It is vitally important to pay homage to our ancestors as well as the divine forces of nature. This suite is dedicated to the rivers in Africa, which are the life force of humanity. The river, a place of calm, solace and energy, is where dancing, singing, gathering of food and water, washing clothes and many other activities take place.
         ACDT is Tallahassee’s own African drum and dance company, and it hosts the Florida African Dance Festival each year.  Kadiatou choreographed this piece as a tribute to the river, central to African cultures (and cultures around the world) as a gathering place and water supply vital to life.
         Conte-Forte, the featured guest artists, and ACDT’s resident percussionists- Aboubacar Camara (balaphone) and Lamine Soumah (Doun Doun)- are all from Guinea West Africa and the rhythms and dance style are Guinean.  The dancers, however, are all local Tallahasseeans who keep this culture alive in our area with their dedicated participation in weekly classes and performances.


Congolese Mosaic
Featured Guest Artists (Congo)
Choreographers: Mabiba Baegne /M'Bayero Louvouezo & others
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         In showcasing the music and dance from different geographical regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this suite will explore a snapshot view of the diversity and richness of the country.
          At this event every year, Mabiba Baegne provides some of the most popular dance classes and performances. This year M'Bayero Louvouezo joins her in choreographing a piece in tribute to the varied geographic regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are fifty-two distinct ethnic groups in Congo with many different rhythms and dances. While they can't all be performed in a twenty minute piece, we'll see a good sampling here.
Featuring the ngoma drum, traditional Congolese music is a central influence in a lot of Caribbean music, most notably the Cuban rumba. Elements of this music also form the foundation of modern American music, from blues and jazz to rock and rap.
This medley features a war rhythm, healing dances, and a more celebratory dance in which M'Bayero learns that it is unwise to antagonize Mabiba!

Yankadi, Macru, DoundoumBa
Featured Guest Artists (Guinea)
Choreographers: Moustapha Bangoura & others
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         Yankadi, which comes from the southwest of Guinea and the northwest of Sierra Leone, is generally done by the Susu, Mandjani and Temini people. It is a dance of courtship between young people who usually flirt by using a scarf around their necks.

Macru is a higher energy rhythm and dance that normally follows Yankadi. It represents the joy a young man feels in winning over the young woman after the courtship in Yankadi.
          This is Moustapha’s second year at FADF, and his numbers are usually very high energy.  This is no exception as we see the male and female dancers try to entice each other through dance.
          DoundoumBa gives a chance for the percussionists and dancers to solo.  There is always one piece in this annual festival where we get to see these top-tier djembe players face off and try to outdo each other.  If you’ve ever shaken a master djembe player’s hand, you know that it is one giant callus.  Seeing the speed at which they solo and how hard they can hit the drum explains why this is...and you’ll see that drummers have a few dance moves too.

Gnete (Birth Celebration)
Featured Guest Artists (Senegal)
Choreographers: Ndeye Gueye & others
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         Whenever a child is born, it’s always cause for celebration. The child brings much joy to the family and village, and represents the continuance of the family name, culture and traditions.
          The sabar drum of Senegal is likely one of the loudest instruments in the world.  One of the members of the sabar family is the tama, a talking drum with a more delicate sound that needs to amplification to be heard over the rest.  In this piece they are joined by a kora, a stringed instrument that is both guitar and bass in one.
         This piece is played to celebrate the birth of a child through music and short vignettes.  The 10th Annual Florida African Dance Festival performance comes full circle- it starts with Black River, a celebration of the importance of the river in African culture. In this piece the dancers are washing their clothes in the river when the birth of the child is announced.  The river continues flowing and the culture will continue on with the newborn child.