Dance Africa

Dance Africa
Name	Dance Africa
Location	Brooklyn, New York City
Years active	1978–present
Founders	Dr. Dianne McIntyre
Genre	African dance festival; cultural festival

Dance Africa Dance Africa is an annual festival celebrating African dance, music, and cultural traditions through performances, workshops, and community events. Founded in the late 1970s, it brings together artists, troupes, elders, and institutions from across the African diaspora, drawing attendees from Brooklyn Academy of Music, Apollo Theater, and other major venues. The festival functions as a nexus linking practitioners from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States.

History

Dance Africa traces roots to community arts movements in the 1970s and institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, National Endowment for the Arts, and cultural initiatives associated with Black Arts Movement organizations. Early collaborators included choreographers from Ailey School, companies like Dance Theatre of Harlem, and artists affiliated with Stokely Carmichael-era community programs. Over decades, ensembles from Freetown, Dakar, Lagos, Accra, Kingston, and Havana were presented alongside groups from Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Harlem. Key premieres involved artists connected to Katherine Dunham, Germaine Acogny, Alvin Ailey, and Dianne McIntyre while funders and partners ranged from Ford Foundation to municipal cultural offices in New York City and diplomatic missions like the Embassy of Nigeria. Institutional archives and oral histories include interviews with elders linked to Marcus Garvey-era cultural networks and postcolonial arts exchanges following independence movements in Ghana and Senegal.

Cultural Significance and Traditions

The festival foregrounds ritual, ceremonial, and social dance forms tied to lineages in Yoruba, Ewe, Akan, Mande, Wolof, and Igbo communities, while highlighting diasporic practices such as Samba, Rumba, Bata, Congolese Rumba, and Afro-Cuban traditions. It serves as a living archive connecting masters from heritage institutions like the National Museum of African Art, community centers in Bedford–Stuyvesant, and church-based choirs tied to African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dance delegations often include griots, drummers, and storytellers who link performance to festivals such as Ghana’s Pan-African Cultural Festival, FESPACO, and regional rites in Mali and Benin. Partners in education include faculty from Howard University, Temple University], Philadelphia, and conservatories collaborating on apprenticeships and documentation projects supported by organizations like the Smithsonian Institution.

Regional Styles and Forms

Performances represent regional repertoires including Yoruba Bata, Ewe Agbekor, Malian Soko, Guinean Kassa, Senegalese Sabar, Haitian Vodou-influenced dances, and Afro-Brazilian forms such as Capoeira and Candomblé-derived dances. Troupes drawn from Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Portugal-linked Lusophone communities, and Caribbean hubs like Trinidad and Tobago illustrate cross-Atlantic continuities. Contemporary companies fuse elements from Butoh-influenced experimentalists, modernists linked to Martha Graham, postmodern collectives associated with Merce Cunningham, and street ensembles tied to hip-hop scenes in Bronx and Brooklyn.

Performance Practice and Choreography

Choreographic practice at the festival ranges from orally transmitted repertory led by lineage holders to codified modern works by choreographers with ties to institutions such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and the Ailey School. Rehearsal processes incorporate training methods developed by figures like Katherine Dunham, pedagogues from Laban-influenced conservatories, and community elders who emphasize improvisation, call-and-response, and corporeal memory. Collaborative projects have paired choreographers from Paris-based companies with percussionists from Dakar and dramaturgs from London’s African diaspora theatre scene, producing commissions presented at venues including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Music, Instruments, and Costuming

Musical ensembles feature drums and idiophones such as the djembe, dunun, bata drum, atumpan, shekere, and Cuban bata ensembles tied to masters from Matanzas. Vocal forms include praise-singing associated with Yoruba and griot traditions from Mali and Senegal. Costuming ranges from ritual regalia associated with temples in Benin and Oyo to contemporary stagecraft by designers linked to Eshu Collective and fashion houses collaborating with performers from Brooklyn Academy of Music productions. Textile traditions showcased include kente, aso oke, and indigo-dyed cloths from Mali and Niger, often sourced through exchanges with museums like the British Museum and craft networks in Lagos.

Contemporary Adaptations and Global Influence

Contemporary iterations engage choreographers and artists connected to Bill T. Jones, Eiko & Koma, Liz Lerman, and younger collectives operating between New York City, Lagos, Accra, São Paulo, and Lisbon. Cross-disciplinary residencies have involved collaborations with visual artists from Ghana’s contemporary art scene, filmmakers linked to Nollywood, and sound artists from Kingston. The festival’s model has inspired programs at institutions including Jacobs Pillow, Spoleto Festival USA, and international biennials in Dakar and São Paulo, fostering exchanges funded by entities such as the Rockefeller Foundation and bilateral cultural institutes. Scholars from Columbia University, University of Ghana, and SOAS University of London have published ethnographies and performance studies that trace the festival’s impact on choreography, heritage policy, and transnational cultural networks.

Category:Festivals in Brooklyn Category:African dance