Lauded by the New York Times as an “excellent company” whose “versatile cast ably draws on West African dance and Alvin Ailey-esque motions of struggle and striving,” the gifted Washington D.C. performers of Step Afrika! deliver a world premiere in the virtual presentation Stono...
Dance
Storytelling
Step Afrika!
The Migration: Reflections of Jacob Lawrence
Presented by
Hancher
Tickets
Adult: $35 | $25 | $20
College Student: $31 | $10 | $10
Youth: $17 | $10 | $10
This performance is a Group I event - a 20% discount is applied when five or more Hancher events are purchased at the same time.
Thursday, October 20, 2016, 7:30 pm
Hancher Commission
The Migration, Step Afrika!’s new signature work, is based on Jacob Lawrence’s iconic series of paintings charting the African-American movement from south to north in the early 1900s. Each piece incorporates the images, color palette, and motifs of one or more of the paintings to tell the migration story through body percussion and dance.
Season Sponsor: WEST MUSIC
Event Sponsors:
H. Dee and Myrene Hoover
Ed and Ann Lorson
Derek and Pamela Willard
Hancher’s Step Afrika! performance coincides with the release of Invisible Hawkeyes, edited by UI Professors Lena Hill and Michael Hill and published by University of Iowa Press. Several events, collectively known as Fields of Opportunity, connect the performance and the book release.
More information: 
Fields of Opportunity
Running time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Residency Events
Open to the Public
Tuesday, October 18, 2016, 6:30 pm
News
Some sites may require subscription
River Cities' Reader - Tuesday, September 8, 2020
The Gazette - Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Red Cedar Chamber Music is closing out its current season with an eye toward developing a new season that may continue in a virtual world. Based in Marion, it’s also one of three Corridor organizations charting uncertain waters with help from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids also have received the highly competitive NEA grants.
The Daily Iowan - Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Hancher Auditorium has received an Art Works award of $50,000, which will be used toward ongoing projects with Step Afrika! and the Kronos Quartet.
Daily Iowan - Thursday, October 20, 2016
The stage is filled with an array of step dancers draped in cream-colored floor-length skirts. Brightly colored images — abstract streaks of black, blue, red, and yellow — decorate the screens at the rear of the stage as the dancers clap and high-kick in the shifting shadows of the blue-tinged overhead lighting.
Step dancing is a style of performance first developed in the early 1900s by African American college students who, in their movement, aimed to hark back to forms found in traditional West African dance.
Iowa Theatre - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
A unique experience awaits us tomorrow night at Hancher Auditorium. The Migration, Step Afrika!’s new signature work, is based on Jacob Lawrence’s iconic series of paintings charting the African-American movement from south to north in the early 1900s. Each piece incorporates the images, color palette, and motifs of one or more of the paintings to tell the migration story through body percussion and dance.
Daily Iowan - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The book Invisible Hawkeyes works as a centerpiece for the Fields of Opportunity Event, which will last from today to Friday.
The first event during the three days will feature Dora Martin Berry, who became the first African-American Miss State University of Iowa in 1955.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Paris Young in advance at (319) 467-4849 or at paris-sissel@uiowa.edu.