Last year while researching a story, I discovered Moon Dance Dynamic Art's Afro-Colombian class taught by Danny Mosquera Lemos. This is definitely one of the classes that I've been meaning to drop-in to for a while. As far as local fusion dance classes go, this one is truelly unique, and is more of an idea than a standardized dance form.
Immediately Danny's arm and neck movements started and the class began. He was obiviously eager to get warm and and into the choreography. A group of at least 15 women of all skill levels enthusiastically followed the expansive movements, and I was glad that I had taken the beginner West African class the week before. The class graciously drilled some basic combinations for the benefit of another drop-in student and I. Quite a few of the women were obviously skilled in African dance and enamored with Danny's style, frequently asking him about subtleties in his movements.
This class is really all about Danny's style. According to one of the regular live drummers, Tim, there isn't any defined "Afro-Columbian" style; it's just Danny's background in Contemporary African, applied to more Spanish influenced traditional Columbian rhythmes.
The rhythms played in class by the three drummers were complex, and the layers of beats tripped up us dancers more than once. I'm not sure that I ever got the quick pattern of beats just right, but I managed to keep up by following the other students. Danny never stopped moving, bouncing on his heels as he consulted with the drummers on his choreography.
Danny was always a dancer. He made an attempt at studying computers at a unversity in Bogota, but he admits that's not where his talents were. "Everyone kept telling me 'When you dance, you look good," said Danny.
He started to train professionally in Contemporary Dance, but it wasn't his passion. When he saw a performance by a local Contemporary African school run by Rafael Palacio, Danny knew he'd found his dance form and immediately approached Raf for an apprenticeship.
"Contemporary African is less rigid than Traditional African," said Danny. I noticed that he used more level changes, bringing some of the collapse and expand movements of Contemporary, blending them with the hopping foot taps of African dance.
As a dancer with Sankofa, Danny spent seven years ttouring Central America, Europe and Australia. But he met his wife Melissa in Bogota, and that is what drew him to Canada. They now live in Shanigan Lake.
This is a video describing what Sankofa as an organization does on an international level.
Now, once again, Danny is a student, this time acquiring his prerequisites for a career in nursing. With a baby daughter at home, his dance performances have been put on the back burner for now. In fact, he seemed so busy I felt grateful that he still had time to teach a class in Victoria.
This class left me sore and I really tested my body. At one point near the end while we were doing floorwork (something I don't have much practice at), my leg started to cramp. But judging from the skill level of the other dancers, I did a pretty good job just keeping up. If you're looking for a challenge and you want to try something that you probably won't find anywhere else, then contact Moon Dance Dynamic Arts and try a drop-in. I dare you!
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