Archives for November 2015

FALL MAY BE THE SEASON to enjoy colorful leaves and chilly air, but this November is the time to delight in the color and power of dances from the African diaspora — especially West African dance. If you aren’t familiar with these dances, it’s time to feel the beat. The Bay Area is home to some remarkable talent, mixing both internationally- acclaimed experts from the African continent and locally-grown performers. Driven by rhythmic drumming, dances are often high- energy, with kicks, stomps, and rapid movements that swirl across the stage. Of course, each African nation brings a wide range of regional traditions, instruments, and costumes.

Meet us at the Rotunda

Start your month of African dance on Friday the 6th at San Francisco City Hall, for a free lunchtime performance by Nimely Pan African Dance Company, as part of the Rotunda Dance Series. The company will perform a harvest dance, known as the “Farming Ballet.” This Nigerian dance celebrates the bounty of a rice harvest. Accompanied by a line of drummers, the dance starts with farmers harvesting the grain. Once the bounty is collected, the village rejoices, and celebrates with a grand feast. The celebration dance features different regional masks from Liberia, many of them created by Nimely Napla, the group’s director, master dancer, choreographer, and costume designer.

Napla, a notorious powerhouse of talent, is dedicated to sharing West African cultural arts. Over the weekend of November 5–8, he joins forces with Alseny Soumah of Lahyidi Dance to host the Lahydi Dance Festival at Oakland Technical High School. This four-day event features a series of dance classes and lectures on African cultural arts, including dancing and drumming techniques from Senegal, Guinea, and Liberia. The weekend also includes children’s classes, and a performance by the Nimely Pan African Dance Company, along with a guest artist, children’s troupe, and community dance class participants.

Sit in on the Auditions

Mid-month, World Arts West will hold auditions for the 2016 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival: November 7–8 and 14–15 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in SF. For African dance enthusiasts, it promises to be an exciting mix of performers. This year, five companies are auditioning, including three groups that are new to the festival. Of the groups representing the African Diaspora, three draw upon influences from West African traditions.

World Arts West’s Artistic Director CK Ladzekpo is thrilled to see so many new faces trying out this year, both within the African diaspora, and throughout the program. Of 110 total groups auditioning, 45 are newcomers. Ladzekpo predicts that these groups will bring new energy and fresh work to enliven the proceedings. In his jolly voice, he explains, “The auditions in November are the real festival. This is where we draw the communities together and share diverse traditions. The shows we share in June are a refined version of the auditions.” Of course, with newer performers, some groups benefit from guidance in presenting on a proscenium stage. Ladzekpo tells the dancers, “They cannot teach all of their culture and traditions in a seven-minute dance. They must draw the attention of the audience; they must create an experience that excites people. From there, that will draw the audience into wanting to learn more, to get deeper into the culture and the traditions.” A quick look at the varied African dance groups competing in this year’s festival reveals a compelling mix of styles and influences, sure to engage audiences.

Jikelele South African Dance Theater is one of two African dance groups returning to the World Arts West stage, and also the single participating company demonstrating South African traditions. Co-founded by the world-renowned Artistic Director Thamsanqa Hlatywayo and Associate Director Andrea Vonny Lee, the company performs traditional dance and Township Theater, a form of Black Urban Theater developed during the apartheid era in South Africa. They will be performing Amarasharasha, a two-part piece. Based on traditional South African healing ceremonies, this dance begins with an initiation process to invoke the spirits of the ancestors. Next, the community gathers to participate, teasing out the affected person’s sickness, whether physical, mental, or spiritual. The performance piece is heavily influenced by Hlatywayo’s first-hand experience with healers, or Sangomas, while growing up in South Africa.

Ballet Lisanga, also a veteran performer at the SF Ethnic Dance Festival, is dedicated to the Congolese performance tradition. Artistic Director Renee Puckett founded the company to carry on the legacy of the late Malonga Casquelourd. Ballet Lisanga will perform N’Goma Bakongo, a celebratory dance from the Congo often performed at community events, weddings, and ceremonies to honor the dead. The dance is a friendly competition, wherein soloists step forward to show their best steps. Drummers join the competi- tion, challenging both the dancers and the other musicians, until the dance reaches a frenzy of excitement.

