This writer witnessed the alluring and ceremonial mukudji dance of the Punu women in a remote Gabon village, originally performed by men dressed as women.



Early this year while near Tchibanga, the de facto capital of the Punu people of Gabon which straddles the border with the Republic of Congo, I got word that there was going to be a small mukudji ceremony in a local village. As a contributor to this magazine, a ceremony that celebrates the female ancestors of a tribe was certainly a special one to witness and report.



So I hastened from my forest abode pillion-riding on a barely functioning motorcycle to reach the village of Loango, where the elders there have still maintained their traditions. To understand the significance of the mukudji dance, I had my NGO colleague and motorcyclist Antonio Anoro translate the answers to my questions to the village chief Jean-Louis Nzamba.



Much of the description is also available through a quick online search, that the Punu are matrilineal and trace their lines of descent through the women of the community. The female ancestors are honored with okuyi ‘white masks’ that harness their power.



There is little doubt in me that Africa is still the last frontier for ancient cultures. Despite rapid modernization, I have been fortunate to visit communities in many parts of West Africa where the effects of Islam and Christianity have had little effect on cultural practices that are both ancient and a record of human development. Having collected West African art for nearly four decades, I never seem to tire looking at their amazing forms. This passion has taken me this past decade into many parts of West Africa including frequent forays into Gabon, where I help in directing an NGO, Gabon Untouched, for sustainable tourism and gorilla habituation.&nbsp;



The next stage of my art collection I reckoned should be one where the collections of some of my masks should actually be seen coming to life. While Mali and Burkina Faso offered me amazing experiences in this aspect a decade ago, Gabon has been delivering me some amazing experiences I wish to share here.



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The art of the Punu and Fang peoples of Gabon are well-known to the West and served as an inspiration for Picasso and Matisse besides a host of other cubists in the early 20th century. Performances are appreciated as the most aesthetically appealing and exciting form of expression in Punu culture and consequently have become a national icon of Gabon. Such ceremonial dances were originally performed by initiated men who dressed as women; the practice has lately been on the wane.



The mukudj mask of the Punu is especially renowned globally with representative masks found in the major museums of New York, Dakar, Paris, Berlin and London. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which I am a member of, describes the mask this way: “Among the Punu of southern Gabon, the visual focal point of a dance known as mukudj is a mask whose features are inspired by the most beautiful woman in a community. These marks are transformed into otherworldly spirits when empowered with white kaolin drawn from riverbeds associated with the ancestral realm, and are activated during spectacular acrobatic performances executed on stilts.”



While the average museum-goer reads these words and nods quite unremarkably, I had the opportunity to actually witness one of these ceremonies.



As we assembled around the small village quadrangle with a small group of locals to mourn the death of one of its members who passed away a few weeks ago, the arrival of the mukudji on stilts was quite an affair. To the heavy beating of drums and chants, the mukudji arrived waving a fly whisk.



The purpose of the whisk I understood was to request spiritual intervention in the hunt for malicious sorcerers and witches. By clearing such bad omens, the mukudji prepared the village for celebrations. Dancing on stilts up to two meters high, holding fly whisks, and dressed in costumes of plant fibers, the dancer was a sign of authority and inspired a mixture of admiration and fear in view of the amazing physical exploits of their performances.



Well into the dance, the locals thrusted whisks in my hands and allowed me to dance around the mukudji as a sign of appreciation and acceptance into their community.



The joy of cultural travel is one where you appreciate local traditions, their significance and enjoy the human bond such ceremonies create to strengthen. Africa may be called ‘the dark continent’ by the West, but it reveals to me each day the sophistication of its cultures and the originality of spiritual thinking. 



