Step Afrika! steps across Vietnam

Members of Step Afrika! perform at the HCMC Opera House

Step Afrika!, a Washington D.C.-based stepping dance troupe, visited Ho Chi Minh City and Hue from June 11 to June 13, performing two shows and conducting an arts education session for students.

The nine members of the group demonstrated stepping – which combines clapping, spoken words and footsteps to create complicated rhythms – to students of the Vietnam-USA Society English Training Service Center at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on June 12. Step Afrika!’s members performed several dances and explained the origins of the art form in African-American fraternities and sororities. During this workshop, students were also invited to join Step Afrika!’s dancers on stage to learn and perform a short stepping routine.

Audience members learn and perform a short step routine at the June 12 show in Ho Chi Minh City

Later that day, Step Afrika! performed for a standing-room-only audience at the Opera House. The show featured dances with influences ranging from South African dances to religion. This show, like the workshop, also featured audience participation and performance.

Following their show at the Opera House, Step Afrika! traveled to Hue, performing for an 1,100-person audience at the Thua Thien Hue Center of Culture and Information on June 13.

Step Afrika! concludes its tour of Vietnam with performances in Hai Phong and Hanoi.