BAOBAB CULTURE TROUPE

“Let’s move for a better future!” Traditional drumming, dancing and singing is still widely spread in Ghana. There is hardly any event without traditional drumming and dancing. If the Chief wants to make a proclamation, they still say: “Beat the gong-gong!”

Starting in April 2004, Mr. Hooper – a teacher at the renowned Cape Deaf School at Cape Coast and an excellent drummer and dancer himself – began to train children of all age groups at the Baobab Centre.
So many children were eager to learn and to participate, that soon Mr. Hooper had to ask his wife Evelyn to assist him, as she herself is a well known dancer. Now every Wednesday about 70 children come to train with Mr Hooper’s Troupe. There are always newcomers, who sit and watch shyly for a while, until they can join in easily, as they have already learned some dances by watching. Even the little ones are surprisingly quick in catching up the rhythms and the different choreographies of the dances from all over Ghana.
At first they started with the singing and dancing, but by now the Culture Troupe has some very talented drummers, girls as well as boys. The girls are the most active ones – exception makes a rule. Many a time our Culture Troupe has been asked to perform at various events in different regions of Ghana and they were always enthusiastically celebrated. In 2005 and 2007 we were even invited to perform at the Panafest – one of the most known festivals in Ghana.
Our children, coming from rural areas, felt especially honoured on these occasions. In 2006 and 2007 they danced during the Reverential Night at the Cape Cost Castle together with groups from overseas and were able to win the hearts of the African Americans in particular. Sure enough they are also a highlight whenever there is a Baobab event. Meanwhile they get invited to events in Accra, to hotels, funerals or village festivals,… In 2008 some of our dancers participated even in the official opening celebration of the Pan African Football Cup. Some day our children might travel through Europe to draw attention to the situation of young, poor Africans, where child labour, domestic violence and unemployment are widely spread. Surely they will win the hearts and hopefully they will win many sponsors.

Let’s move for a better Future!