DanceAfrica America.DanceAfrica, a festival of traditional African and African American dance African American dances in the vernacular tradition (academically known as "African American vernacular dance") are those dances which have developed within African American communities in everyday spaces, rather than in dance studios, schools or companies. , music, and culture, started at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Brooklyn Academy of Music, performing arts center located in the borough of Brooklyn, N.Y. and popularly known as BAM. Founded in 1859 and opened in 1861, it is the oldest such institution still in operation in the United States. eighteen years ago. Under the direction of Chuck Davis  This article or section contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election.Content may change as the election approaches. Charles E. the annual event gradually expanded to tour eight major American cities, including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles, under the banner DanceAfrica America. Thousands of Brooklynites--and some former Brooklynites--stream to BAM Bam (bäm), town (1996 pop. 70,100), Kerman prov., SE Iran, on the intermittent Bam River. Located on the western edge of the Dasht-e Lut, Bam is a trade center in a henna-growing region. Dates and other fruits are also grown; camels are raised. each year to celebrate the ritual of DanceAfrica. What could shake the reassuring predictability of this event? This year, Rennie Harris Pure Movement--six men from Philadelphia--did. Harris's Students of the Asphalt Jungle is an electrifying e·lec·tri·fy tr.v. e·lec·tri·fied, e·lec·tri·fy·ing, e·lec·tri·fies 1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor). 2. a. work choreographed in the vocabulary of hip-hop: stepping, poppin', animation, locking, electric boogie, break dance, and house dance. Shirtless, wearing lowriding white pants and Adidas athletic footwear, they strut, toss themselves on the floor, and move like giant inchworms. They transfer movement via invisible rays, triggering frantic outbursts of energy. One leaps ever higher; another spins on his head. Sweaty and well-muscled, they represent the opposite end of the spectrum that begins with the Dinizulu African Dancers, Drummers and Singers--the oldest extant African dance company in the U.S. One group opened the program and the other closed it. In between, PAKA Dance Theater Company--a two-year-old Brooklyn-based troupe whose name is an acronym for Passing Ancestral Knowledge Along--performed excerpts from their work in progress One Tree--Many Roots, and New Jersey-based Djoule African offered traditional dances from Mali and Guinea. Roots of Brazil, under the direction of Lygya Barreto, added Afro-Brazilian flavor to the cultural mix with Maculele, Samba samba Ballroom dance of Brazilian origin, popularized in the U.S. and Europe in the 1940s. Danced to music in ⁴⁄₄ time with a syncopated rhythm, the dance is characterized by simple forward and backward steps and tilting, rocking body movements. de Caboclo, and the martial arts--based Capoeira cap·o·ei·ra n. An Afro-Brazilian dance form that incorporates self-defense maneuvers. [Portuguese, from earlier *capon, capon, from Vulgar Latin . In DanceAfrica tradition, all the companies join in the finale. Sadly, there was too little time to explore the movement possibilities that might occur from a meeting of the athletic Brazilian capoeiristas with their equally daring and flexible brothers from Philadelphia. Perhaps, Mr. Davis, next year. |
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