A far west hallway of the University Theatre building buzzes with conversation as groups of students gather around the sole classroom door, milling through snow boots and clothes scattered near the wall. Suddenly, high tinks and deep thuds of drums explode from inside the room, seeping out into the hall through the cracks of the door.
This is a typical day of the not-so-typical Ghanaian African Dance class taught by Instructor Nii Armah Sowah.
Having a degree in theatre arts from the University of Ghana and a master’s degree in expressive arts therapies from Lesley University, Sowah brings his personal background and extensive education and experience to the African dance and music classes he teaches at CU.
“You can do African dance movements all your life and never taste what I’m talking about,” Sowah said. “How you can transcend the steps to the heart…so that when you smile, it’s not your teeth there, but your heart showing up in your mouth.”
This same attitude is responsible for the high-spirited, communal dancing in Africa and in his class. For Sowah, the emotion and purpose of dance is just as important as form and technique.
However, on that particular day of class, the next section of African dance that had been waiting in the hall took a break from dancing African steps to focus on culture.
Sowah played a documentary explaining the inherent joy present in African children, though many do not have access to material goods, entitled “Watoto: The Heart of Africa.”
He said that there is an attitude in Africa that is hard for an outsider to understand without experiencing it in person, but that can be seen in the faces of the children in this video.
“[It is] why you don’t have shoes, but you’re so happy,” Sowah said. “And you don’t have toys, but you make your own from a stuffed sock or something.”
At the end of the documentary, the class openly discussed everything from child-rearing to what it means to be a human being. African culture and dance offer a connection to each student’s concerns and ideas about life, the students said. It offers a connection between each student involved.
Students from all disciplines and backgrounds found their way to Sowah’s class with their own unique motivations and assumptions.
Matt Haverim, a junior operations management and information systems major with earlier positive African dance experience, said he was having problems adjusting to CU and sought out the class to gain familiarity.
“I felt soulless in a lot of ways, very academic and stressed out,” Haverim said.
Haverim explained that Sowah creates a community environment by forcing the students to interact with each other and shake their self-consciousness away. To do this, the class does exercises at the beginning of class. During the exercise, students are expected to make eye contact and smile. Sowah makes noises and motions and has the students repeat him.
Taking the class for a second time, Haverim said he believes in the power of the course.
“He [Sowah] makes it a very comfortable thing,” Haverim said. “It should be mandatory for everyone here.”
Leigh Cooper, a 27-year-old graduate student in the ecology and evolutionary biology department, said she also registered for African dance for relief amid a challenging workload. Cooper said the class offered a psychological experience, as well “good exercise” and a break from biology.
“For me, grad school is consuming,” Cooper said. “You forget there are other things to life. [African dance] helps me find new parts of myself or discover parts of myself that have drifted away.”
Contact CU Independent Assistant Photo Editor Molly Maher at Maherm@colorado.edu.
1 comment
This article help me visualize what was being shared in class. Well written!