CONTENTS
MEMBERSHIP Dancers’ Group – publisher of In Dance – provides resources to artists, the dance community, and audiences through programs and services that are as collaborative and innovative as the creative process. Dancers’ Group’s membership program is a fee-free model. We value connecting (with you) and sharing (what you’re doing). If you’re interested in connecting, JOIN as a Community Member. Visit dancersgroup.org for more information and resources.
WELCOME by NKEIRUKA ORUCHE, Guest Editor
HOME IS WHERE THE DANCE IS. When I was 8, my claim to fame was ‘best dancer’ champion at family friends' birthday parties. Yet, at that age, I never imagined that the at-home dance sessions and “Nkay, oya come and dance for us” my young adult aunties would demand, would materialize as a career largely based in dance. I knew I was mag- netized by dance, and dancers. Yet, I didn't have the ‘when I grow up I want to be a dancer’ ambi- tion. I never imagined it was something a person could be.
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Performances to the Community Calendar Dancers’ Group promotes performance listings in our online performance calendar and our emails to over 1,700 members. Resources and Opportunities Dancers’ Group sends its members a variety of emails that include recent community
Typically for people of African descent, dance is in the fabric of our being. It's a core part of our social
environment. It’s how we pass time. How we survive. How we show love. Most of our introduction to dance was 'informal'. You didn't need permission, or sec- ond-by-second instruction of what and how you moved. When I got this opportunity to Guest Edit, I knew that I wanted to start from ‘the beginning’. The home. I was excited about exploring how dance shows up for us without the barriers of institutions, without the constraints of capitalism, and without the judgment of society. This issue explores our intimate and informal connections to dance. Even though the feature articles focus on ‘dancer-dancers’, I wanted to know more than what we see on stage, or in classes or at events. You get to explore how traditional dance practice in diaspora connects back to the places of origin via three Bay Area multi-generational African Dance families; Dioufs (Diamano Coura), Muisi-kongo & Kiazi Malonga (Fua Dia Congo), and Kanukai Chigamba (Chinyakare Ensemble). ‘Ancestral Re-memberance’ employs prayer and a playlist to connect to our roots. ‘Uninterrupted Refuge’, and ‘Wash Spin Repeat’ poetically express emo- tions associated with dance at home. ‘1st Dance Party’ and ‘The Do's and Don'ts of the Soul Train Line’ are hilarious takes on our connections to dance in social environments. In ‘How We Danced At Home’, we see regular folk who don’t con- sider themselves dancers share memories. ‘The Conga will set you free’, and ‘Discarding our Dance means Defacing Ourselves’ are willful reflections on tradi- tion in the face of societal erasure.
34/ The Do's and Don'ts of the Soul Train Line by Aries Jordan 38/ Discarding our Dance
08 / How home remembers me by Kanukai Chigamba 14 / Ancestral Re-memberance (Egypt) + Playlist by Eman Desouky 18/ They will always hate the Conga by Marley Pulido 20/ Keepers of Home: Muisi-kongo & Kiazi Malonga by Nkeiruka Oruche 30/ Uninterrupted Refuge by Kemi Role 32/ First House Party by Robert Liu-Trujillo
Dancers’ Group gratefully acknowledges the support of Bernard Osher Foundation, California Arts Council, Fleishhacker Foundation, Grants for the Arts, JB Berland Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Koret Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation and generous individuals.
notices, artistic opportunities, grant deadlines, local news, and more.
means Defacing Ourselves by Ifeanyi Akabueze
DANCERS’ GROUP Artist Administrator Wayne Hazzard Artist Resource Manager Andréa Spearman Community Resource Manager Shellie Jew Administrative Assistants Anna Gichan
42/ Lovers of Home: The Diouf Family by Nkeiruka Oruche 54/ Wash Spin Repeat – The eMotion Machine by Lamisha Duree 56/ How We Danced at Home by ZioraMmachi 58/ In Community Highlights and resources,
Danielle Vigil
Bookkeeper Michele Simon Design Sharon Anderson
activities and celebrations for our community – find more on dancersgroup.org
As we continue to emerge from isolation I invite you to dance with 8 year-old me, through this issue.
—Nkeiruka
Cover photo by Aneesah Dryver
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