What does West African dance have to do with fractal codes, hormetic healing, and technological innovation? Dr. S Ama Wray unpacks these connections and more on this episode of Groovin' Griot.
Dr. Wray shares how her early experiences with modern, jazz, and Afro-Cuban dance peaked her interest in improvisational forms, and how her work on the Ewe concept of Seselelame in Ghana helped her develop a practice of "Embodiology" that utilizes improvisational movement to support collective wellbeing and dexterity.
And for our movement break, Ore and Azs take you along for a Rhythm and Improvisation Dance class!
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Episode Resources (also https://tinyurl.com/GroovinResources) for more on Dr. Wray's work and for the article about the Kopeyia School visit mentioned in the episode.
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Episode TranscriptProduced & Edited by OreOluwa Badaki and Azsaneé Truss with support from the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Theme music: Unrest by ELPHNT on Directory.Audio
Licensed under a creative commons attribution 3.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Email us at groovingriot@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram
@groovingriotWhat is Groovin' Griot?
Groovin’ Griot is a podcast about how we use dance to tell stories. The term “griot” comes from the West African tradition of oral and embodied storytelling. Griots are traveling poets, musicians, genealogists, and historians who preserve and tell stories via a variety of modalities.
On Groovin’ Griot, we are centering the African Diaspora, honoring the legacies of the griot by talking to the storytellers in our communities who help us understand the role of dance in remembering and reimagining the lessons embedded in these stories. We’ll talk roots, rhythm, rituals, recommendations, and much more.
Episodes released bi-weekly. Email us at groovingriot@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram @groovingriot!