African Footprint dancers in action
Cape Coast based Ghanaian group, African Footprint International (AFI) last week enchanted a capacity audience with music interspersed with traditional dances, acrobatics and aerial performances in the Danish city of Aarhus.
In a dramatic show at Godsbanen, a theatre located in downtown Aarhus, the group paraded diverse artistes from various countries including Burkina Faso, Kenya, Denmark, Australia and Ghana.
Traditional percussive instruments alongside koras, guitars and trombones blended in harmony as voices from Danish singers filled the theatre with refreshing songs spiked by Ghanaian jargons.
Atsiagbekor, Togo Achia, Bawa and Fume Fume were theatrically incorporated into vertical and aerial performances alongside loud drumming and cool rhythms from western instruments.
Operating through a device attached to the ceiling on a long rope, Esther Wrobel (Australia), Kojo Amissah (Ghana) and Nafsi Acrobats (Kenya) explored ?space? in three-dimensions moving freely and swiftly in circular, vertical and horizontal directions while swaying the audience in the process.
The incorporation of aerial dance provided the opportunity for innovations in the choreography and dance vocabulary as the dancers freely surveyed various possibilities whilst floating in well-coordinated formations.
A number of renowned Danish trombonists, guitarists and drummers joined the group amidst cheers for the performance of ?Move On?- a brilliant piece composed by Samuel Kweku Addison, director of AFI.
The Danish tour by AFI is being made possible by the kind courtesy of Godsbanen, Royal Academy of Music (Aarhus), Addison?s Mighty Works Aps, Keld Hosbond, Klejtrup Musikefterskole, Den Rytmiske H?jeskole, Shanghai Akademi, Sydjurs Musikskole, Brandbjerg H?jskole and www.artsghana.org.
From John Owoo, Aarhus, Denmark
