By Veronica Y. Gonzalez
I attended Step Afrika! on February 7, 2020 at The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The performance definitely built a strong sense of community. There were many parts where they danced in unison perfectly. They were all doing the exact same movement at the same exact time. It was unbelievable.'I believe moving in ripples is a stronger sense of unity than moving in unison. Knowing when the person before you is going and then moving at the right time is such a hard thing to do. Especially when there are like 7 people ahead of you and you have to know exactly when each of them moves. It was like their minds were connected and they were communicating with each other the whole time.
The last thing that they did that really built a sense of community was having the audience become involved. Having the audience clap and dance along with them made this experience more significant and memorable. Especially when the show was over and the performers returned to do another interactive number. Most performers take their bows and leave. This made me feel like the performers really cared about us and wanted to ensure that we truly had an amazing time.
The ideas of resistance and freedom were presented throughout the performance in the dialogue and the dances. Those who spoke and sang informed us of the history right from the first song when they said, 'They took our drums away!' I found this a powerful moment. When they asked us to shout along with them, it took me about three times to realize what we were even saying. Then I was really intrigued to see the rest of the performance and find out why they had their drums taken away.
Resistance was shown in the dances because they used their bodies to replace using drums. It showed that they would not allow something important to them be taken away. They showed that they outsmarted the people in power by thinking of another way to make beats that couldn't be taken away. Freedom was shown in the last number. One of the performers mentioned the people they were honoring such as those who never stopped resisting and those who helped change history.
The performers used their feet and their hands as instruments. Throughout most of the performance they stomped or tapped to create a beat. Occasionally, they used their hands to clap out a rhythm. I would also consider when they used the sticks to make music as using their bodies because they used their hands to control the sticks. They changed the tempo of the beat by moving faster or slower. The last body part used as an instrument is the voice. There were a couple of the performers who sang and there was one that beat-boxed.