Program / Event Details

ORIGINS : West African Dance Workshop is an exciting, energetic and interactive experience in West African dance, music, and song.
Origins takes students on a historical-cultural journey from traditional West African dance and music to the origins of Hip-Hop culture and into contemporary styles on dance. We learn how African music and movement has historically been used to communicate messages and examine the initial role the MC in rap, to deliver the message via a rhyming + poetic social commentary. Universal aspects of African culture such as self-respect, respect for elders, for one’s things, and for each other are taught and practiced throughout the workshop. Origins impresses upon students the power of music and dance as a positive + non-violent form of self-expression.

Everything we experience is carried in our bodies.
Dance gives us the vocabulary to speak our meaning when words cannot