Introducing new meaning to dance

The African American Dance Compnay considers "energy, rhythm, precision and grace" as the fundamentals guiding its members in dance performance. The AADC will present the 29th annual spring concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre at 114 E. Kirkwood Ave.\nThe concert comes just a week after the Dance Company's annual dance workshop in which children and adults alike came and received not only dance instruction, but also a lesson in African American Diaspora history.\n"I loved the workshop, it was so much fun, it got us excited and made the coming concert mean so much more," said senior AADC member Nakiesha Pearson. \nFriday's concert will showcase a one-time showing of "Once Upon A Rural South." This piece is the result of the collaborative efforts of the African American Dance Company's director, professor Iris Rosa and Valerie Grim, a professor of history in the department of African-American and African Diaspora Studies. According to its creators, the piece is very nontraditional in nature and incorporates a lot of modern movements. Through dance, it speaks of the time immediately after slavery. Raven Akram, a junior AADC member, said that little time is spent in history classes teaching about this very important time post-slavery.\n"Most people only know about slavery, then the Civil War, then we were all free," Akram said. "It wasn't so cut and dry."\nThe AADC will also be performing a Latin piece this year. The piece will incorporate some of the dance moves learned during the workshop. Rosa said that the music was chosen because of the content. The song is about African-Americans in Latin American countries. The music shouts 'Do you like it?,' speaking of how the African-Latino dances incorporate African movements from the performers' native countries.\n"Just like in the United States, they are the minority there," Rosa said. \nThe dancers will also be performing their collaboration pieces for the last time. At the beginning of the school year, the dance company was split into four groups of four or five people. Each group was supposed to come up with an overall dance theme. The dance company chose the title of "Cultural Pasttimes." After this assignment, the individual groups were to come up with individual dance routines that would fit under the umbrella theme. \n"We chose the salon because it is something most people can relate to primarily, women of color regarding the time that is spent there and the reason for going. Nobody gets their hair done more than women of color," said Tiffani Saunders, a graduate student in sociology and a member of the dance company. "It becomes the way to let your outer beauty match your inner."\nThe groups made changes at the start of the spring semester to accommodate new members coming in and old members leaving. \n"We changed our theme to 'Behind the Mask' because we wanted to represent Africans in the Diaspora," said senior AADC member, Doris Clark. \nThe groups also had to come up with music to accompany their movements in order to get a feel for choreography.