&#8211; By Ramdas Iyer

04-RAM_4590

The Power Behind The Mask: Up Close With The Dancers Of Gabon

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<h4>Oliver Mtukudzi, Zimbabwe</h4>
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Oliver (Tuku) Mtukudzi has 65 albums under his belt — more than Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.
It’s a remarkable career stretching back 41 years with songs that have enlivened parties all over the world.
“I never decided to be in the music industry. It was in me. My mother said ‘you are a good singer but you will never surpass your birth cry. Your birth cry was so beautiful’,” says Mtukudzi.
Born on September 22, 1952, in Highfield, a suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe; music runs in his blood. Both his parents were musicians. They met at a choir competition and sang a duet for life. It wasn’t long before he found his voice.
“I made a three-string guitar for myself from a tin around 1969 or early 1970s with the help of a [relative]. I was always playing it. My father didn’t like it and he broke the guitar.”
It wasn’t going to stop him. He made up songs as a child and sang everywhere he could.
“One day, I decided to perform for my parents standing on the table and they enjoyed it so much I didn’t get smacked for standing on the table. My mother noticed I had been standing on the table, two or three days later. That’s how good it was,” he chuckles.
Mtukudzi followed his passion.
His Tuku Music album, featuring the smash hit Todii went gold in its first month of release in Zimbabwe.
His skill is appreciated from Angola to Zimbabwe where he sells out concerts. He has millions of views on YouTube, has starred in movies and has over 30 awards.
“I don’t understand Shona but I sing along to his music and buy his albums&#8230;. His music makes me feel alive,” says South African fan Ntuthuko Buthelezi.
There is no stopping him making the world feel alive.
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<h4>Sarkodie, Ghana</h4>
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Born Michael Owusu Addo, Sarkodie has racked up millions of views on YouTube for his music with his debut album and first single, Baby, among the favorites.
He started out as an underground rapper which helped him cross paths with his former manager, Duncan Williams, who helped launch his career.
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Staying true to his identity, he is a big advocate of Azonto, a Ghanaian genre that is said to have been born out of Kpanlogo, a traditional dance.
Mewu, the first single off his fourth album, Mary, sold almost 4,000 copies on the first day of its release in Ghana’s capital Accra.
His hard work does not go unnoticed. Sarkodie was the first Ghanaian to win a BET award and has the most nominations. In 2015, he was ranked the 19th “Most Influential Ghanaian” by e-TV Ghana and in 2013 and 2015, he was ranked 8th on FORBES and Channel O’s list, “Top 10 Richest/Bankable African Artists.”
His ambitions don’t end here. In 2013, he launched his clothing line Sark by Yas, launched Obidi Chief Headphones which endorses, among others, Samsung and telecommunications company, Tigo.  In 2014, he also launched the music label SarkCess to empower other African artists.
2017 promises to be an even more exciting year for Sarkodie.
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<h4>Davido, Nigeria</h4>
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Davido has claimed a high status in just five years. The single Back When planted him firmly in the music business in 2011.
“It was people like [Nigerian music veterans] P-Square and D’Banj who made me believe that all this was possible,” he recalls.
Dami Duro, an unexpected hit, leaked online almost a year prior to its official release, became the crown jewel for his widely acclaimed 2012 debut album, Omo Baba Olowo.
He became the talk of the continent, securing not just the buy-in of African fans by the multitude, but also unanimous media acknowledgement, with accolades including two MTV Africa Music Awards and the BET Award for ‘Best African Act’. He has also worked with MTN, Guinness, Unilever and has millions of views on YouTube.
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“God has been very good and he continues to be. I am very fortunate,” he says.
Last year, he caught the eye of Sony and dissolved his lucrative co-owned HKN record label.
“I had four offers and I went with the one that was going to get my music out there. Right now everybody is trying to grab a piece of Africa. I went with the team that believed and was actually interested in my music.”
