Sankofa Danzafro
Sankofa reaches deep into the urban experiences of black Colombians and pulls out a vibrant new work of dance theater.
19/20 Hop PresentsThrough movement vignettes, The City of Others unpacks the racial undercurrents of Colombia, a country home to Latin America's second largest population of people of African descent. Witness the dreams, tensions and resistance in the Afro-Colombian dance and music of this powerhouse company. Drawing from capoeira, contemporary dance, hip-hop and African forms, Sankofa creates on stage a city in which everyone matters.
Founded by Rafael Palacios in 1997 on the Pacific coast of Colombia, Sankofa means, "to return to the root," an African philosophy that proposes that the past is a keyhole through which to view the present. Palacios told Boston's Fjord Review that the company's mission "is to question the overall knowledge [and] to build a voice of self-awareness, which will allow us to reveal the 'epistemologías' of the African diaspora in the world. ... The City of Others is based on my own experiences and the dancers' experiences with regard to racism in Colombia and the struggles to resist and therefore debilitate it."
Access a press kit (with promotional photos) for The City of Others.
Resources
Download The City of Others Playbill 
“Exhilarating … [a] forward-looking use of tradition. … evokes an urban environment where resilience meets harsh realities.”
—The New York Times
“Director Rafael Palacios’ “La Ciudad de los Otros” (“The City of Others”) was judicious in form, resonant with meaning, and delivered in dance languages that ran the gamut from diasporic African to Latinised hip-hop.”
—Financial Times
In the News
Medellin's Sankofa Danzafro: Channeling Africa in Colombia
"Afropop Worldwide," August 1, 2019: A review of performance in Medellin, Colombia, of "The City of Others," framed by the fact that, in the three years since a peace treaty was signed by FARC rebels...
Sankofa DanzAfro redefines 'The City of Others'
A review of The City of Others says the show "has enough kinetic energy to light up all of Boston."
Review: The Battery Dance Festival Evokes Courtship Rituals Amid Flying Hats
The evening’s revelation was Sankofa’s “La Ciudad de los Otros” (“The City of Others”), an episodic work about urban struggle and resilience combining elements of hip-hop and Afro-Colombian dance...
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