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Steamboat dancers say African styles let them celebrate life

Friday, August 8, 2008

Photo by Matt Stensland. Enlarge photo.

Jennifer Lowe leads a group of dancers Tuesday at the Depot Art Center.

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By Margaret Hair (Contact)

When Quincy Davisson moved to Steamboat Springs in February, the first group of friends or like-minded souls she found was backed by a line of djembe players drumming in rhythm, taking solace in a semi-weekly session of African dance.

“This is kind of the first real community that I had,” Davisson said, stretching after a Tuesday evening, intermediate-level class at the Depot Art Center.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Steamboat Springs African Dance & Drum Ensemble hosts the Front Range group Pan Africa in two afternoons of workshops and dance-outs. Pan Africa, composed of 11 master dancers and drummers native to Guinea, Ghana, Mali and Togo, also will perform for a Tuesday morning Strings Music Festival youth concert on its trip to Steamboat.

Jennie Lay, a member of the African Dance & Drum Ensemble, said she hopes to give more people access to Pan Africa’s pooled talent. The group’s concert for Strings is sold out.

“I said wow, since there are 11 of them that are going to be here, what can we do to keep them here for a couple of days, and really make a chance for people to experience this,” Lay said.

The workshops, which are open to all levels of dancers and drummers, will run mostly after work hours in the Steinberg Pavilion at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp.

“This is going to be different from when we bring up one artist for a dance and drum class,” Lay said, explaining the benefits of having multiple teachers on hand. “There’s a select group of us that have been traveling around the country for workshops and classes that have experienced that, but most people in Steamboat haven’t.”

Lay said it’s difficult to put the distinctions between different national styles of West African dance into words, but that the festival will be an opportunity for Steamboat residents to see West Africa as more than “one big homogenous blob of culture.”

A community that has grown widely during its 25 years of existence, enthusiasts for African dance and drumming in Steamboat point to well-versed teachers and a solid workout as reasons to get involved.

“I think that it brings everybody together to forget about their problems and just celebrate joy,” said Beth Boyd, who has been doing African dance consistently for about three years. “It’s kind of like a therapy group, really, without having to say a word.”

Tuesday and Thursday night classes usually draw at least a dozen dancers, often bringing in new faces.

“It’s kind of like having this giant family here who all got interested in these far-flung cultures and their traditions,” Lay said.

“I think some people get really hooked on it at first because they come to class and the music is great and the workout is great, and at some point it just takes over your spirit and you just get sucked in.”