Professional dance companies consist of highly trained artists who make it their job to entertain audiences and showcase their talent. Step Afrika! goes even further, demanding audience participation and imparting their knowledge and skill to those in attendance. NAU students packed Ardrey Auditorium for the group’s Jan. 26 performance.

The world’s first professional company solely dedicated to the traditional art of stepping, Step Afrika! demonstrates the ways step performers utilize their entire bodies to coordinate beats, rhythm and dance.

Step Afrika! was established in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, a young graduate of Howard University. Jakari Sherman, artistic director of the company, said Williams learned to step as a part of his fraternity and began Step Afrika! as a cultural exchange program in South Africa. After six years, the exchange evolved into a successful dance troupe, and the group began putting on concerts all over the world.

“In 2000, we began touring,” Sherman said. “We just came back from Los Angeles, and next we’re headed to Portland and Tacoma. We’ve been to Chile, Vietnam, all over. We travel to South Africa annually to return to our roots and celebrate our anniversary each year.”

Step Afrika! performances provide unique experiences on a global level. While in Flagstaff, five of the seven visiting dancers taught a workshop for NAU students on the afternoon of their performance.

Myliesha Martin, a freshman elementary education major, said she enjoyed learning from the show’s performers.

“I learned the step called ‘teach you how to step,’” Martin said. “My favorite part was interacting with the performers and learning the different types of claps.”

During their routine, the dancers kept the audience on their feet while clapping hands and voices carried throughout the auditorium. The performance included traditional stepping, audience-judged competitions between male and female dancers, skits, and the creation of the Unity Step Team.

The Unity Step Team consisted of 17 audience volunteers who were taught such step movements as the “blade,” in which dancers’ arms are thrust diagonally upward, and “around the world,” which consists of moving the arms in a circular fashion.

Mary Snodgrass, a freshman interior design major and member of the Unity Step Team, said the show, including her own stepping debut, was unforgettable.

“Being on stage was so much fun,” Snodgrass said. “I learned how to step. I was so nervous I was shaking, but the dancers were so talented and really funny. The show was amazing.”

The performance not only included dancing for entertainment purposes, but as a cultural lesson as well. The performance of the South African “gumboot dance” illustrated an art form created by the nation’s miners. The performers enhanced the dance with a skit in which they dressed as workers in a mine, while Sherman represented the group’s ill-spirited supervisor.

Marilyn Herrera, a junior sociology major, said she found the dance to be an interesting look into another culture.

“It was great to see that even through the adversities accompanying mine work, the workers still were able to create their own art form,” Herrera said. “As with every other part of the show, it was great to see a unique part of another culture in such an entertaining way.”

For more information on Step Afrika!, and to find tour dates, visit stepafrika.com .