National Dance Company to perform ‘Alkebulan’s Awakening’

The National Dance Company of Ghana in collaboration with El Wah Movement Dance Theatre from Haiti would present a dance performance from September 21 to 23, 2017 at the National Theatre.

The performance dubbed “Alkebulan’s Awakening”, literally meaning “Mother of Humanity” is a dance collection from various African countries, which juxtaposes Africa’s deep beauty with the negative residual effects of the middle passage.

It is to address topics of mental liberation, ancestral knowledge, and the beautiful African spirit and its global manifestation.

The September 21 performance is for high level officials including the Presidency, Ambassadors and Ministers of State, while the September 22 and 23 shows would be opened to the public.

The events are scheduled from 1930 hours each night except on Friday, September 22 which will be a morning session for students in addition to the evening event.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-line of the performance, Ms Stephany Yamoah, the Deputy Director of the National Dance Company of Ghana, said the performance would show a united front of the Alkebulan, which was the actual name of the African continent.

Ms Yamoah who also directed the dance said: “we are trying to project a total Africa but not Africa with barriers because we are doing dances from North, Southern, West, East and Central African countries”.

She urged the public to come all out on the scheduled dates to patronise the event because there was the need for Africans to be empowered for the awakening of the continent to take its place in the world.

On her part, Ms Colette Eloi, the Director of El Wah Movement Dance Theatre, described the performers as incredible because the dances included 10 dance techniques and it took the professional dancer, three years to perfect the dance style.

She, therefore, commended the Ghana Dance Ensemble for using just six months to perfect all the 10 dance techniques.

Ms Eloi said dance performance would seek to present a concept of unity and the need to rise above the standard to make the future bright for the continent.

Some of the performers that the GNA spoke to said, the techniques involved in the dance were very demanding and they needed to focus to ensure that it was well performed.

They appealed to the public to give the needed recognition to dancers as it was peculiar profession.

They urged the authorities to put pictures displaying the country’s cultural dance at the Airport as done in other countries.

Alkebulan’s Awakening is a must watch for every Ghanaian as it promises to be an entertaining and educative cultural event.