ABOUT STEP AFRIKA!:
Step Afrika! is the first professional company in the world dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Based in Washington, DC, the company has been featured on CNN, BET, PBS & NPR and is critically-acclaimed for its efforts to promote an understanding of and appreciation for stepping and its links to South African gumboot dance, tap dancing, and hoofing. Step Afrika! reaches tens of thousands of Americans each year and has performed on many stages in North & South America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Its signature event, the annual Step Afrika International Cultural Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the fruit of a decade-long collaboration with the Soweto Dance Theatre and it unites artists from around the world in dialogue and dance performance.
"We step to entertain but also to raise awareness for the culture that created stepping. From Appalachia to South Africa, from stepping to gumboot to Zulu, we seek to build connections between people and to highlight the similarities in our dance forms, our lives and our communities. Our motto is if we can dance together, then we can work together. We found this to be true as we've traveled the globe." - Step Afrika!
WHAT IS STEPPING?
Stepping is a unique dance tradition created by African-American college students. In stepping, the body is used as an instrument to create intricate rhythms and sounds through a combination of footsteps, claps and spoken word. The tradition grew out of the song and dance rituals practiced by historically black fraternities and sororities in the early 1900s. Stepping comes from a long and rich tradition in African-based communities that use movement, words and sounds to communicate allegiance to a group. Today, stepping can be found in high, middle and elementary schools across the US as well as in churches and community-based organizations. The form is also spreading its wings to new venues and participants, such as Latino and Asian American Greek-letter organizations.
"Stepping is tap dance without tap shoes, James Brown without the music of the JB's, Cab Calloway sans piano, a marching band without John Philip Sousa. It is jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and rap without instruments. Stepping is lean and mean. The music comes from the synchronized interplay of hands and feet, from chants and hollers. It is a way to make music using the body as instrument." - Jill Nelson, The Washington Post
MORE INFORMATION:
NPR feature story on Step Afrika!, including the history and sounds of stepping.
Official Step Afrika! Website
For more information, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1687, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143. E-mail your inquires to Djordje Popovic at popovicd@cwu.edu.
Step Afrika!'s CWU performance is sponsored by the CWU Diversity Education Center, Black Student Union, and Equity and Services Council.
