African
Healing Dance, with lead dancer Wyoma and the dancers and drummers
of the Damballa dance troupe, is a step-by-step dance course on healing
traditions and spiritual movements that are special to the African dance
heritage. An African proverb teaches, "If you can talk, you can
sing, and if you can walk, you can dance." Thus African Healing
Dance is suited for beginning to advanced dancers, students of
dance, instructors, and choreographers studying and/or performing
African dance. The instructional video and included manual provide an
effective guide for a dance or exercise program at home or in a workshop
setting. Director of the Damballa dance troupe as well as head dancer,
Wyoma begins with a simple warm-up, including breathing techniques; body
articulation movements for the hips, chest, shoulders, and feet; and
stretching. She then artistically integrates the teaching of six
traditional African dances with the passion and joy of connecting dance
movements that have the spirit and energy of nature and the elements
(water, wind, fire, and earth) and animals such as the snake, elephant,
and bird. A final portion of the 70-minute video is called "The
Healing Journey," in which Wyoma encourages personal exploration of
inner rhythms and feelings through improvisational movement. As one
watches this video, it is difficult not to feel the pulse of the
drumbeat and the spiritual strength of Wyoma and her celebration of life
through dance.
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