Just weeks shy of his 24th birthday, Davido gifted himself with the something money can’t buy. He released Son of Mercy, his very first internationally recorded, produced and released EP; collaborating with R&amp;B It-Girl Tinashe on How Long.
“I could have done an outright R&amp;B record but I decided to take what Tinashe does and fuse that with the culture back at home,” he says.
Davido has collaborated with Young Thug, Future, Trey Songz and Rae Sremmurd, and has toured the world.
No doubt, there is more to come.
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<h4>WizKid, Nigeria</h4>
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WizKid is arguably currently the uncrowned king of African music.
Grammy Award-winning artist, Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz, danced to his songs Ojuelegba and Caro, with Keys posting a video on her Instagram account with the caption, “This song makes me happy” and Kylie Jenner posted a video of herself dancing to Wizkid’s music on snapchat.
The Nigerian singer and songwriter is spreading the Afrobeat sound to the world. He co-wrote and co-produced One Dance, Drake’s Hot 100-topping hit, has signed a multi-album worldwide deal with Sony Music International and is a Pepsi ambassador.
WizKid, born Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, made his mark with Holla At Your Boy in 2010 and has since won many awards, among them the BET Award for Best International Act Africa in 2012 and MTV Europe Music Award for Best Worldwide Act.
His rise to fame started with singing in church at the age of 11 before collaborating with M.I in the award-winning Fast Money Fast Cars in 2009.
He now hangs out with Akon and Chris Brown and has worked with Rihanna, French Montana, Trey Songz, Tinie Tempah and Wale.
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<h4>Jidenna, Nigerian-America</h4>
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By the age of 10, Jidenna Theodore Mobisson knew he wanted to do music but was afraid to tell his father who wanted him to be an engineer. It was just as well that his name means embracing the father.
“Luckily after a few years he came around and said ‘just make sure you are an inventor, innovator in your field and you treat your work like a science’,” he says.
It took years to make the dream a reality. He connected with singer and Wonderland record label founder, Janelle Monáe. With her help, two years ago, he produced the smash hit Classic Man with over 56 million views on YouTube; followed by a remix with Kendrick Lamar.
He never forgot his roots.
“As my father would tell the story, I was conceived in Nigeria and then they went to the US for me to be born there so I could have a blue passport,” he says with a chuckle.
At a few weeks old, his parents took him back to Enugu,  Nigeria, where he spent the next six years of his life before moving back to the US.
Life in the US was tough.
“My accent was a lot thicker than it is now and I was teased a lot… Even though Jidenna is my first name, like many African children in the US, I tried to abbreviate it, make it shorter and make it more of a English sounding name,” he says.
By the time he went to university, he made sure everyone knew him as Jidenna.
Last year, he released his debut album, The Chief, which he promoted, first, in Lagos and Johannesburg.
“I am a Naija boy… I want more publishing and royalties to be available to artists in Africa in the music industry so there can be more money and more job opportunities.”
Jidenna has also been working with former US First Lady, Michelle Obama, on her education initiative, does speaking gigs, private shows and was in the HBO series Insecure.
He leaves us with food for thought.
“I hope we don’t chase the American dream but create our own African dream.”
He is dreaming hard.
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<h4> Tinashe, Zimbabwe-American</h4>
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Twenty-four-year-old Tinashe Kachingwe sang before she could talk. Her Zimbabwean father Michael, and mother Aimie, from Denmark, have always helped.
Tinashe was a child model by the age of three, made her first appearance in 2000 in the film Cora Unashamed and her voice starred in the cartoon feature film The Polar Express alongside Oscar winning actor, Tom Hanks.
Her debut album, Aquarius, drew a tidal wave of acclaim especially with the #1 multi-platinum single 2 On featuring Schoolboy Q.
