Albert Mawere Opoku

Ghanaian choreographer, dancer, artist, and educator, was born on 13 November 1915 into a royal family of the Akan in central Ghana.

After studying Fine Arts and Painting at the Achimota Special Arts Teachers School, he moved to London where he trained at Camberwell College of Art (1944) and later at Central School of Arts & Crafts, gaining his diploma in 1953.

Opoku also read courses in Labanotation, Stage Craft, and Dance Techniques at the Juilliard School and the Martha Graham School in New York.

Between 1952 and 1957, Opoku taught wood engraving at the School of Art, Kumasi College of Technology, now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Opoku was one of the founders of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble.

In 1975, he received the Grand Medal (Civil Division) from the Ghanaian government for his service to the nation.