DanceAfrica 2024

This Memorial Day weekend, the nation’s largest festival dedicated to African diasporic dance and music opens up Brooklyn’s stages to the ancestral history and vital living artistry of Cameroon. Now in its 47th year, DanceAfrica explores the past and present of Central African history, arts, and culture, as symbolized by the calabash—a vessel of mystical, practical, and cultural significance.

Partnering with longtime neighbors, first-time visitors, the DanceAfrica Council of Elders, and our partners at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), and The Billie Holiday Theatre (formerly Restoration Arts) to create the nation’s largest festival of African dance—and Brooklyn’s unofficial start to summer. Featuring traditional dance and music from Cameroon, classes, workshops, late-night dance parties, visual art, FilmAfrica’s dazzling cinematic series, and the iconic outdoor bazaar, experience the sights, sounds, and magic of Brooklyn’s most unmissable celebration.

Schedule

Community Day
Sat, May 18th
DanceAfrica 2024 gets started with our annual Restoration DanceAfrica Community Day Kickoff, featuring special guest artists, Billie Holiday Theatre Youth Arts Academy students, and more!

Tribute to the Ancestors
Sat, May 18th
This traditional tribute to those who have passed features music and drumming, dance performances, and a libation ceremony conducted by the DanceAfrica Council of Elders.

Dress Rehearsal: DanceAfrica 2024
Thu, May 23rd
MEMBERS ONLY
BAM Members (Level 3+) will be the first to see this year’s DanceAfrica performance, celebrating traditional dance and rhythm of the Republic of Cameroon, at this working dress rehearsal.

Memorial Room
May 23rd—May 27th
The Memorial Room is dedicated to preserving the tradition of paying homage to the ancestors of DanceAfrica’s past and present, as well as the ancestors of the visiting companies.

DanceAfrica 2024
May 24—May 27, 2024
Now in its 47th year, DanceAfrica opens up Brooklyn’s stages to the ancestral history and vital living artistry of Cameroon, illuminating ties to our most ancient ancestors.

FilmAfrica
May 24th—May 30th
This cinematic companion to DanceAfrica showcases the best new narrative, documentary, and short films from across Africa and the diaspora, with a focus on films from, and about, Cameroon.

In Conversation with Jean-Pierre Dikongué-Pipa
Sat, May 25th
Join us for an in-depth conversation with pioneering director Jean-Pierre Dikongué-Pipa, whose celebrated 1974 feature film, Muna Moto, brought Cameroonian cinema to global audiences.

Late Night Dance Party with DJ YB
Sat, May 25th
Keep the DanceAfrica celebration going after hours with DJ YB, called the “General of Afrobeats,” who brings a mix of Afrobeats, funk, soul, rock, jazz, and hip-hop stylings to the dance floor of BAMcafé.

DanceAfrica Bazaar 2024
May 25th—May 27th
DanceAfrica’s beloved bazaar returns, featuring more than 150 vendors from around the world, offering African, Caribbean, and African-American food, crafts, and fashion.

DanceAfrica Workshops and Classes
May 25th—May 27th
Experience the profundity and excitement of African culture, art, and history in classes and workshops designed for DanceAfrica to teach fundamentals of Cameroonian movement and music.

Council of Elders Roundtable: Legacy & Preservation
Sun, May 26th
Members of DanceAfrica’s Council of Elders discuss preserving the festival’s legacy, and creating connections among the ancestors, the art and culture of Africa and its diaspora.

DanceAfrica and the BAM Hamm Archives
ONGOING
Discover the BAM Hamm Archives’ ongoing mission to preserve the vast legacy of DanceAfrica through projects focused on oral history and recordings.

DanceAfrica Visual Art
May 7th—May 31st
Salifou Lindou’s “La course 2,” a mixed-media work created for DanceAfrica 2024, explores the perceived conflict between challenge and play with two shapes that dance across the canvas.