Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The 2018 edition of BAM’s DANCEAFRICA was a rousing celebration of community and heritage

• By drediman
• May 30, 2018
• No Comments

Ingoma KwaZulu-Natal Dance Company performing at DanceAfrica 2018 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
credit Julieta Cervantes

This past holiday weekend, I attended the opening night performance of the 2018 edition of DanceAfrica at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This was my first exposure to the annual Brooklyn event, which is now celebrating its 41^st landmark year. By all accounts, it was a rousing event. The first thing that caught my attention as I approached BAM’s Opera House was the sense of excitement in the air. This was a community eager to engage in their culture and heritage. It’s a sense that continued through the course of the entertaining – often exhilarating – evening, which was emceed by DanceAfrica’s colorful artistic director and charismatic spokesman, Baba Abdel R. Salaam.

As for the choreography, we’ve seen much of it before. But it’s the attitude and joy with which the dances were performed that caused me to lean forward. For the 2018 program, there were two companies on primary display – Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre from South Africa and the Ingoma Kwazulu-Natal Dance Company (the latter was formed especially for DanceAfrica 2018). First up, however, was a prelude, a dance memorial of sorts, honoring important black leaders, past and present (e.g., X, King, Mandela). Next up was the introspective, spiritual “Umsuka”, which was soulfully danced by Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre. The rest of the evening, as danced by the Ingoma Kwazulu-Natal Dance Company, registered on a more exuberant level. The mostly-young dancers threw themselves into their performances, their energy undeniably infectious. For me, however, the most moving things to watch was the group of community elders, sitting down in the front rows and clothed in traditional African garb, interacting with their youthful counterparts on stage.

And the celebration didn’t stop there. Indeed, according to a friend of mine, DanceAfrica is an event that’s not limited to the confines of BAM. DanceAfrica is an all-weekend affair that literally spills out onto the streets of Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood in a wave joyful noise and movement.

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DANCEAFRICA 2018
Dance
The Brooklyn Academy of Music
2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
Closed