It’s time, and DanceAfrica will not disappoint. On Monday, May 18, it launched a digital series of public programs celebrating the nation’s largest African dance festival and the community that created it and the one that supports it. There will be dance, music and conversations with Baba Abdel R. Salaam, Rennie Harris, Ronald K. Brown, Mikki Shepard, DanceAfrica Elders, and online classes; streams of past performances; FilmAfrica; and more, COVID-19 or no COVID-19.
“DanceAfrica will always find its way to the people,” Salaam recently said while announcing that despite the pandemic, this pioneering cultural celebration will continue to pay tribute to the incredible people who have shaped what for the past 42 years has been a dazzling display of African music, dance, art, film, food and more. Baba Salaam invites everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to take online dance classes, view streams of past performances, listen to interviews with members of the Council of Elders, shop at a virtual bazaar, and enjoy a host of other programs bringing the joy of DanceAfrica to a screen near you, no matter where you are.
To think that it all started back in 1977 when Chuck Davis approached BAM Executive Director Harvey Lichtenstein about his company performing at BAM following the company’s successful appearance at the historical celebration of African culture in Nigeria, called FESTAC. Salaam, who was dancing with Baba Chuck at the time, recalls, “The Chuck Davis Company was riding a certain artistic and cultural high. Chuck went to BAM Executive Director Harvey Lichtenstein and talked about us performing. At first it was just Chuck’s company. But, Chuck saw that many African American companies within the U.S. African dance community understood the connection to who they are and how dance and music reflect our connection to Africa. So he had the great idea that instead of it just being the Chuck Davis Dance Company, we invite the companies in the tri-state area.” The following year, DanceAfrica 1978 presented an amazing roster of companies and that was “the birth of what we know to be the paradigm of programming that reflected how dance and music and rhythm from Africa and the African Diaspora are our means of further solidifying our identity, our connection to the culture, ” Salaam says.
In addition to the inspirational spark generated by the FESTAC experience, Salaam says, the other was the spirit of the Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa—the practice of unity, self-determination, cooperative economics and more. “If you take a look at DanceAfrica, it is a manifestation of the Nguzo Saba. Chuck was a big advocate of the belief that these principles should be practiced every day. Of course, this became one of the biggest African-centered holidays, and if you take a look at the African companies participating, they were practitioners of bringing us together through African dance and music.”
The spirit that sparked this phenomenal cultural celebration continues surmounting hurdles that for others could be roadblocks, says Mikki Shepard, who was at the helm in the beginning.
“To me the word that comes to mind which makes DanceAfrica very special and all encompassing is community.” That means the community of artists, audiences, vendors, stage hands, “everyone who has been a part of that. DanceAfrica really is an anchor in the larger community and at BAM in a way I’ve not seen before. There’s a sense of ownership that this expansive community has,” Shepard says, noting, “This really is a program that is unlike any other.”
Shepard, who has alway known how special DanceAfrica is, says it really hit home one day back in ’77 when, just before DanceAfrica was about to open, the heavens opened up and it was pouring rain. But, when the crush of vendors heard that DanceAfrica objected to the possibility that it could be cancelled because of torrential rains, Shepard said, “Well ok, this will never be cancelled because of rain.”
Asked to address DanceAfrica’s importance from the artistic point of view, Shepard said, “There were so many more companies that existed back then. International Afrikan-American Ballet, Muntu, Arthur Hall’s company from Philadelphia, and companies from all across the country. And, when you think about those first five years in particular, what people don’t actually realize is that it was a community in a way that even though Chuck was the AD he was very generous in spirit in terms of allowing the other ASD of the other companies to take the lead in what the artistic theme would be for a particular year.” Of course, Shepard, who was there from the beginning, has amazing tales to tell, including the one of Alex Haley, author of the bestselling book that inspired the blockbuster television series, who made a surprise appearance to the delight of a mesmerized audience.
That mix is the secret of DanceAfrica’s magic. That magic and the richness of the cultural power can be savored in the online celebration this year, thanks to the amazing BAM team that is determined to keep the spirit and the legacy that DanceAfrica reinforces alive.
Tune in and enjoy this glimpse of the power and the glory of DanceAfrica as it surmounts the hurdle of COVID-19 by celebrating a glorious track record and lays the foundation for the continuation of this amazing celebration. Here is a glimpse of what you’ll be able to enjoy.
DanceAfrica Public Digital Programming includes: May 15-June 15 DanceAfrica Digital Bazaar; May 18, Music and DanceAfrica with Baba Bradley Simmons and Foluso Alamide Mimy; May 20, Contemporary Dance and DanceAfrica with Rennie Harris, Jamel Gaines, and Ronald K. Brown; May 21, FilmAfrica: co-presented by BAM & African Film Festival, Inc; May 22, Bantaba Hip-Hop Dance Class with James “Cricket” Colter; May 25, DanceAfrica, The Early Years with Mikki Shepard; May 26, DanceAfrica and The Council of Elders with Mamma Normadien Woolbright and Baba N’goma Woolbright; May 27, DanceAfrica and The Council of Elders with Mamma Lynette White-Mathews and Baba Bill (William) Mathews; May 28, FilmAfrica: co-presented by BAM & African Film Festival, Inc.; May 28, Education and DanceAfrica with Karen Thornton Daniels, Sabine LaFortune, Coco Killingsworth, and Abdel R. Salaam; May 29, Bantaba West African Dance Class with Karen Thornton Daniels and Farai Malianga; May 29, DanceAfrica Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow with Coco Killingsworth, Charmaine Warren, and Abdel R. Salaam.
Access the programming by going to the BAM website: www.bam.org/danceafrica