Jaryion Surney moved to the middle of the dance circle.
Facing six drummers, he jumped, bringing his feet to his outstretched hands.
The circle cheered. He jumped again. The cheering grew louder as he sprung into the air three, four times until finally he bowed to the drummers and melted back into the ring.
The African American Dance Company’s 18th annual dance workshop took place Friday and Saturday at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, offering dance classes including West African, modern and bantaba.
Surney, 16, studies at Wirt-Emerson Visual and Performing Arts Academy in Gary, Indiana. He was one of more than 50 high school and middle school students who attended for free through a scholarship program.
The scholarships allow young minority students to see there are places for them both in the dance world and on a college campus, said Hannah Crane, a communications assistant for the African American Dance Company.
“It’s incredible to have the opportunity for kids to learn that their bodies and their ways of movement are appreciated,” Crane said. “We want them to receive the message that they’re welcome here.”
The scholarships were instituted last year and were sponsored by several campus groups, including the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, the African American Arts Institute and the IU Student Association, Crane said.
Larry Brewer, a teacher at Wirt-Emerson who attended the workshop with 18 students, is an alumnus of the African American Dance Company. He and his students left for Bloomington at 6 a.m. to get to Neal-Marshall by the 11 a.m. registration time.
It’s important for his students to have the chance to come to a college campus, Brewer said.
The workshop also aimed to help students learn new styles of dance and push them out of their comfort zones.
When Surney was in the middle of the dance circle, he said he just wanted to express what he knew. In the moment he said he could feel the energy from the other dancers and from the drummers.
Drummer Tony Artis said there’s a constant exchange of energy between the drummers and the dancers. The dance is a visualization of the rhythm.
“You can’t separate them,” Artis said. “The song, the drums and the dance — they’re all one.”
This year, the workshop featured a drumming master class for the first time.
Participants of all experience levels learned from Clifton Robinson, a professional drummer and musical director at the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago.
“We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to learn from an expert,” Crane said. “Often, dancers don’t get the opportunity to be on that side of the conversation.”
At the end of the Friday afternoon bantaba class, the dancers lined up in front of the drummers.
Instructor Glendola Yhema Mills placed her hand over her heart, then to the floor. She moved to the next drummer and did it again. Hand to heart, hand to floor. The line of dancers, snaking around the room behind her, followed suit.
