Curtain Warmer:

One hour before the performance, Charles Ahobissi from African Culture Connection will bring a live, interactive percussion experience with patrons. History, traditions and technique of djembe playing will be explored.

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Showcasing powerful Afro-Colombian and Afro-contemporary dance with live music and singing, Colombian dance troupe Sankofa Danzafro presents “Accommodating Lie,” a full-length work by Rafael Palacios which seeks to dismantle stereotypes and beliefs about and around the black body and what it means to be of African descent.

In a series of emotional solos and duets, seven Sankofa dancers embody decades of slavery, racism and the “exotic” label western colonizing culture has assigned to black bodies.

Sankofa means "to go back to the roots"; more than a word, it is an African philosophy that proposes knowing the past as a condition for understanding the present and being able to measure the future.

Through their performances, Sankofa Danzafro reaffirms the need for self-representation of Afro-descendant communities, rewriting history from the perspective of colonized Colombians. He utilizes a catwalk to provide a parade of black bodies on display. The staging includes an interactive auction with the musicians and the audience – a direct reference to slavery and human trafficking. The set design includes a wall hung upstage of straw ropes – the kind used in the creation of the stereotypical straw skirts worn by Afro-Colombian slaves. The dancers emerge from within this wall, and they too wear straw skirts in parts of the dance.

Want to bring a group of 10 or more? Contact Group Sales