Hailing from the East Bay, Khaley Adouna African Dance & Drum is a collective of performing artists. Led by experienced choreographers Oumou Diamanka and Daniell DeLane, the group will present Wango, a staged dance that celebrates a Toucouleur marriage. The Toucouleur are a subgroup of the Fulani people, originally from Senegal, West Africa. Combining dance, drum, and song, the performance brings audience members through the wedding preparations and after the ceremony, celebrating the purity of the virgin bride and her new union.

Bodac Cultural Group is an international performing arts group that originated in Ghana, West Africa. Their repertoire includes traditional drumming, songs, dancing, and storytelling. The group will present Fume Fume, a ritual and spiritual dance of the Ga people of southern Ghana with spirited drumming and call-and-response singing. This celebratory spiritual tradition has been re-choreographed for the stage by the group’s artistic director and founder, Benjamin Ofori.

Director Tamika Harris brings a fusion dance style to the stage with the group Africa Meets Dancehall. Harris blends Central and West African dance traditions from the Congo, Haiti, Guinea and Senegal, learned from years of intensive study with master artists, and through international travel. Harris has combined these African traditions with modern influences to create dance classes in Oakland. This is her first time translating her unique fusion style into a stage performance.

Celebrate a milestone

Round out your month of African Dance with a milestone celebration: Diamano Coura West African Dance Company’s 40th anniversary. On November 28-29 at Oakland’s Laney College Theater, this influential com- pany celebrates their landmark achievement with the presentation of Sekelati, featuring selections from their repertoire and the debut of a new work, The Forbidden Bush.

Founded by husband-and-wife team Dr. Zakariya Diouf and Naomi Gedo Diouf, Diamano Coura is a local leader in West African dance. The directing partners are each acclaimed dancers, choreographers, and cultural leaders. Together, through Diamano Coura, their influence has spawned a new generation of West African dance leadership, including Khaley Adouna. The group has served the community through free workshops in music and dance, arts-in-education programming, international collaborations and apprenticeships, connecting over 100,000 young people to African arts. The 40th anniversary celebration promises to be a grand celebration of a dynamic and lasting legacy in West African Dance, featuring beautiful songs, bright costumes, and majestic movements performed by past and present company members.

Though many of the performers and choreographers presenting work in November may have roots in West African dance, the array of influences guarantees a wide range of styles and traditions. So spend your month celebrating African performing arts with a truly inspiring set of cultural leaders. These companies each offer a rich depth of knowledge, brought to life with powerful grace and energy. So get out and enjoy!

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This article appeared in the November 2015 issue of In Dance.

EVERY NOVEMBER, Micaya and the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest present its dynamic weekend of performances by artists and companies from around the world, highlighting an incredible range of Hip Hop forms. One festival favorite is the Bay Area’s own Mix’d Ingrdnts, an all female-identified crew led by co-founders Samara Atkins and Jenay “ShinobiJaxx” Anolin. Dancers’ Group interviewed Anolin to learn more about the crew, how it started, and what inspires them.

How did Mix’d Ingrdnts get started?

It all started when I met Samara Atkins at a dance company audition. We both trained as teenagers with New Style Motherlode back in 2008. The idea for our company came from months of conceptualizing ideas together. We felt the need to create something that the Bay Area wasn’t showcasing. That was a collaboration of styles, an all female-identified crew, with a focus on performing. In 2009 I lost my father fairly quick to cancer and was inspired to follow my heart with no time to waste. I said to Samara “Let’s do this!” and Mix’d Ingrdnts began promptly on January 1, 2010.

Where did the name, Mix’d Ingrdnts, come from?

