Asanti Dance Theatre’s new work Sankofa (Return and Get it), by Appiah Annan, brings together West African performance traditions and contemporary Australian dance practices. Inspired by artists such as Pina Bausch, Alvin Ailey and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and companies like Bangarra Dance Theatre, Annan explores new ways of incorporating African dance motifs and techniques in contemporary choreography.
The title of the work, Sankofa, refers to an ancient Ghanaian symbol of a bird reaching its neck back towards its tail. The idea behind the symbol is that before one can truly move forward, one must look back to the past.
Ghanaian native and Sidney Myer Creative Fellow, Annan has trained in multiple dance forms including traditional African, freestyle, hip-hop, contemporary and acrobatics, which are coupled on stage with his masterful drumming on both stick and hand drums. Annan first founded Asanti Dance Theatre in Ghana to enrich local culture and spread messages of peace, tolerance and understanding. Beginning as a small group of dedicated artists, Asanti Dance Theatre has grown into an internationally recognised theatre company, facilitating workshops and collaborations with an increasing number of performers, visitors and local residents each year. On settling in Australia in 2007, Annan established an Australian branch of Asanti Dance Theatre with the desire to bring Ghanaian and Australian communities closer together.
Asanti Dance Theatre performances help to raise funds for the non-profit organisation Nkabom Centre for the Arts, Creation, Innovation and Community Cultural Development, based in the small village of Dawurampong, Ghana. For more information on this community project visit www.nkabom.org.
Sankofa will play in Melbourne and Dandenong this December.
Malthouse Theatre (Southbank), 14 and 15 December: www.malthousetheatre.com
Drum Theatre (Dandenong) 20 December: more info/bookings: www.drumtheatre.com.au
Photos: Sebastian Avila.