Her graceful twists and turns and magical voice have earned her respect among the who’s who of the industry. She has collaborated with the likes of Nick Jonas, Future, Chance The Rapper, A$AP Rocky, Calvin Harris, Usher, Chris Brown and Britney Spears. Her voice has also earned opening spots on tours with Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Maroon 5. She also wrote That’s My Girl for Fifth Harmony, was announced as Pepsi’s newest Sound Drop artist and her Britney Spears collaboration, Slumber Party, reached the #1 position on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.
This is a solid foundation for her dream to be an R&amp;B star. Tinashe has taken her career to the next level featuring on the hit comedy Two and a Half Men and will play herself in a multi-episode storyline, on the Fox drama series, Empire, alongside Taraji P Henson and Terrence Howard.
Where there is talent, there is opportunity and money.
<div id="attachment_5603" style="width: 253px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5603" class="size-medium wp-image-5603" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-501051350-243x300.jpg" alt="" width="243" height="300" />Tinashe attends the Z100&#8217;s iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2015 at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)</div>
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Tinashe is a brand ambassador for various multinational brands and has relationships with the likes of Alexander Wang, Ralph Lauren and MAC Cosmetics.
That’s not all.
She is the face and owner of her own lifestyle brand, Svu Svu, was honoured as one of 2015’s ELLE Women in Music and was hand-picked by Janet Jackson to perform a tribute to her at the 2015 BET Awards.
Money pours in for Tinashe and she is only 24.
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<ol start="4">
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<h4>Don Jazzy, Nigeria</h4>
</li>
</ol>
Like many artists, Don Jazzy, real name Michael Collins Ajereh, started playing music as a child in church before moving to the UK to pursue his career.
“I worked as a security guard in the UK, and after a while I realized I could make some money playing the bass guitar. A friend of mine helped me and took me with their band to play at restaurants and different venues,” he says.
At the time, he would make £150 or £200 for playing for about five hours in London.
“The band got popular that I could make £500 per gig. I grew to the point that I played at a wedding for the President’s daughter at the time.”
This steered him to music production.
Two years later, with then partner D’banj, he decided to move back to Nigeria to make Afrobeats.
“We worked on the album in the UK, so that when we got home we would have something to present. As soon as we got home people accepted us and loved the music.”
It was upward movement from then on. Don Jazzy is a multi-award winning artist, was MTN brand ambassador and is running a successful record label which is home to stars like Dr.SID and Tiwa Savage, is in real estate and launched Flobyt, a company that provides free Wi-Fi in Nigeria.
“With Flobyt we make money from advertising because the people watch like a 10-second video before logging on.”
There is no turning back for Don Jazzy.
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<h4>Hugh Masekela, South Africa</h4>
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</ol>
Born in Witbank, east of Johannesburg, Hugh Masekela is committed to restoring African heritage. This world-renowned flugelhornist, trumpeter, bandleader, composer and singer has released more than 43 albums and performed with Marvin Gaye, Dizzy Gillespie, The Byrds, Fela Kuti, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Miriam Makeba.
“The music I make, I don’t call it my music. It is based on my township and indigenous rural roots in South Africa. That’s what brought me fame all over the world,” he says.
At the age of 14, he got his first trumpet and developed his signature sound in the late 1950s, melding jazz with African music.
His first album, Trumpet Africaine, was released in 1962.
In the ensuing decades, he became an international star and an outspoken political voice with songs such as Stimela, with over a million YouTube views, Soweto Blues and Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela), which became an anti-apartheid anthem.
His music did not whither with the apartheid government.
In 2010, he opened the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Concert; South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma honored him with the highest order in the country given for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports, and the US Virgin Islands proclaimed ‘Hugh Masekela Day’, not long after he joined U2 on stage during the Johannesburg leg of their world tour.
