Step Afrika!

Step Afrika! is coming to Moody Performance Hall on Friday, January 15, and Saturday, January 16. Both shows run from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, so you've got two nights to choose from. The company is the first professional troupe devoted to stepping, a percussive dance form that started in the early 1900s on historically black college campuses. Back then, African American fraternities and sororities — today known as the Divine Nine — used it to show pride, unity, and love for their organizations. Step Afrika! took that tradition and brought it to the stage, blending those fraternity and sorority styles with traditional African dances and contemporary forms.

Since then, they've taken the form around the world, touring more than 60 countries and earning a spot among the top ten African American dance companies in the United States. Reviewers describe their stage presence as jaw-dropping in precision, boundless in creativity, and absolutely contagious in the joy it brings. It's a high-energy show that keeps the roots of stepping front and center while pushing it into something larger.

This particular run is billed as a Martin Luther King Jr. weekend performance. It's presented by TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND as part of their TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND series, in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center. If you're not familiar with the series, it's one of the main ways dance finds its way into the city's performing arts scene.

Both performances are at Moody Performance Hall, 2520 Flora St, Dallas, TX 75201, from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM on Friday, January 15, and Saturday, January 16.