“The time is now right”: the Company celebrates 15 years with a return to South Africa

Stepping Up to a Dance Phenomenon

Written by Diane De Beer for Tonight, published September 15, 2009

“For 11 years, the US group travelled annually to South Africa to do workshops and performances with artists and children alike and some members of the Soweto Dance Theatre joined them for performances in the US. Step Afrika!’s last appearance here was in 2008 and they are eager and extremely excited to return.

“It feels like a homecoming,” grins Williams, who explains that he knows this is not their home, but it is where their company was born.

Since the death of Semela, they haven’t been back, but the time is now right. Their visit is in partnership with the US Mission to South Africa and the State Theatre.

“It changes lives,” says Williams, who both back home and in South Africa saw kids transform as they got into the stepping experience. It espouses themes such as teamwork, academic achievement, and cross-cultural understanding. “Dance is simply used as the tool,” he
explains.

In the past few years, this Washington DC-based group has reached tens of thousands of Americans each year and performed on many stages mainly in the US, but now they’re back to resurrect their local connections.

VIEW THE FULL 2009 ARTICLE HERE