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Masekela, who also owns a studio and record label, has numerous awards, honorary doctorates and was nominated for a Grammy for his 2010 album Jabulani in the best world music category, alongside Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Mumford &amp; Sons. He is insurance company Assupol’s brand ambassador since 2012
Masekela maintains a busy international tour schedule as his fan base around the world continues to grow. He shows no signs of slowing down. Between April and November, he will perform in London, South Africa and three shows in the US for up to $125 to admit one. His music is also sold online for about $10, and reports claim it would cost about $20,000 for a live performance from the star.
Accolades, sold out concerts and smash hits are Masekela’s way of life.
<ol start="2">
<li>
<h4>black coffee, South Africa</h4>
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</ol>
Black Coffee, real name Nkosinathi Maphumulo, has not only raised the bar for South African house music, but has put it on the world map.
The multi-award-winning artist was born in South Africa’s house music province, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), raised in the Eastern Cape province, where struggle stalwart Nelson Mandela hailed from, before moving back to KZN to study music. It was worth it.
In 2003, he was chosen as one of two South African participants in the Red Bull Music Academy steering him into the South African DJ scene. He never looked back.
The DJ founded Soulistic Music, a leading management and record company, and introduced himself to the world through a self-titled album.
The year 2008 marked a very fruitful year in Black Coffee’s career. Soulistic Music signed releases from Culoe De Song, Tumelo and Zakes Bantwini, all achieving gold and platinum sales.
Black Coffee took his career a step further to collaborating with international artists. He worked with Alicia Keys on a remix of In Common, released a Superman remix with Drake and even R&amp;B superstars Usher and John Legend want to do songs with him.
One of his Pieces of Me album favorites, We Dance Again became part of a worldwide dance challenge with people taking videos of themselves dancing outside a car.
“This new Black Coffee album is crazy,” said rapper Swizz Beatz on his Instagram jamming to the album.
His work has been recognized all over the world. Last year, he was the first South African to win a BET Award. He also won three South African Music Awards and a DJ Award for Best Deep House, and does sold-out tours.
When in the US, Black Coffee hangs with P Diddy. He has earned the seat at the high table.
<ol>
<li>
<h4>Akon, Senegalese-American</h4>
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</ol>
With over 35 million albums sold worldwide, numerous awards, five Grammy Award nominations, 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs under his belt and over 51 million likes on his Facebook page, Akon is not only bankable but also unstoppable.
He has had chart-dominating singles like Smack That and Lonely, he’s made more than 300 guest appearances for the likes of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Lil Wayne, R. Kelly and Eminem. That’s not all.
The singer and producer was not only listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world, but also became the first solo artist in history to lock down both the number one and number two spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Senegalese-American isn’t showing signs of slowing down. With a new album on deck for 2017, he has set his sights on breaking into Hollywood and is already well on his way to making his mark landing his first major movie in indie action thriller American Heist, a remake of the 1959 Steve McQueen movie The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery.
He is also a friend of corporates, cashing in on the Pepsi soccer ad campaign and was in FORBES’ Celebrity 100 list in 2010.
His unquestionable musical talent aside, Akon is a formidable entrepreneur and humanitarian.
He owns two thriving record labels which helped jumpstart the careers of both Lady Gaga and T-Pain and is founder of Konvict clothing.
With a heart even bigger than his resume, Akon also created The Konfidence Foundation, a youth charity organization, and in February 2014, he launched a partnership to bring solar energy to half a billion African households with the Akon Lighting Africa and, most recently, Akon Lighting Asia projects.

