The beating of the drums vibrated through the crowd as Ghanaian dancer Nani Agbeli brought the art of dance and music to UCM for a performance that packed the house at Hart Recital Hall.
The event took place Feb. 16, and families, students and people from the community filled nearly every seat in the auditorium, leaving standing room only along the back wall as the show concluded.
The event was coordinated by Allison Robbins, assistant professor of music. Robbins said she wanted to learn more about culturally diverse dances and styles to be able to teach her classes in a more accurate way. She said she was connected with Agbeli through a professor she had at the University of Virginia. Agbeli is a professor and director of Ghanaian West African Music, Dance and Arts at The Herb Alpert School of Musc at California Institute of the Arts.
Robbins said she wanted to take her knowledge of the art of Ghanaian dance to the next level and was able to accomplish that by learning directly from Agbeli.
Robbins said she initially started learning dance from Agbeli through Skype. After several Skype sessions, Robbins said Agbeli insisted on meeting in person because he was unfamiliar with the technology being from a small area in Ghana.
Robbins said she took nine Skype lessons with him in spring 2016 and seven lessons in spring 2017. Over the course of two years, she had 16 hours of instruction.
Agbeli said the challenges of the Skype lessons were worth it for the betterment of the UCM music department and to create a great performance.
“When I think back I’m still amazed,” Agbeli said. “Honestly it was almost like we were just doing it not being serious and all of a sudden this happened…so it’s almost like anything is possible.”
Robbins also said she surprised herself by being able to learn so much from Agbeli.
“The best part of learning dance from Nani Agbeli was you just see the passion and energy he has for it,” Robbins said.
Michael Walling, a junior music education major, danced on stage during the performance.
“The best part of learning these cultural things was interactions with Nani,” Walling said. “It’s one thing reading it in a book or having a teacher teach it to you, but having an actual ambassador of the culture come and tell you and correcting you is just an experience like none other.”
Agbeli’s excitement was evident during his solo performance of a traditional Ghanaian dance where he wore a garment consisting of over-the-shoulder straps and colorful layers of fabric.
“I don’t get nervous for performances, I just get excited” Agbeli said.
During his performance, his passion and energy was evident as he jumped in the air and engaged in traditional footwork, singing and chanting while pointing at the audience.
Students enrolled in the cultural music course at UCM participated in the dance recital, singing Ghanaian songs and playing traditional drums taught to them by Agbeli.
Alex Smith, assistant professor of percussion, and Ashley Miller, associate professor of dance, also participated in the performance.
During the show, Agbeli taught the audience to sing a traditional African song by going line by line, introducing each letter and the unique sound it made, allowing the crowd to repeat back each sound.
Dancers later encouraged audience members to dance on stage by running into the crowd and grabbing people by the hand. Many children and families jumped on stage to join Agbeli and his class during their final dance routine – jumping, drumming and dancing to the music.
Following his loud and energetic performance, Agbeli gave a speech to the audience about the preparation for the performance and thanked Robbins for her hard work and for understanding his passion and intensity when it comes to dancing.
Robbins said the department of music hopes to bring more culture to UCM with more international performances.
“We would love to do something like this again,” Robbins said. “We would like to keep bringing in artists who can teach us things that we don’t know and who come from places of far and wide and kind of come and bring their traditions and cultures here to Warrensburg.”
VIDEO and ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KAITLIN BROTHERS / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR