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Professor of Dance Steve Rooks kept a journal as he traveled through Lusaka, Zambia. Everything he wrote down and saw would one day be an influence for a dance piece. As he began to think of creating a program, he drew on his own exploration of Africa and even a student’s gripping experience with Rwandan captors. The dancer’s work became a reality as dancers and musicians from all over the nation became involved in Rook’s vision of telling a story about African cultures and music.
Like many forms of art, dance is a universal language spoken through the human body: Africa may seem foreign, but one can understand the emotional message through Rook’s choreography in “The Griot Dance.” In an e-mailed statement Rooks wrote, “‘The Griot Dance’ is a collage of works that I have been in some way informed by music, culture or events that have occurred on the African continent.” From sheer personal inspiration came dance works that celebrate the unique place that is Africa.
“The Griot Dance” gets its name from the West African term for storyteller, and was chosen to define the performance as a set of narratives about the choreographer’s experiences of Africa. The program is divided into two parts: The first contains shorter pieces, while the second half is centered on Rooks’ recent trip to Zambia. This second half includes a multi-media piece called “Notes from Zambia,” inspired by excerpts from his journal.
“The last half of the work was inspired by my 2008 mission trip to Lusaka, Zambia,” wrote Rooks. “I worked on a residential farm for about a week, and also traveled on a safari. Each piece of music has some personal connection. I was inspired by photo journals, images from news reports, first hand accounts and a story from one of my students.”
Rooks has been preparing for this dance production for over a year. Coordinating rehearsal schedules with people from different locations around the country has been a hurdle Rooks has had to overcome. “I had to spend part of Spring Break in Houston, and the New York dancers have had to travel to Poughkeepsie on some weekends,” wrote Rooks.
“The Griot Dance” will include dancers and musicians from different parts of the country as well as Vassar’s finest student performers. The dance pieces will feature Lecturer in Dance and Assistant Director of Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) Kathy Wildberger, members of VRDT, dancers from the Alvin Ailey School in New York and members of the Ad Deum Dance Company of Houston, Texas. The music they will dance to includes selections by contemporary African singer-songwriters, a composition by Adjunct Artist in Dance Howard Kilik and works by former Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart.
The dances themselves are meant to be commemorative and exciting, rather than forcing the audience to think, ponder and evaluate what they just saw. “There are some challenges, but the pieces by design are not an attempt to be ‘cutting edge.’ The dances are a bit more programmatic and accessible,” wrote Rooks. “I think the dances are ‘more celebratory than cerebral.’ I am hoping people will have a good time. There are some incredible dancers, and some great music and media.”
VRDT dancers have been working on the project throughout the year and have performed specific dances from it for their spring showings. Dana Cass ’11 is one of the dancers involved in the project; she recalls being especially moved by a dance inspired by a story Rooks heard about the Rwandan genocide. A captured girl was about to be executed, but when it was discovered that she was a dancer, her captors let her live in exchange for a dance. “A lot of the show is based on a lot of emotionally resonant material,” said Cass.
Rooks’s favorite part of putting together this caliber of dance pieces has been working many great artists. Rooks has little fear because the audience appreciates artists who can capture precisely the intent of the work. “We admire dances, I think because we admire dancers,” wrote Rooks.
Dance and art forms such as “The Griot Dance” continue to inspire people today because their ability to communicate with people from all different walks of life. Dance does not have to be all about fancy footwork, but being able to transcend human emotional responses common to all of us. “Dance is a ‘total’ art form that speaks to so many people in every world culture,” wrote Rooks. “Hopefully [‘The Griot Dance’] takes people to a place of the extraordinary, because it happens even in the most abstract dance works, and dancers are divinely created individuals.”
“The Griot Dance” will be performed on April 16 at 8 p.m. in The Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater in Kenyon Hall. Reservations for general seating are upon request by e-mailing dancetix@vassar.edu.
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