My Foray into West African Dance Culture

As a wide-eyed college freshman on Brandeis University's campus, I was taken aback by the number of extracurricular possibilities offered particularly when it came to cultural clubs. I was first drawn to clubs that were familiar to my previous interests such as creative writing journals, ballroom dance, and a club dedicated to connecting over Russian culture. However, after a prescient dream one night where I was a participant in the African dance club, no joke, I decided to join that club in real life. 

The teacher was a Malian man who went by the nickname Joh and who brought his own drum to each of our practices. He instructed us in different dance styles from Mali as well as others from surrounding West African countries. The key was the transition between moves, which was signaled by the beat "pre-pe-de-pe-pe-de-pe-pe." It was the first time I had learned a style of dance in which the music spoke to you from the rhythm in this way. The beating of the drum and dance moves were like a call and response to each other, but without the use of a single word. Joh was amazing at breaking down the moves into their component parts. They were each full body movements that also required us to be synchronized with the others. 

You can check out one of our performances here: https://youtu.be/t9SUqx3VLbQ (Used with permission).

A few years later after graduating from college and only having the fond memories to recall my time learning from Joh, I came across an opportunity in January of 2020 to go see a performance with the Benkadi Drum and Dance Group at the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. Before the pandemic, they did monthly free cultural events. I had attended others previously such as a group of Wampanoag performers and a presentation for Chinese New Year. As the performers from the Benkadi group took the stage, I was drawn to one of the drummers who looked just like my former teacher, Joh. This was confirmed by the end of the show when Joh introduced himself to the audience and began to share phrases from his native language, Bambara, with the audience.

Left to right: Me, Joh, my partner

I caught up with him after the show and we reminisced about old times at Brandeis. I then asked if he'd be interested in teaching my students some African dance, which he agreed to do! Soon enough, I was seeing him regularly again. While some of my students were hesitant at first, Joh put them at ease and they ended up delighting in the opportunity. There is nothing more amazing to me than being able to see others showing genuine interest and excitement in another's culture.