DanceAfrica 2022 was magnificent

For years African dancers from all over the country and the world have come to Brooklyn’s DanceAfrica over the Memorial weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, affectionately known as BAM. Founded by the late, great Baba Chuck Davies in 1977, it has been a popular annual event which the community has missed for two years due to COVID. 

BAM said, “It is a wonderful festival of dance, music and culture which honors the spirit of the traditional and contemporary companies from its first decade, recognizing their achievements over the years and celebrating the artists who now carry the torch.” Their presser said that the performance featured five different guest companies from Brooklyn, Harlem, the Bronx, and Washington, D.C., each offering a homegrown vision of traditional dances. They have brought to the stage movement and musical styles from Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and the Caribbean, supported by the Arkhestra Afrika, created by members of each company. Plus, the beloved BAM RestorationArt Dance Youth Ensemble marked their 25th anniversary and the DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers’ return! Going 45 years, it was a delighted and proud, African-inspired outfit-wearing crowd who came daily as DanceAfrica celebrated its “bright future and its deep roots.”

From Friday, May 27, to Monday, May 30, audiences flocked to BAM to enjoy performers Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble, LaRocque Bey School of Dance, Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater, Farafina Kan: The Sound of Africa, and the Harambee Dance Company.

And then outside the fun continued; people came from all over the five boroughs, the tri-state, and the country to buy from the many, many vendors. There was delicious food—African, Caribbean, and versions of some soul food. You could buy clothes, jewelry, watches, art, African sculptures and music. There was dancing and drumming outside. It is, as always, a really great community event. Come on back for 2023.