Get loud and get moving with Step Afrika! at CU-Boulder Sept. 19
Get loud and get moving with Step Afrika! at CU-Boulder Sept. 19
Dance troupe brings full theatrical performance of unique American form to Colorado for the first time
BOULDER, Colo. 鈥 Brian Williams has a request of anyone planning to attend Colorado鈥檚 first full dance concert by : Get loud and get moving.
鈥淲e love the ballet,鈥 says Williams, who founded the first dance company dedicated to African American stepping 20 years ago, 鈥渂ut we aren鈥檛 the ballet. We don鈥檛 want you to sit and be quiet. We want you to make as much noise as you want, yell, scream, clap and holler. The more energy you have, the more energy we have.鈥
The group also will offer a free public workshop in stepping from 10 to 11:30 a.m. the day of the concert in the Charlotte York Irey Theatre on the CU-Boulder campus.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all about the relationship with the audience, so we really do want everyone to make music with us,鈥 Williams says.
Step Afrika! fuses the unique, percussive tradition of stepping 鈥 in which multiple dancers use clapping, footwork, athletic maneuvers and calling out to create music and high-energy rhythmic dance 鈥 with strikingly similar traditions that developed independently in southern Africa.
Stepping traces its roots to campus marching bands, military drill teams and traditional religious call-and-response in African American churches. It came into its own as a ritual for fraternities and sororities at traditionally black colleges and universities in the early 20th century. The form was virtually unknown outside those communities until it was shown in Spike Lee鈥檚 1988 musical film, 鈥淪chool Daze.鈥
鈥淪tepping is a uniquely American art form that鈥檚 just now starting to get recognition as a serious dance style,鈥 Williams says. He first learned how to step while a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
He founded Step Afrika! in 1994 after seeing South African workers performing 鈥済umboot鈥 dancing, a close cousin to stepping even though the two styles developed independently on opposite sides of the world.
鈥淭he idea was to use the arts to build bridges between different communities together,鈥 he says. The company has performed thousands of times around the world with Appalachian cloggers, Irish step dancers, jazz musicians, symphonies and gospel choirs.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19
WHERE: Macky Auditorium, University of Colorado Boulder campus
TICKETS: $14 and up
FREE PUBLIC WORKSHOP: 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 19, Charlotte York Irey Theatre, CU-Boulder
INFO: www.cupresents.org or 303-492-8008