Ayoka dancers drum joyous songs again in Tallahassee

It’s a Monday evening — after work for most everyone in the brightly lit studio. But here the 13 women and three men are giving off white-hot energy. The men rhythmically and ferociously beat the drums held between their legs as the women, their feet constantly moving, their arms swinging above their heads, twist and spin in bright T-shirts and long African-print skirts.

This is Ayoka Afrikan Drum and Dance, in class and in preparation for a new season of brilliant performances whose movements are straight out of Africa.

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The group danced at an art reception at LeMoyne two weeks ago, and will perform at The Grove for the 2nd Annual Black History Arts and Culture Festival on Friday, Feb. 10, and two other upcoming events this month.

Starting in 1996 and continuing for more than 23 years, Tallahassee had been gifted with one of the most dynamic, authentic, and brilliantly entertaining African dance groups in the country. The African Caribbean Dance Theatre not only thrilled their audiences with powerful drumming and dancing, but created an energy that reverberated in the bodies of dancers and observers alike.

That group, created by Marcus and Jevelle Robinson who had begun their dance careers with FAMU’s Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theatre under Dr. Beverly Barber, not only performed across Florida, but provided year-round weekly dance and drum instruction for children and adults, and put on 20 years of major, nationally-heralded African Dance Festivals and master classes right here in Tallahassee.

Rising out of the pandemic

But, it seemed, all good things one day come to an end. And just as the fears of a coming pandemic were settling in, the group quietly ceased.

Yet the memory of those pulsing sounds, the leaping, spinning bodies, the dynamic that lit up rooms and souls, didn’t go away for drummers and dancers who vowed to again reignite the cultural blaze of African music and dance here in Tallahassee.

And that is what happened in September of 2019.

Though COVID's “shell” had shut down much, Beverly Tyler-McIntosh, the current lead instructor of Ayoka Drum and Dance, Inc. says that the newly-created company persisted through the worst of it, once again beginning classes and rehearsals and bringing back to life all that was loved in the African Caribbean Dance Theatre.

Bringing us joy

Now, with hopefully the pandemic receding into the past, Ayoka (Ayo=Joy; Ka=Bring Us) is once again — doing just that.

Nzinga Metzger, a FAMU Anthropology professor, has an extensive background in African dance, and works closely with Tyler-McIntosh.

She has said, “Every dance is more than just movement.” The steps that Metzger passes on to the group generate a pulsating heart rate and a sheen of sweat. But “even if there are moves that seem ordinary, they are made with a sense of purpose. There is significance in each movement and in each dance, whether it’s a celebration or just storytelling.”

That authenticity, that connection to their own history and indeed, precursors, is one thing that draws so many African Americans to dance.

And then there are those drums. Beating as if angry, but in fact, releasing power into the universe, players say that coordination with the drums is everything. “They are the heartbeat, the energy, the synergy, the primal aspect of what we do,” says Tyler-McIntosh. Using breaks to signal starts or stops, tonight’s three drummers not only play intricate rhythms, but bend, twist and leap even as they pound out elaborate tattoos.

'Dean of drums'

Olusegun Samuel Williams, known as the “dean of drums,” with more than four decades’ experience as an African drummer, is a powerfully built man whose command of dance and music tells the (usually) women dancers, who also drum, when to begin and when to shift to another beat.

During Festivals he will lead up to 15 drummers and 20-25 dancers. During a recent LeMoyne Museum performance, he and some of the male drummers seemed to suddenly explode onto the dance space, becoming leaping, spinning, dervishes who would not be contained.

Tyler-Mcintosh, who often drums as she dances, lists some of the various types of African drums and notes that in each of the wide range of countries, the drumming styles and sounds are different.

“In Mali, the sound is fluid and open. Congalese drums are ‘grounding.’ In Senegal, they seem to be flying. From Guinea to Ghana, Nigeria, where they play in water, the drums look and sound different,” Tyler-Mcintosh said. “For me, when I do this—dance and drum—I feel… joy. I feel light and free. I feel my ancestors and my own life in the drums. This is why we dance and drum for weddings, births, hopes for good harvests, at deaths, and rites of passage.”

Open to everyone

Tyler-McIntosh finally takes a moment to sit down even as the action continues. “What is so wonderful is that here we invite everyone … mothers who are working, children who are in elementary school, high school and college, elders, as well as white people, Asian people, and Latin people. This is what the community wanted and needed,” she says.

Tyler-McIntosh laughs contentedly as she says that Black History Month has brought on “25 times more calls than we can handle for performances of Ayoka.” But she says this only energizes her.

In addition to the art reception at LeMoyne two weeks ago, the group will dance at The Grove on Feb. 10. This spring, following their previous mentors, Ayoka will present the Tallahassee African Dance Festival on June 8-10, at the FSU School of Dance.

“It feels good to be back,” Tyler-McIntosh said. “Feels good to again be giving Tallahassee what it needs—movement, energy and joy.”

If you go

What: 2nd Annual Black History Arts and Culture Festival, presented by the Florida Division of Arts and Culture

When: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10

Where: The Grove Museum, 902 North Monroe St.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Ayoka Afrikan Drum and Dance revives a tradition in Tallahassee