Kuumba is a Kiswahili word that means creativity, and it is one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, a week‑long holiday celebrating African American and pan-African culture.
To celebrate Kwanzaa and in the spirit of Kuumba, the goal of which, says Dr. Lindsay Gary, is “to leave a place more beautiful than we found it,” Dance Afrikana will present its 3rd Annual Kuumba Festival, a showcase of Black performing arts in mediums such as dance, music, fashion, poetry, and more.
This year’s festival marks its return following its 2019 debut and subsequent COVID-impacted 2020 edition, which featured filmed performances presented as a drive-in film. Though the first two festivals were held on December 31, the day the principle of creativity is celebrated each year, Gary says this year’s event will be “more of a pre-Kwanzaa festival.”
“You have other [principles], like faith and self-determination, but this one was really important to bring a celebration for Kwanzaa to the city and to highlight Black dance and African dance,” says Gary, the founder and artistic and executive director of Dance Afrikana. “But this year, we’re doing it on December 1 because the 31st is just really hard with everything going at the end of the year.”
For the first time, this year’s call for performers was formally opened to all genres of Black and African performing arts, a decision Gary says acknowledges the range of artists who have expressed interest in the festival since its launch.
“Although it was supposed to be primarily for all types of Black dance – so, anything from Africa, anything from here, other parts of the African diaspora, that was the goal – because Black arts are so intertwined, we started getting all these other artists who were interested,” says Gary, adding that the initial 2019 lineup expanded past dance to include spoken word performers, an Afro-Brazilian band, West African djembe drummers, and more.
This year’s festival will feature poet and spoken word artists PhoenixSole and Saji Samii, singer-songwriter Soulliaa Rae, Afro-Brazilian martial art by Capoeira Luanda, and a fashion show featuring Gary’s African-inspired clothing line House of Osumare. The festival will also welcome back Batalá, the same Afro-Brazilian percussion band that performed during the festival’s inaugural year.
Dance will still be heavily featured with works from Houston-born international dance artist Jasmine Hearn and Dance Afrikana company member Breyonna Milton on the program, as well as a much-anticipated world premiere from Dance Afrikana and commissioned artist Lindi Yeni titled “Isibonakaliso se Ntombi,” which is Zulu for “The Young Woman’s Vision.”
Yeni, a Zulu woman from South Africa, founded the Houston dance academy Kuumba House and served as executive and artistic director until her retirement, and she was also one of Gary’s teachers. The premiere of Yeni and Dance Afrikana’s collaboration was originally announced over Labor Day weekend during the Houston Black Dance Festival.
“It’s a South African dance piece, so we’re doing everything from Zulu to the gumboot dance,” says Gary, who will dance lead in the Yeni-choreographed piece, which also features Yeni, Brilyance Burnett, Tulani Sulaiman, and Dance Afrikana company members.
Gary says she’s excited to share the many different types of art that will be on display. “Being Black is also about being multicultural, because we have so many different cultural manifestations from around the world, whether you’re coming from West Africa, East Africa or South Africa, or you’re coming from the Caribbean or Latin America or the U.S. There are so many different manifestations of Black and African culture that you’ll see in one night, so I think people will learn a lot, and they’ll also feel connected to what we’re doing.”
The festival is a family-friendly, all-ages-welcome event, with Gary saying “anybody who really wants to learn, who wants to enjoy the holiday season, and who respects what will be on display” is encouraged to come.
“I want people to understand the importance of what Black people have contributed to our world through the arts and in other ways – in so many other ways,” says Gary. “This will be an opportunity to engage with that and also learn about culture, to learn about that aspect of Kuumba, and to connect with African and diasporic culture directly.”
As an example of this connection, Gary says that the festival will open with three things: “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song widely known as the Black national anthem; an ancestral libation; and, because it’s Kwanzaa, a lighting of the Kwanzaa kinara, a candle holder designed to hold one candle for each of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
“We will be doing that as a ceremonial reminder of the importance of Black people connected to us and also the people who just want to support the Black arts. It’s not just a Black show. We are putting Black artists on stage, but everybody needs to learn about Black history and culture, and this is a beautiful way, an artistic way, to engage with that.”
The 3rd Annual Kuumba Festival is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, December 1, at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit danceafrikana.com. $35.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
