BWW Reviews: Brooklyn Academy of Music's 36th Season of DanceAfrica - Embodies Intricate Paths of Tradition and Change

There is something innately difficult, even contrary, about applying prescribed, Western appraisal to African dance. The usual formula does not apply, and the expertise - or license to be critical - is generally not there.

As a choreographer and movement researcher, I have spent some time in Ghana, West Africa studying traditional dance and drumming, and also teaching contemporary dance. Although I am admittedly far from proficient in the intricacies of the expansive collection of cultures and expressions that we have categorized as African dance, I am acutely aware of the challenge of blending the formalization of Western performing arts with the spontaneous, inclusiveness of traditional African dance, drumming, art, and song.

The Harambee Dance Company from the Bronx opened the performance, and their musicians gamely beckoned the audience into the theater with a jazzy, soul-inspired beat. Audience members stood to greet one another, many revealing stunning, traditional outfits, perfectly pressed and ornately designed. There was a tangible sense of regal elegance coupled with a hominess that was refreshing.

Spiritual by nature, the memorial that followed the welcoming ceremony was more of a beautiful spectacle with candles and gauzy, white costumes than an experience reflecting reverence and remembrance. The recorded narration that accompanied the experience was theatrical, and left me craving sincerity.

Giwayen Mata, an international group of women based in Atlanta, Gerogria, captured the genuineness that I craved. Fearless and innovative, Giwayen Mata seamlessly weaves tradition with the present. Rhythms and movements that can be directly traced to their various African origins inform their performance, but the variations on themes portray women in relationship with the contemporary world. Collectively radiating wisdom and nurturing strength, it is obvious why Giwayen Mata's has chosen this name. A term of Nigerian origin, giwayen mata translates as "elephant women."

While I was hardly ready to let them go, the women of Giwayen Mata graciously set the stage for the festival's guests from Zimbabwe, Umkhathi Theatre Works. Processing into the performance space in silhouette, the dancers created a caravan resembling four-legged animals, while others rode on their backs or walked astride them. This set an intentional, but not contrived, scene and a rhythm that was silent but felt by all, as simple as a heartbeat. Suddenly, as if to begin before the stage could be fully lit, the stage lights opened and the dancers burst from their caravan into full-bodied, full-volume performance. Umkhathi Theatre Works guided the audience through four traditional dances Isitshikitsha, Chinyambera, Muchongoyo, and Setapa, stopping only for the onlookers to catch up. Their energy was raw and unbridled, but their execution immaculately precise as they worked different rhythms in each part of their bodies, singing in beautiful harmony, drumming, stomping, clapping, and blowing whistles. All the while they smiled, even teased the audience, making it obvious that we had not seen anything yet. The Umkhathi performers took me away from my seat, out of the theater, out of Brooklyn, and transported me with a voracious appetite for more to a tantalizingly unconstrained world where dance and song seem to be a constant, integral part of each day.

The Brooklyn Academy Of Music, with its distinctive ability to create and house transformative performance experiences, is the most ideal venue for a performance with the magnitude of DanceAfrica. True to tradition, the experience began as soon as I left the subway station and continued until I had made my trip home. Tents with vendors selling traditional and African-inspired goods filled the closed streets. Friends and families splashed vibrant colors of alert fabrics across the steps of the building. Everyone gathered, regardless of race or origin, was invited and involved in the experience, and the promptness of New York City seemed to be momentarily soothed with a sense of eagerness to just enjoy an unaffectedness moment of celebration.

To post a comment, you must register and login.