verbondenheid wat vanzelf ontstaat als je met elkaar aan het trommelen slaat. In samenwerking met Afrikaanse artiesten verzorgt Patrick sessies voor scholen en bedrijven in Nederland, waarbij deelnemers kennismaken met de Afrikaanse ritmes. Door zelf te trommelen! Sinds 2008 is hij aangesloten bij Drum Cafe, een internationale organisatie die interactieve drumsessies voor bedrijven en congressen verzorgt en innovator op het gebied van het integreren van ritme als onderdeel van: saamhorigheid, inspiratie, energie en plezier. Patrick vertegenwoordigt met zijn team de Benelux, maar heeft ook sessies gegeven in Oostenrijk, Hongarije, Luxemburg, Frankrijk, Spanje, Portugal, Italië en Japan.
Hij werkt graag internationaal en met grote groepen, maar vindt het ook belangrijk om kleinschalig in eigen land te opereren. Zo organiseert hij al meer dan twintig jaar wekelijkse lessen in kleine kring in de basistechnieken van het Afrikaans drummen.

Matthias Jackal

Matthias Jackel is a German based musician, coach, author, international keynote speaker and trainer, heading Drum Cafe in Germany, Swiss and Austria since 2004. Grown up in a professional music family, he started his own musical career at age 8 playing piano and drums. He’s a graduated electronic engineer from the University of applied sciences in Darmstadt, Germany, and started an international management career before joining the Drum Cafe team, gaining major business experience as software development, consulting and human resources manager. He applied the Drum Cafe concept to the German speaking market to combine drumming effects with corporate transformational needs. In 2014 he founded the consulting firm “andante communications” which was incorporated to Drum Cafe Germany in 2018 under the name of Drum Cafe Academy. With the Academy services Matthias Jackel is specialised in seminar and coaching programs using Drum Cafe as the door opening method for connecting people and driving transformational change. In late 2018 he published his book “THE CONNECTION PHENOMENON – The Art of doing what you NEED, not what you WANT” internationally, showing how we can use learnings from the drumming experience to reconnect with our inner nature and develop into connection ambassadors helping others to make better decisions for a sustainable live. He’s an MIT U-lab facilitator and uses all his experience from business, education and a million people who he’s been drumming with for global peace-work and fundamental change.

Jo-Ann Radus

Jo-Ann Graduated with a Masters degree in Industrial Social Work. Jo-Ann was awarded the Anglo Alpha medal for outstanding practice in the field of corporate wellness. As a founding member of Drum Cafe, she joined the South African based company just after its inception almost 20 years ago. Jo-Ann came to the USA in 2002 to share her Drum Cafe experiences with American audiences. Jo-Ann’s extensive work in the field of mental health and wellness coupled with her passion for movement and music combine to create powerful programs. She shares her insight and knowledge around the importance of collaboration and teamwork for organizational success and her work empowers and inspires audiences to unprecedented levels!

Jo-Ann has worked with hundreds of thousands of people across the globe in verticals such as high-tech, health, government, transportation, hospitality, education, finance, media, and telecommunications and counts some of the strongest brands in the world amongst her clientele. Jo-Ann and her work with the Drum Cafe has been featured on major media outlets including CNN Headline News, CNN Espanol, Good Day Atlanta, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation

Danny Aaron

Danny Aaron graduated from GP Vanier, Courtenay, BC Graduated from King David Victory Park Born in South Africa emigrated to Canada in 1979. Danny spent 10 years primarily in the ski industry specializing in athlete development coaching ski teams in Whistler and around BC. After which he ran several successful businesses including a Nando’s and 50 impotence clinics. In 2001, Danny moved back to South Africa, where he marketed the Drum Cafe theater production – “Drumstruck” to the international market, before turning the very successful Drum Cafe organization into an international franchise. Danny now heads Drum Cafe Canada

Chris O’Neil

Chris O’Neil has a bachelor of Music in Performance Percussion at the University of British Columbia
Percussion studies at Cambrian College
Principal Percussionist for Sudbury Symphony Orchestra
Percussionist for Okanagan Symphony, the Burnaby Symphony and the Vancouver Island Symphony. Chris has been an accompanist for Sudbury based,”Earthdancers”a youth-directed contemporary/modern dance company, which in turn led him to compose percussion music in collaboration  with dancers from Toronto Dance Theatre. In Vancouver, Chris has become an integral part of Vancouver’s African drum community where he has performed with Fana Soro’s “Masabo Culture Company” and plays the djembe solo in Fana’s African dance classes. Chris was invited to play djembe at the World Rhythm Festival in Seattle with Pepe Danza and the Rhythm Fools. Chris also plays percussion for Pepe Danza’s, Latin Jazz Band, El Sur. Chris now heads up the Drum Cafe in Toronto.

Richard Carter

Richard Carter, known as “Manos de Fuego” or “Malume” (“Uncle”), graduated from the Cape Town University with a BA in Performing Arts in 1979, majoring in Theatre Performance and Fine Art History. He studied Tomashevsky mime in Paris, France and spent many years in Europe working as an actor and dancer. Richard has studied and toured with master drummer Adama Drame and Foliba in the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. He has taught percussion extensively and performed with many pop, jazz and African artists. He has collaborated with all of South Africa’s major dance companies and frequently works on the local corporate circuit and as a studio musician. He was a composer and Musical Director of Drumming for the South African hit musical “African Footprint” and works from his own music studio as a producer and composer. He is a founding member of Drumstruck. He has a great love for Latin music and performs regularly as a congasero in a Salsa band. Between tours of Drumstruck he works at Drum Café Johannesburg as a Creative Director and Production manager.