EUGENE–A special performance by Dance Africa will help celebrate Africa Day and kick off International Week at University of Oregon. The UO Department of Dance will begin the performance at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 10, in the Dougherty Dance Theatre on the third floor of Gerlinger Annex, 1484 University St.

General admission is $2. Proceeds will help fund Dance Africa’s tour of area elementary schools.

The cast of Dance Africa will perform traditional dances and drumming from various ethnic groups in South Africa and West Africa, including Guinea, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Congo, Sierra Leone and Togo. Either artistic director Rita Honka, a member of the UO African Studies Committee, or musical director Charles Doggett will introduce each piece.

Dance Africa, one of two touring repertory companies sponsored by the department, features 14 students clad in a variety of colorful costumes and moving to polyrhythmic drumming for the duration of the 45-minute high-energy program.

Each year, the ensemble of dancers and drummers tours local elementary schools. Between pieces, the children learn hand gestures and song lyrics for the dances from Honka and echo Doggett as he claps the rhythms. Each performance culminates with a round of questions from the audience.

The 1999-2000 tour of Dance Africa is funded, in part, by a generous contribution by Andrea Lewis of Boulder, Colo.

For more information, call the UO Department of Dance, (541) 346-3386.

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