Step Afrika!

February 27, 2009 |

Step Afrika!, a professional step-dance company, will perform in Goucher College’s Kraushaar Auditorium at 8 p.m. on Friday, February 27, as part of the college’s Black History Month celebration.

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. For more information, contact Lamar Hylton at lamar.hylton@goucher.edu or 410-337-6243.

Step Afrika! is critically acclaimed for its efforts to promote an understanding of and appreciation for stepping, a unique form of dance that grew out of the song and dance rituals practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities in the early 1900s.

Founded in December 1994, Step Afrika! performs at colleges and universities in 50 cities from Maine to Mississippi each year. The dance company also frequently conducts residencies, master classes, and in-school performances for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and in schools and community-based organizations around the world.

Based in Washington, DC, Step Afrika! has been featured on CNN, BET, PBS, and NPR, as well as in numerous books, documentaries, and articles about the tradition of stepping. The dance company serves as a cultural ambassador for the United States, representing the nation at events worldwide through special invitations from American embassies.

A portion of the proceeds from Step Afrika’s performance at Goucher will be donated to the Don Miller House, which provides transitional and permanent housing programs for individuals and families with HIV/AIDS in Baltimore.