Step Afrika Brings Unique African American Dancing to Weis Center Stage

Rick Dandes, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·2 min read

Feb. 4—LEWISBURG — Step Afrika!'s Black History Month tour brought a taste of African culture and dance rhythms to the Weis Center of Performing Arts on Friday night.

The dance troupe, now an international sensation, was founded by C. Brian Williams.

It was while he was a student at Howard University in Washington D.C. that he was first introduced to the art form of stepping, he said.

Williams defines "stepping" as a highly energetic percussive polyrhythmic art form created by African American fraternities and sororities.

"I was fascinated by the form. It was beautiful and a very unique form of expression. But there wasn't a lot of research about where the form came from. That sparked my interest in wanting to elevate the form," he said.

Twenty-nine years later Step Afrika! is one of the largest African-American dance companies in the world.

"We've been to more than 60 countries across the globe and almost every state in the union," Williams said.

Eleven dancers performed several dances at the Weis Center for about 80 minutes, including the gumboot dance that Williams first experienced in Soweto.

"It's an honor to put this on the stage and introduce it to so many people."

It was in Lesotho that he first saw the gumboot South African dance, and he was struck with the similarity between that art form and the stepping that he practiced.

A lot of the troupe's work is about introducing the art form of stepping to audiences around the country, he said. "Many people still haven't experienced the form."

So one of the goals of the dance troupe is to bring stepping into the American theater. "It's been wonderful to see how audiences around the country respond."

Before the show started at 7:30, Williams talked about Step Afrika! to more than 75 area residents and students who had come early for a pre-show lecture in the Weis Center atrium.

He explained to the audience that the show they were about to see was "sort of an introduction to stepping, a uniquely American art form."

The show is highly interactive, he said. "Audience participation is very important."

Williams encouraged everyone to have fun and make music with the artists as they like.