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Comments from past
students/artists/travellers:
Adam.
Montreal. Canada.
www.adamnet.org/dance.htm
In February-March 2006, I lived and worked for three weeks with
Asanti Dance Theatre in Cape Coast, Ghana.
Several Asanti members taught me traditional dance and drumming they
collect from all over the country. All of them had the gift of performing
and communicating in an inspiring way. They shared specific choreographies
as well as the essence of body language and drum technique, all in cultural
context. They are active in the community, as mentors to young artists, and
the group is well-known, -liked, and –respected.
As part of our exchange, I taught the group contact improvisation,
which is the core of my practice as an emerging dance professional. (This
is how I am qualified by the Canada Council for the Arts, our federal arts
funding body.) They had had some experience with contemporary dance, but
almost none with improvisational forms. In other words, Asanti was used to
set pieces which emphasize form. Yet, even these, they performed with more
feeling and spontaneity than I saw from other groups in the area.
The dancers proved eager to learn contact improv, and the drummers
were game to work with us. The group progressed to the point that I could
direct them in a show combining contact improv with traditional dances. We
performed once at Oasis Beach Resort and once outdoors in a residential
neighbourhood. Both events were well-attended and heartily applauded.
Whenever we rehearsed, the group welcomed locals and tourists alike
to watch or join in. It was here that I saw more clearly how much they
enjoy sharing their art, and how skilled they are at doing it with a
variety of people. I have heard testimonials of former students and seen
some of their other performances on video.
Based on all of this, I recommend to you Asanti Dance Theatre as a teaching
and performing ensemble.
Asanti’s founder and director, Appiah Annan, has a unique
vision of cross-cultural dance, that I feel is relevant to a very large
audience. He is able to give it form with his body and direct the group to
do likewise. I feel that he can learn anything and I am excited to see what
he creates next.
Lauren.
Deakin University. Melbourne. Australia.
Going to Ghana was life
changing for me. My first time on an airplane, let alone overseas and to a
developing country! Everyday was exciting, adventurous and emotional.
We would walk the
streets like a celebrity with people of all ages calling out
“Albruni” (white man) and often waving or just staring at us.
The children would chant to us “Albruni! How are you? I’m fine,
thankyou”. The children were beautiful and a real highlight of the
country. They would often run up to us to touch our skin. Perhaps to check
we were real! If we gave them the chance, they would flock to our sides and
never leave.
The teaching we observed
and participated in in the schools was incredible. This is a quote from my
travel diary: “The classrooms are so bare, just a blackboard, one
cupboard for books and desks that are falling apart. There are not enough
desks so the students have to sit 3-4 at a desk for 2. The school I’m
at has a morning and afternoon ‘shift’ because there are not
enough classrooms for the whole school to be there at one time. There are
at least 40 students per class and so I found myself teaching aerobics to
100 students at one stage! Another time I was told to go to the park to
teach football. As it turned out the “park” was an uneven dirt
ground with a giant puddle in the middle of it and rubbish
everywhere!”
We learnt the
traditional dancing and drumming with Asanti Dance Theatre which was also
major highlight. They were amazing and talented people, each with their own
incredible story. I had the opportunity to teach the boys Australian Rules
Football with the 20 footballs the AFL had donated. I then choreographed a
dance piece based on this. They performed it at our graduation ceremony
where we also performed the repertoire of drumming and dancing pieces
we’d learnt from them.
In summary, the dancing
and drumming was indescribable, the food was amazing, the people were unbelievable
and the weather couldn’t have been better. The cultural experience as
a whole was irreplaceable.
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