Coyaba Dance Theater at Dance Afrika D.C. 2013. (Enoch Chan)
Baba Chuck Davis opened the first of last weekend’s four Dance Afrika performances with an invocation honoring deceased members of Washington’s dance scene — including choreographer Eric Hampton and critic Alan Kriegsman — and recently departed black luminaries — including Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou. It was a touching tribute, but perhaps he should have also blessed the District’s building inspectors.
Dance Place, the newly renovated Brookland venue, received its certificate of occupancy at noon on Friday. That gave staff 24 hours to prepare for the 27th annual festival and do everything from load the concession stand to hang the lighting plot. The latter didn’t happen, so the 2 p.m. matinee was performed with a basic lighting and the brand new windows open to let the sunshine in.
Three of the eight troupes at Dance Afrika performed at the matinee: D.C.’s Coyaba Dance Theater, Philadelphia’s Illstyle & Peace Productions and Baltimore’s Sankofa Dance Theater. After Davis’s invocation, 15 drummers from Coyaba emerged from the curtains at the rear of the stage, and the effect was similar to unloading a clown car at the circus. Pre-renovation, 15 performers would never have fit backstage; post-renovation, you can fit 15 performers plus drums. The stage is the same size, however, and the hip-hop troupe Illstyle & Peace didn’t have enough room to get 14 dancers moving together. The cypher wasn’t the company’s best, either, but it’s always fun to see breakers do hopping handstands in time with the music.
Sankofa billed its three-work performance as a tribute to Angelou. The central number, FoliBop, was a poignant Afro-jazz solo featuring dancer Krystle Brown on vocals. West African dance is typically performed in a crouch, but the ladies of Sankofa got their upper-bodies involved too, elegantly rolling their shoulders and gesturing with their hands and their legs kicked sideways. It’s a dance about the power of the female spirit, company founder Kibibi Ajanku said. Repeatedly, she asked the crowd to recite an Angelou line appropriate for the first performance in a renovated theater: “But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
Ritzel is a freelance writer.
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