Zelma Badu-Younge, assistant professor of dance, not only teaches her students the movements of African dance - but she also shares African culture, something she hopes to extend beyond Ohio University with a performance this weekend.
It's teaching
in a different way students and faculty about African culture she said.
Badu-Younge, who also teaches jazz dance, was hired in the fall specifically to teach African dance.
The dance that will be introduced this weekend comes primarily from Ghana and West Africa. The program notes include information about the dances to provide the meaning behind the movements, she said.
So you're also educating the general public as well as the university about African culture
Badu-Younge said.
Badu-Younge invited the West Virginia University African Ensemble and a group of middle school students from River Valley Community School, 817 W. Union St., to perform with her students.
The WVU group will perform the processional part of a dance called Atsiagbekor, a war dance of the ethnic group Ewe from Ghana. The dance mimes the history of the group's wars and tells stories of different fighting scenes, Badu-Younge said.
WVU's ensemble, led by Badu-Younge's husband, Paschal Yao Younge, has performed all over the world and was chosen to dance for the former president of Ghana when he was in the United States.
The National Dance Company of Ghana specially made drums for OU to use in its classes and performances. The drums and other percussion instruments provide all of the music and the rhythms tell the dancers what to perform, Badu-Younge said.
The WVU group also brought its drummers to OU to provide the accompaniment.
The River Valley students, ranging in age from 10 to 14, have practiced their dance about once a week since February, said Connie Winters, a River Valley teacher.
Grace Andrews, an 11-year-old River Valley student, said she had fun learning African dance.
I've really enjoyed it
she said. It's a real work out.
The class, which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m., attracts students from many majors, Badu-Younge said.
Kim Blahnik, a senior genetics major from Elyria, said she enjoys the class so much she's been recruiting others to take it.
I love it
she said. I schedule around this class. It's just really fun.
Maura Gahan, a dance major in the class, found a way to combine her love of dance with a tutorial that explores set design.
Gahan, a junior from Malvern, designed parts of the set for this weekend's performance to move and collapse and also designed costumes that change the appearance of the scenery with the movement of the dancers.
The set is alive as well as fitting more with the culture
which dance and music are part of
she said.
Gahan said she chose to try the African dance class because she is interested in African culture and a new approach to dance.
It's another experience to understand something other than American culture
she said. Something that interests me is finding music and dance in everyday life. It's like nothing I've ever experienced.
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