Lyman Hall was one of the only campus buildings with more than a flurry of activity Sunday. The sound of 200 feet slapping on a wooden dance floor, jagged yet melodic African songs and pulsing, improvised drumming resonated through an otherwise tranquil Lincoln Field as a part of the biennial Africanist Weekend.
The festival, sponsored by the Department of Theater, Speech and Dance, was founded six years ago by Senior Lecturer in Theatre, Speech and Dance Michelle Bach-Coulibaly as a product of her African dance class TA 33: "Mande Dance, Music and Culture."
At the time, there were many African performers in the Providence area who were very isolated, Bach-Coulibaly said. She thought an Africanist Weekend would serve as an opportunity for them to join together and "celebrate African culture," she said. With the assistance of local performers and Brown professors, she organized a weekend dedicated to teaching Brown students and community members about African culture and traditions.
"I felt it was really important that students learn from master artists and practice in a setting with more time and in a context where they could really absorb culture by their pure immersion in it," she said.
This year's theme, "Embodying Africa," focused on new musical and dance performances coming out of West Africa. Guests included Kongo Ba Téria, a group of musicians and dancers from Burkina Faso and Troupe Komee Josee from Mali.
Students had the opportunity to watch Kongo Ba Téria and Troupe Komee Josee perform on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and to spend all day Saturday and Sunday attending various workshops, such as "Dundun drumming" and "Contemporary African Dance."
"The teachers were really wonderful, but it was very tiring. I went to bed at 10 o'clock on Saturday," said Christopher Sha '06, who is currently enrolled in TA 33.
The opening ceremony on Friday saw an overflowing Ashamu Dance Studio collectively chanting "affirm, give, receive" in response to a sermon by Reverend Sakena Young-Scaggs. Wampanoag poet Donna Mitchell, known as "Words in the Wind," then told an inspirational story called "The Night the Tree Spirit Danced" that brought several audience members to tears.
Friday's events culminated in a performance by Kongo Ba Téria. The hour-long performance, called "Stranger," involved untraditional Western dance steps and elements. One dancer slapped the other up and down his back and leg while two live musicians improvised based on the dancers' movements.
The workshops challenged the traditional Western idea of pedagogy and were structured instead around the ideas of collectivity and immersion. Instead of listening to a lecture about African singing, students would stand in a circle and begin singing themselves. During a West African dance class on Saturday, students repeated one movement continually, slowing down and speeding up based on the tempo of improvising percussionists.
The weekend closed Sunday night at 6 p.m. with a performance by many of the workshops' teachers.
Issa Coulibaly, who taught students to play the West African drum djemb, said of his participation in the festival, "It's Africanist Weekend. It's something from us. It's something we're born with and we don't mind doing it anytime."
