WAATO SiiTA will be celebrating its native Senegal at DanceAfrica at BAM this weekend (photo courtesy of the artist)
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAMcafé, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 27-30, free – $60
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
For its thirty-ninth season, BAM’s extraordinary DanceAfrica program takes audiences to Senegal, celebrating “Doors of Ancient Futures.” The Memorial Day weekend festivities, under the leadership of new artistic director Abdel R. Salaam (from Forces of Nature) and beloved artistic director emeritus Chuck Davis, feature performances in the Howard Gilman Opera House by the Senegalese troupes Les Ballets de la Renaissance Africaine “WAATO SiiTA” and Compagnie Tenane, Senegalese legend Germaine Acogny (“the Mother of Contemporary African Dance”), and Brooklyn’s own BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble, joined by Forces of Nature founding member Dyane Harvey-Salaam and Reverend Nafisa Sharriff. Be on the lookout for both traditional and contemporary movement, including krumping, popping, and breakdancing. There will also be a late-night dance party May 28 in the BAMcafé with DJ Tony Humphries, workshops on May 30 with WAATO SiiTA choreographer Pape Moussa Sonko, a FilmAfrica series consisting of ten films screening in BAM Rose Cinemas (including Nicolas Cissé’s Le Terreau de L’Espoir, Yared Zeleke’s Lamb, and Jason Silverman and Samba Gadjigo’s Sembene!), and the oh-so-fab outdoor DanceAfrica Bazaar (May 28-30), chock-full of vendors selling African products, from clothing and music to jewelry and food.