Top 10 most bankable artists in Africa

I will never again say I can’t do anything!” declares 14-year-old Kyle Grant from Mitchells Plain, a crime-riddled township of Cape Town. This young dance student has just witnessed the exhilarating New York-based Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s (AAADT) mini-performance for school children at the city’s largest theater.
Similar sentiments were repeated by youngsters throughout the weeks this modern dance company was on tour in South Africa. By night, the professional dancers performed to standing ovations by paying audiences. By day, the artistes, many who have danced on the biggest stages of the world, taught in cramped classrooms and community halls. They traveled into townships to welcome groups of wide-eyed youngsters into theater rehearsal studios for hour-long lessons.
Over and over they would repeat the maxim which company founder, the late Alvin Ailey, who in 1958 created the dance company rooted in African-American culture, lived by: “Dance came from the people. We must take it back to the people.” The dance company does just this. It moves past the plush seats and well-heeled audiences and down the byways to halls with broken windows and children with holes in their socks but dance in their souls.
On a damp spring morning at Bonga Primary School in Gugulethu, a township 20 minutes from the Cape Town city center, children crowd into a studio created in a small shipping container. Young students of iKapa Dance Theatre gaze at the elegant form of Samuel Lee Roberts, company dancer and former student of the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. His energy is infectious and soon he has them doing head rolls, rises and turns.
“Are we having fun? You guys are brilliant, when I leave you are going to take my job!” he says to the bouncing, and giggling, children.
Artistic Director, Robert Battle, whose elegant shoes fill the huge ones left by Ailey and his successor, the acclaimed Judith Jamison, watches from a corner.
This tour is his first to Africa and one that has touched him.
<div id="attachment_31784" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31784" class="wp-image-31784 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Aileys-historic-2015-Tour-to-South-Africa-Hope-Boykin-teaching-master-class-at-Moving-Into-Dance-in-Newton.-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Aileys-historic-2015-Tour-to-South-Africa-Hope-Boykin-teaching-master-class-at-Moving-Into-Dance-in-Newton.-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Aileys-historic-2015-Tour-to-South-Africa-Hope-Boykin-teaching-master-class-at-Moving-Into-Dance-in-Newton.-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Aileys-historic-2015-Tour-to-South-Africa-Hope-Boykin-teaching-master-class-at-Moving-Into-Dance-in-Newton.-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Aileys-historic-2015-Tour-to-South-Africa-Hope-Boykin-teaching-master-class-at-Moving-Into-Dance-in-Newton.-Photo-by-Andrew-Eccles-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ailey’s 2015 tour to South Africa – Boykin taking a master class</div>
“The community outreach program has been cathartic. It’s definitely the most crystalized and distilled version of what Alvin Ailey wanted the company to be about. Every dancer has just cried or been completely transformed and informed about what they can be. This lets us know that what we do matters,” he says.
Down a corridor, former gangster, Yamkela Bambata (21), is helping AAADT dancer, Michael McBride (21), translate his instructions into Xhosa. He eases between arching arms and squeezes past desks pushed against the wall. A senior dancer with iKapa, Bambata has a moment of disbelief that he is assisting AAADT dancers.
“This means a lot to me. I’ve been Googling them and watching their videos… When I saw them arrive I thought: ‘Is this real?’”
Bambata, who says he was born to dance, was caught at the age of 13, like many other township children, in the violent grip of a gang. But dance would prove to be his escape.
“It gave me the power of knowing what I want. When I dance everything just goes from my mind. Whatever you are going through, dance will help you get through it,” he says.
It is something that is unwittingly echoed by AAADT dancer, Jeroboam Bozeman. Tall and muscular, he co-teaches a class of Amoyo Performing Arts Foundation dancers at another venue the following day.
“When did you start dancing?” asks a student after the teaching session.
Bozeman’s story floors the children.
“For years I didn’t speak. I was mute. I was silent. I experienced something so traumatic that I made a decision not to speak. Dance is what got me to speak – nothing is more fulfilling than what dance brought me. But you have to be constantly working, every day, 24/7 to be great,” he says.
This is the beauty of the dance theater’s program. It reaches out and offers something beyond how to extend a leg and balance on tiptoe. It gives children hope. It also imprints the fact that with effort there is much to gain. It’s a message that Revelations, Ailey’s masterpiece, with its theme of moving from slavery to freedom, does every time it is performed.
Hope Boykin, a company dancer for 15 years, may be short in stature but she is a giant in spirit. The downbeat exterior of the hall in Gugulethu, where she is conducting a masterclass to senior students, belies what is happening inside. Boykin is guiding them through a series of moves from Revelations.
“This is your drama, your fears, your troubles and you are going to get through them,” she urges. “And ladies, make sure you don’t get stuck behind. Remember: small is a state of mind!”
And with that, heads lift, confidence grows and the energy shifts from people being told what to do to dancers finding their own feet and wings to fly through the air.
Theo Ndindwa, co-founder of iKapa with his wife Tanya Arshamian, reflects on what the AAADT program means.
“It’s like seeing ourselves in the future. We want the children to get that from seeing them. I trained in the townships through NGOs. I’ve been down that route. Dance has the power to change individuals. It teaches discipline. It’s very hard work. We come from a hard country. The government must provide rooves over our heads, but it is art that fuels the individual to carry a community.”
Four days later, the city’s Artscape Theatre is brimming with hundreds of schoolchildren. The velvet curtain rises revealing a dancer slowly moving in a twinkling dress to Duke Ellington’s rhythms.
“Yoh!” shouts a youngster. “Is it real? I can’t believe it!”
Chrishande Maarman, 17, who has traveled overnight on a bus from a small town 500 kilometers away, is ecstatic.
“It was amazing to see them live. It has inspired us to be and do better. If I work hard I know I can do it.”
It is these moments that transform lives. Thomas Cott, AAADT Senior Director of Marketing and Creative Content, knows this and is a happy man. He has watched Ailey’s vision unfold in South Africa.
“Even if just one child walks away and thinks ‘maybe I can be creative’ we have succeeded. If we can help them think of other possibilities and just give them the self-confidence, it has worked.”

Tag: Dance

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