OPAS Education & Outreach
presents

Manga African Dance

February 24, 2011
Carson Middle School
Greensboro, GA


In honor of Black History Month, OPIE (OPAS Partners in Education) returned

to the schools with another Education & Outreach program. On Thursday,
 
February 24^th OPAS presented Manga African Dance from the Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, to students at

Anita White Carson Middle School in Greensboro, GA.

 

Students were treated to an interactive program, Rhythm in Motion, a dance

story that compares the similarities of dances of the Diaspora -- from West Africa,
 
Central Africa, the Caribbean to the new world and beyond. The students were
 
immediately enraptured by the performers when they began with the “Drum Call”

song. This was followed by a demonstration of “Sunu” which is a social dance.
 

From here students were taken to the market place of the Congo with a dance

specific to this region. It was also at this time the performers explained that the

dance is a community experience because it is not just the people dancing but the drummers, singers and those clapping along.

The students were then able to participate in this dance as they became the singers.

 
Next the company demonstrated the blending of dances between cultures with a
 
Caribbean dance and then the Charleston. Students really enjoyed this segment

of the program as the performers brought the teachers up on stage to learn and

do the Charleston. Once the impromptu chorus line learned their steps, Manga

demonstrated for students the blending of dances by performing the Sunu alongside
 
the teachers. The students were brought up on stage next and like their teachers
 
before them they became an impromptu chorus line but this time of Hip-Hop

dancers. Manga danced a Sunu alongside the students demonstrating the similarities. At the

close of the program, the performers answered questions from the students leaving them
 
with one final message … follow your dreams and don’t let other people keep you from them.

 

As a member of the Afegbua Royal Family, Ramatu Afegbua-Sabbatt, founder of Manga African
 
Dance, has been exposed, from birth, to traditional singing, dancing and drumming -- these

traditions have been passed down through the generations.

 

Ms. Afegbua-Sabbatt is a native of Nigeria, West Africa and began her career as an actress,

dancer, musician and storyteller in elementary school where she performed for live audiences.

She has extensively studied West African dance nationally and internationally. Committed to community-based arts education,

Ms. Afegbua-Sabbatt is listed on the teaching artist roster of Fulton County Arts Council School Arts Program and Georgia

Council for the Art’s Residency Artists Directory. She is also an instructor in Atlanta Ballet’s Dance Education Program at the

West End Performing Arts Centre.

 

OPAS is pleased that by tapping into the talent available through the Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, they have been

able to increase the number and variety of the Education & Outreach programs offered to Lake Area students while maintaining
 
the standard set by Founding Executive Director, Roman Terleckyj.


Special thanks to The Plum Creek Foundation for their generous grant which made this program possible. OPAS is currently

working on the Education & Outreach Programs for the 2011-12 school year. Be sure to check the schedule at www.opas.org and

see if OPIE will be coming to your school next.

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