Sankofa Danzafro

Colombia-based Sankofa Danzafro returns to The Joyce with a program that promotes the legacy and traditions of the Afro-Colombian community, using dance to retell their history. Led by Artistic Director Rafael Palacios, Sankofa means "to return to the root," an African philosophy that proposes that the past is a lens through which to view the present. In Behind the South: Dances for Manuel (Detrás del Sur: Danzas para Manuel), the company pays tribute to Colombian writer Manuel Zapata Olivella’s “Changó, el Gran Putas,” which documents the African diaspora in South America. The work celebrates the vital force of the muntu (the African people) and their use of the dancing body and live music as ritual to invoke Changó, the son of Yemaja and the mother goddess, protector of birth in the Yoruba tradition.

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