DANCEAFRICA 2025

The 48th annual DanceAfrica Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrated universal unity of spirit and community, presenting a panoply of fashion, dance, music, and film of traditional and contemporary Africa and its diaspora. Guest performing company The Song and Dance Company of Mozambique added to the electricity of the entire show.  Five traditional dances representing that culture, in celebration of its 50th year of independence from colonial rule in Mozambique:Movement! Magic Manifestations! deserved the standing ovation it received. 

From beginning to end, Abdel R. Salaam, Artistic Director of DanceAfrica and Forces of Nature, acted as a spiritual guide, artist, and producer. In Prologue: The Procession, a djembe drum call with audience clapping brought on Tim Bishop carrying an Eegun staff, and a parade down the center aisle of the Council of Elders, The Billie’s Youth Arts Academy Dance Ensemble, and Candle Bearers. Kofi Osei Williams in Libation called on the audience to respond in a type of prayer which beseeched “the ancestors” to support peace and unity today.  The entire performance referenced the importance of African history and reverence to those who have come before. 

Next up: an astounding video (Jae Ponder, Richelle Blanks, Kamau Bilal) presented a beautiful African woman and her relationship to the sea which then introduced The DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers (A division of Forces of Nature Dance Theater) in Memorial 2025 Reclamation and White Cloth of the Ancestors– (Kourtney C. Charles, Dyane Harvey, and the Company). Twelve women in white flowing dresses with long skirts that become winged birds, fabric wrapping unwrapping, spiraling and moving the energy in the space. They circle around a central woman, before being intertwined in unity in the drape of her skirt. 

Dyane Harvey enters as an elder as she blesses the space; red lighting accents an appeal for power. Next, strong, handsome black men appear on video strutting and marching forward on African sand, juxtaposed with a prancing elephant, symbolizing strength, wisdom, power, royalty. A kaleidoscope of movement ensues, almost too much to take in. Singing, clapping, timbila xylophone, agate shakers, scarves, masks, grass pompoms, ropes, drumming, chanting…all supporting the colorful costuming, lighting, rhythmic hops, skips, lunges, articulate arms, bodies shaking and pulsing; integrated, powerful, and relentless; expressing the infinite spirit of the universe. 

The Song and Dance Company of Mozambiqu (Artistic Director: Abel Fumo) ended the show, performing five traditional dances from various parts of the country: Tufu, Ntsope. Xigubo, Mapiko, Nyau, Ngalanga. The dances tell the stories of military victories, festival celebrations, funerals, initiation rites, unity, and loyalty. 

Proud, beautiful dancers gave everything to these compelling dramas, bringing a faraway time and culture to enthusiastic modern NYC audiences today.  Once can’t help but be affected by the passion, wisdom, and glory experienced vicariously.  And… learn from this ancient wisdom: united community. 

EYE ON THE ARTS , NY — Mary Seidman