KanKouran.

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KanKouran West African Dance Company has been performing at Dance Place annually since 1986, which for the past five years has honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The celebration continues on Jan. 19 and 20, when this drumming and dancing ensemble brings West Africa to the Washington, DC, mainstay. KanKouran (named after a spiritual guide of the Senegalese Mandingo tribe) sets athletic displays of traditional dance to the sounds of toe-tapping beats. www.danceplace.org.