My Beginner’s Journey with Afro Dance
Respecting and appreciating the diverse cultures and histories of the African continent through dance.
I love dancing.
Earlier this year, I started exploring a variety of popular dance styles that span the vast, beautiful continent of Africa. From Nigerian and Ghanaian Afro Fusion and Afro Pop, Congolese Ndombolo, Angolan Kuduro and Afro House, Ivorian Coupé-Décalé, to South African Gqom, and many more.
I fell in love with the emphasis on rhythm and syncopation found in many of these popular music and dance styles. There’s heart and soul embedded in every track.
The music grabbed my attention, but the dances kept me coming back for more.
I find that Afro dances often celebrate community. At the same time, these dances provide space for individuality, flavour and sauce. It’s not just about technical ability or skill — it’s about the energy you bring to the dance floor and the vibes you share.
Like many of the positive, supportive and uplifting dance communities around the world, dancers across the African continent emphasize joy first, ego second.
“If you are attentive enough, God places signs on the horizon for you to see and those signs empower your intuition… if you choose to be attentive to them it can change your life.
That’s what happened when I chose to dance… it changed my life.”
— Esie Mensah, Founder of Esie Mensah Creations & Black Stars Collective
How can I love and appreciate these various dance forms while respecting their culture, heritage and tradition?
Nothing exists in isolation. Dance and music are no exception. Everything must be understood and placed in context. Behind every cool “move” or “beat” is a story, meaning and message.
What differentiates someone who respects an art-form from someone who steals, bites, and appropriates other people’s narratives to further their own agendas?
I don’t know. But I do have a hypothesis — respect.
The intention I bring to dance is vital. Am I dancing to explore, learn and experience something new? Or am I dancing to look cool, steal a move and claim it as my own?
I must give credit where credit is due. If I want to one day develop my own style and identity as a dancer, I must first study and learn the history, social contexts and intentions behind the dances I am learning.
Humans have two arms, two legs, a body and a head. Within our 200,000–300,000 or so years of history as Homo Sapiens, chances are, most (if not every) possible body position, and movement has probably been done somewhere at some time.
I want to stay humble and learn from the past while offering my own stories and experiences to the dance.
Dance is a conversation. It’s body language in motion.
Watch. Listen. Experience.
Through dance, I can access another life, another world, another time. I’m no longer the daily “me.” I can play a character, free from judgment and self-criticism.
As my dance teachers always say: “Stop thinking. Stop worrying. Let go.”
My body carries wisdom within. It’s up to me to listen.
I’m grateful to all of my dance teachers. In the world of Afro Fusion dances, I am especially grateful to Plantain Percy. I joined his class on a whim after watching some of his dance performances with the incredible Esie Mensah and the rest of the Black Stars Collective.
Like all great teachers, Percy lives and breathes passion for his art. He focuses on the basics and emphasizes a balance between technique and having fun.
When I close my eyes, I hear him constantly reminding us to stay grounded.
No matter how complex the move or choreography, grounded-ness is fundamental to the feel and flavour of Afro dance styles. I love how Percy introduces storytelling and history into his dance classes. He’ll give a brief on the name of a dance step, it’s origin and creator (if it’s known), and a contextual story within which the dance exists.
As a Hong Kong-born Canadian who grew up in Asia, I’m learning to appreciate the context and narratives of these dances through Percy’s class and explanations. Popular Nigerian dances such as “Kpakujemu”, “Shaku Shaku”, “Zanku” and the Ghanaian “Azonto”, “Telli”, “Pilolo” etc. were created by ordinary people to celebrate life and have fun, not just to flex on stage. Every movement tells its own story and conveys its own energy.
In the end, my homework is always the same — go to parties that play the music and dance! Only by dancing will the movements make sense.
A dance class is an artificial setting. It’s training, but the real practice happens at parties. That’s where I learn to let go of over-analysis and let the music take over.
I’m thankful for dance, and I look forward to dancing, exploring and learning so much more.
