Handed Down - Nevada Arts Council

1995–1996
African Dance:
Malick Sow and Abayomi Goodall
ance and drum is everyday life. What we do
“Devery day, we express it through dance and
drum. If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you
can sing.” That is how Malick Sow describes the place
of art in his home country of Senegal, in West Africa.
Malick was born in 1950 into a griot family in Dakar.
He describes a griot as a “living book,” learning and
passing on the history of his people through stories and
songs. “Those stories, they come from one generation
to another, from father to son, from grandfather to
grandson. In Africa…we have a big tree we call baobab
where all the elders get together and give the word of
wisdom. It is up to the young generation to operate
those words of wisdom to the community, that’s how
it’s passed down.”
Malick began learning traditional dances and drumming
from his uncle at the age of four, and went on
to form his own dance troupe and later perform with
the National Ballet Company of Senegal. For the last
ten years or so, he has made frequent trips to the U.S.
to perform and teach, which is how he met Abayomi
Goodall, a Las Vegas dance teacher with her own African
dance company. Abayomi has been studying with
various African dance masters for the last 15 years, absorbing
the culture behind the dances as well as the actual
movements.
In African culture, drums are used to communicate,
sending messages between villages, as well as for dances.
The dances also communicate, telling stories with the
body. Both Abayomi and Malick emphasize the importance
of understanding the cultural context of African
music and dance. As Malick says, “It is not about the
drumming and dancing, it is about the knowledge. You
got to know what you’re drumming, you got to know
what you’re dancing, what that means. So that meaning
makes you live it, and when you live it your expression
is moved, your soul lives with it.” Abayomi continues,
“You can’t do African music and dance, you can’t perform
it without knowing the culture of the people. It’s
part of their everyday life. I tell my students, I don’t care
if you never learn a dance movement, I really don’t, if
you learn the history, if you become a better person, if
you get in touch with your ancestors and your culture…
that’s good enough for me.”
Fortunately for the people of Las Vegas, Abayomi
has learned the movements and is generous in sharing
her knowledge and talent. She has formed a group
called the Children of the Diaspora African Musical
Ensemble and is passing on what she learns from
Malick and other African dance masters to the African
American community.
Learning the
stories behind
African dances is
as important as the
steps themselves;
Abayomi Goodall
learns at the feet
of master
Malick Sow.
Abayomi Goodall and
Malick Sow go over the
steps to a West African
dance.
African dance and
drum master Malick Sow
comes from Senegal,
West Africa.
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