Members of the Africana Dance Troupe plan to host a dance competition this April.
The competition will feature groups from Bowling Green and other nearby areas performing African-influenced dances to raise funds for the ADT.
Many details such as the event?s date and what group’s will perform remain undecided, according to the group’s vice president, Jamila Gilbert. “We hope to get people from Bowling Green and other places like Toledo to showcase their dancing ability,” she said.
The group has been too busy dancing to make many preparations, Gilbert said. ADT has performed twice so far this month and will perform twice more before it ends, its next show being at the union bash on Feb. 15. Two more performances are set for March.
“This month is always busy, being black history month,” Gilbert said.
Part of the fundraiser money would go to new costumes. The music and costumes, designed by a couple from Nigeria, are all authentic, Gilbert said, which helps make shows both educational and entertaining.
Exposing African culture through dance has been one of the group’s main goals since it was founded in 1998.
When it was formed, the ADT was meant simply to perform at Kwanzaa, according to one of its founders, Sheila Brown. She and her co-founders, Lillian Ashcroft-Eason and Djisovi Eason, thought the holiday was missing something without the ADT, Brown said.
“Past Kwanzaas (on campus) had little to no African dance, and that’s a big part of Kwanzaa,” she said.
Brown, who served as adviser to the group until May 2001, said the ADT grew because the students wanted it to.
“The students had a genuine interest in learning traditional African dances,” Brown said. “It’s fun, and it’s something you can?t do elsewhere on campus.”
Not only does it perform more often, the group has also expanded its show. Habib Iddrisu, the ADT’s original choreographer, gave the group many of its authentic African dances. Halifu Osumare, who took over as group adviser when Brown left, incorporated African-Caribbean influenced music. Recently, the group put hip-hop elements in its act, Gilbert said.
They hope to show how hip-hop relates to older African music forms, she said. “Hip-hop didn’t come out of the blues. It’s a descendent of more traditional African music.”
All these elements help the group bring diversity to the University. “They bring education about culture through dance,” Brown said. “It’s also entertainment and a creative outlet for members.”
Gilbert agreed that the group has helped spread diversity on campus: “Being at BG where the minority population is small, it’s a great way to show African culture to those who have never seen it.”
Gilbert said that, aside from the upcoming fundraiser, she is looking forward to the group’s performance at a high school near Cleveland on Feb. 28. Few of the students there have been exposed to such music and dance, she said. “They’ll learn something they didn’t know before.”
The group’s next performance is at the union bash on Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
