African Dance Diaspora drums its way into Warner

African Dance Diaspora started the theater and dance season with an exciting, rich performance Wednesday evening in Warner Center. The highly anticipated show packed Warner well before the scheduled start which left no one disappointed.

Adenike Sharpley, who founded the Dance Diaspora troupe in 1992, was the first to take the stage. Dressed in traditional African garb, she explained the origins of the program.

"Two of our dancers, Rashida Bumbray and Ramatoulie Rashid, and one of our drummers, Matthew Hill, traveled to the Gambia this past summer," Sharpley said. "Tonight is an opportunity for them to share the rhythms and the dances that they learned in Gambia with the Oberlin College community."

When the drummers began to play, the dancers emerged in a colorful array, wearing strings of shells around their waists. Rashida Bumbray, senior Dance Diaspora member said that "to participate in something that was taken away from us in slavery, to go to Africa and to dance the dances, was like a rebirth."

The dances that followed, the Eketi, the KuKu and the Mandiani, which are traditionally performed for celebration, built in excitement, speed and intensity until the entire audience was clapping and dancing in their seats. The passionate and aggressive performance immediately inspired the audience.

The beauty and intensity of the dances was matched only by that of the rhythms. Lead drummer Matthew Hill stood several times and interacted with specific dancers, who would in turn dance focusing on him. Jibrail Nor, Farnell Newton, Chaz Mortimer, Adam Barr, Matthew Schildgen and Eric Suquet joined Hill in creating music for the performance.

The last two dances, titled Tidiba/Cassa, brought a standing ovation from viewers, and many stayed after the show to ask questions of Sharpley.

Throughout the year Diaspora performs in Oberlin and the surrounding area to benefit their summer trips. The incredibly energetic and dynamic performance Wednesday served to build the group's solid reputation and open the theater and dance season in style.