An annual event that’s becoming a fixture in Detroit’s arts and culture scene returns this weekend. 

Social justice organization TéMaTé Institute for Black Dance and Culture is hosting its fifth annual Convening for Dance and Culture Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Attendees can expect to get out on the dance floor, with instructors teaching dances from the African diaspora. On Saturday, dance classes run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Andy Art Center, 3000 Fenkell Ave., followed by a performance by the TéMaTé dance company at 7:30 p.m. at the Detroit School of Arts, 123 Selden St. The dance conference continues on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

In addition to dancing, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about and watch traditional African drum performances.

TéMaTé has tickets for classes beginning at $18, while general admission for the concert is $65. 

Ajara Alghali is the director of the TéMaTé Institute. I talked to her about her start learning African dance, what’s new for this year’s conference and what people can expect to see. 

BridgeDetroit: When did you start learning African dances? 

Alghali: I started performing the traditional West African dances about 20 years ago. I’ve always been a mover, always been a dancer, but I really wanted to get more in touch with culture. But it was actually through happenstance that I came across a class during undergrad at Oakland University. I walked past the class and I said, “What is going on?” And it turned out to be a West African dance class, and I was hooked immediately. 

BridgeDetroit: Is that where you got the inspiration for the TéMaTé Institute? 

Alghali: My inspiration was to see how we could create something here in Detroit. I was trying to view how TéMaTe could be different by looking at the structures of dance companies around the country. It’s really a mix of local movement and also looking at the movement nationally.

We started as an LLC in 2018, but we transitioned into a 501(c)(3) in 2020. We pivoted and changed the way we saw ourselves as dance practitioners and what would be our contribution to dance and how we talked about dance, how we performed it. We didn’t want it to just be performative. We really wanted people to take away a lesson or a story behind the movement and that is how TéMaTe Institute was born. From there, we do a lot more classes, a lot more performances. We have professional development for our company members, and we bring in artists around different disciplines as well, because we really wanted to showcase the similarities and the differences of African diaspora dance practices. We are trying to reframe the lens of what dance is. It’s always been through a Western lens. TéMaTe is just a contributor to a global dance and culture movement because dance is global.

BridgeDetroit: How did you come up with this year’s theme: “Ritual: Rhythms of Life and Legacy?” 

Alghali: That came about during a trip to Mali about two years ago. I was there on a particular Saturday and there was dancing going on throughout the city, in the capital, Bamako. I asked my instructor: “What’s going on?” And he said, “Saturday is the day that most people get married and, on this day, you do this dance.” That dance is bringing the community out in support of everyone’s wedding day, like wishing everyone a good, prosperous foundation in their union. From there, I really started to think about dances that were about ritual because ritual is not religion focused at all. It could be the ritual that you have when you’re getting dressed. A lot of us do particular things when we’re getting ready for the day, right? Like your alarm clock set going off at 6 a.m. and then what’s the process after that? Do you stretch? Do you clear your mind? Did you listen to meditation music? That’s all a ritual. I look to that because ritual is a part of our everyday life and I want to be able to showcase that. 

BridgeDetroit: What’s new for this year’s conference? 

Alghali: We are bringing in instructors from around the country. We’ve always done that, but we added Trinidadian dance to the schedule and also Afrobeats. What we really want to make sure of is that we’re connecting to different parts of the African diaspora, but also the different genres and disciplines. Afrobeats is contemporary dance that comes out of Nigeria and Ghana. It isn’t traditional. It’s a dance that is done in the streets and in the clubs today. As well as us trying to retain history and tradition, we’re also figuring out ways to be innovative.

We have for the first time in Detroit, (dancer) Barakissa Coulibaly. She’s based in Chicago and she’ll be teaching Ivory Coast traditional dances. TéMaTe is a word from the Wobé people of the Ivory Coast and we thought it was fitting to have an instructor that can do those dances. 

BridgeDetroit: Who is going to be performing at the concert at the Detroit School of Arts? 

Alghali: It’s a TéMaTe production, so it is the entire company with a few guest artists. We have Yolanda Jack, who is an amazing thespian here in the city. She will be our narrator. She will be taking the audience on the journey of rituals, being able to connect the audience to the movement, the dances, through storytelling. We’re also adding ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation. I think that accessibility is something that we need to be better at for our organization as well as others. Being able to offer ASL interpretation is something that is personal to my own goals, but also the mission of the TéMaTe Institute. 

We have a total of 10 dancers, eight percussionists, a narrator, two stage managers, so it is a 20 person show. This is our largest production to date.

BridgeDetroit: The Michigan Arts and Council is one of the sponsors of the conference. The organization was affected earlier this year after the federal government cut funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Was it difficult to get financial support for this year’s conference?   

Alghali: The 2025 budget for the Michigan Arts and Culture Council was approved last year, so we have no idea what the budget is going to be for next year. We are definitely hopeful that we will be able to continue to be supported, but we also know that this is a changing landscape. That’s why it is so important for us to individually support arts and culture because we are seeing that funding being cut, and that that could lead to many people not having access to cultural programs as they once did in the past. I’m not saying that people have to go into their pockets all the time to support, but being able to educate folks and let them know that, yeah, these public funds to support the arts and culture ecosystem might not be available for much longer. 

BridgeDetroit: What can people expect to see on Saturday who aren’t that familiar with African dance? 

Alghali: They can expect a really good time. They can expect a community, right? That’s what we are trying to build first and foremost. Also, they are to expect to see and feel like the lineage of it. People do dance just to have fun, but dance is a part of everyday life. Whether or not you’re dancing to mark the start of life or dancing to mark the end of someone’s life, to mark when it’s harvesting time, dance is a part of everyday life. I’m hopeful that audience members can take away a sense of like, “Wow, I really connected to that story,” And if so, they can connect with us and become class participants, ongoing patrons or ongoing donors.