August 30, 2022, 7:35 PM
August 30, 2022, 7:35 PM
By: Roxana Jimenez Leon
The rhythm, sound and dance of Step Afrika! created by Brian Williams will be exhibited in the Santa Cruz capital. The dance company arrives in the city for the first time and will have four intense days of talks and demonstrations that start this Thursday 1st until Sunday 4th September. They will also be in La Paz and Cochabamba.
After performing in more than 60 countries, the group visits Bolivia for the anniversary of the Afro-Bolivian people, said Ilina Aleksandrova, cultural attaché of the United States Embassy, which sponsors the arrival of the company in collaboration with the Bolivian American Center (CBA), the Fine Arts Institute of Artistic Training, the Güendá Academy and Ballet and the Afro Theater Academy. Ubuntu.
The company’s dance style is a fusion of South African rubber boot dance and African-American steps.
Williams, who uses “step by step – stepping” as an educational tool, is in charge of the first talk on the agenda called “The importance of preserving cultural identity through dance”, Aleksandrova pointed out. The appointment is at 5:00 p.m. this Thursday, September 1. The next day, Friday, at 10:00, they will give a talk about “the history of stepping” and a demonstration of this style of percussion dance in African-American culture.
On Friday afternoon, at 5:00 p.m., in Fine Arts, the same topic will be addressed, but aimed at dance students. In the evening, at 19:00, a two-hour ‘workshop on stepping’ will take place at the CBA.
For Saturday, at 7:00 p.m., the director and the ten percussionists have prepared a show at the CBA theater and on Sunday at the same time they close with a party at Manzana Uno accompanied by the members of Bellas Artes, Ubuntu and Güendá.
Among the top 10 in the United States
As a result of research carried out by Williams in South Africa on the percussion dance tradition, Step Afrika! in 1994. The creator shares his experience in countries around the world. The company, thanks to the result of his work, was designated by the US government as cultural ambassador and listed among the top 10 in the United States.