One day we were looking at a flyer for a food event that had a picture of a tongue on it and it had the tastes on there, such as bitter, sweet, salty, and sour. We thought this could be each lady representing a different element of the group. As this idea evolved, we said how bout if we put all of these elements, styles, and things mixed together in a bowl like ingredients, to make good recipe. Thus, Mix’d Ingrdnts was born.

What’s unusual or unique about Mix’d Ingrdnts?

We represent such dynamic styles of dance such as Hip Hop, House, Waacking, Locking, Breaking, Cultural Dance and also have a strong technical background/foundation in dance styles of Ballet, Modern and Jazz. We operate in a male-dominated realm of dance so what’s unusual is that we are such a strong force of women representing street dance in the Bay Area and are recognized for that.

Who is a part of Mix’d Ingrdnts? How do they become part of the group?

The current company is Zoe Muhler, Esme Kundanis-Grow, Shelley Alingas, Marlena Zahm, Desiree Dela Pena, Samara Atkins, and myself. One can become part of the group by either an audition process or by being asked to train and take class from both co-founders for a matter of weeks to then be asked to join the group.

Where does the company perform?

Mix’d Ingrdnts performs at schools in the Bay Area, street festivals, dance conferences, forums, the San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, at our annual show at Laney College, galas, and various other events.

If no one knew anything about Mix’d Ingrdnts, what would you want them to know?

We’d want them to know that we are not just a dance company, but that we are a group that loves to affect social change, uplift our community, and connect with each other, as well as build stronger community with youth and adults. Mix’d Ingrdnts is a sisterhood.

We just created Mini Mix’d, our first official youth dance company for young girls ages 8-17. I wanted to create an opportunity for young ladies to be a part of our movement. They get to perform with us, develop their team building skills and create social change through performance. We have a lovely group of 9 girls that meet with me once a week for 2 hours.

Mix’d Ingrdnts also hosts and enters battles, which is a whole different experience from just performance. It is very challenging because not only are you testing your skill of movement and musicality at the moment, but it is very fun in the end and I feel makes you a stronger dancer.

What has been the most rewarding part of being a part of Mix’d Ingrdnts?

I feel like this whole journey has been such a humbling and priceless learning experience. We have had our fair share of challenges, but through it all, we have grown up. It shows not only in our craft and creativity as individual movers and performers but is also shown in our collective work that impacts the community directly. It is extremely empowering to reflect upon it all.

It is also the bonds made with the women in the company. Like minded people and interconnected souls. The energy passed through one another feels good to walk through the world with.

Tell us about the work you’ll be showing at the SF International Hip Hop DanceFest.

The piece we’ll show at the festival is part of a greater work that we will be showcasing in our annual show focusing on the ways we connect and interconnect with ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and our world. This will be our 4th year performing at the Festival and we’ve constantly topped ourselves every year so we have that to go up against this year. We were also the poster children last year so now that more people know of us, we have some big shoes to fill.

What is it like to perform at the SF International Hip Hop DanceFest?

It’s one of the only Hip Hop shows that is showcased in a theatre. Street dance and Hip Hop is usually done in the street but to bring it to that kind of venue is unlike any Hip Hop performance.

What’s a future goal or dream that you have for Mix’d Ingrdnts?

To continue to inspire youth, women, and the greater community through storytelling, knowledge, and power. To keep creative expression in the form of the traditional way stories used to be passed down and accessible. To keep the heartbeat of the community alive. Oh, and to travel more!

What Hip Hop group(s) are you inspired by?

We are more inspired by music and messages than we are by specific people or groups. We’re constantly inspired by each other when we work together.

Do you have a favorite dance move?

No, I like to dance free.

What haven’t we asked that you want people to know?

We host a weekly Waacking session every Wednesday night at City Dance Studios in San Francisco from 9:30-11pm. It’s open to all. We play disco and funk and it’s a place for people to practice the dance style at their own pace. All we ask is for a $3 donation to help pay for space. (details at mixdi.com)

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This article appeared in the November 2015 issue of In Dance.