Asadata Dafora

Asadata Dafora (b. Freetown, Sierra Leone, August 4, 1890; also known as John Warner Dafora Horton) was a drummer and multidisciplinary performance artist from Sierra Leone. His artistic endeavors spanned multiple disciplines, but he is best remembered for his work in dance and music. He was one of the first musicians to introduce African drumming to the United States, beginning in the early 1930s.[1]

Dafora was a multifaceted artist, talented in opera and concert singing, dancing, choreographing and composing. In 1934, Dafora created Kykunkor (The Witch Woman), a successful musical/drama production utilizing authentic African music and dance and is considered one of the pioneers of black dance in America.

Early Years

Austin Dafora Horton was born into the Temini tribe on August 4th 1890 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Son to John Warner M. Horton, the city treasurer, and his wife, a successful concert pianist, Dafora grew up in a privileged household (Needham, 233). The surname Horton came from Dafora’s great-grandfather, who was a freed slave from Nova Scotia (Thorpe, 114). Born into a prominent family, Dafora received a European education at the Wesleyan School in Freetown. However, he always maintained a keen interest in the study of indigenous African culture, especially traditions and languages, and knew 17 distinct African dialects. As a young man, Dafora traveled to Europe and studied at several opera houses in Italy to advance his musical training. His crossover from choral music into the medium of dance happened purely by coincidence. He claimed that he went to a performance of West African songs in a German nightclub in 1910, and overwhelmed with homesickness, he broke out into traditional African dance (Needham, 234). His performance was so well received that the club owner contracted him to train a group of dancers to celebrate the opening of the Kiel Canal. While touring with his dance troupe, Dafora was struck by how ignorant most people were about Africa and dedicated the rest of his career to exposing people to African culture.

Dafora was the first dance artist to use traditional African dance in popular performance. He arrived in Harlem, New York City in 1929 intending to pursue a career in opera. However, his interactions with a group of African men at the National African Union soon led him back to his interests in African dance. The company he formed was called Shogolo Oloba (later renamed the Federal Theater African Dance Troupe) and it strove to portray African culture in a complex and sophisticated light, not just an exotic array of mysterious spectacles. Because he strove for authenticity in his work, Dafora preferred to use native African dancers and trained them in African dialects as well as performance techniques. Dafora is credited with the development of the dance-drama, a type of production that fully integrates narrative and song into dance performance. Furthermore, Dafora was the first to successfully stage African ritual in a Western style stage production. His first work, “Kykunkor” (Witch Woman), completed in 1931, was based on African folklore. It opened in 1934 and was such an overwhelming success that it had to move to a larger theater to accommodate the audiences. Dafora’s other works include “Ostrich Dance,” “Zunguru” (1940), and “Batanga” (1941). He also co-authored a radio play with Orson Welles entitled “Trangama-Fanga.” Around 1950, Dafora founded the Academy of Jazz. He has also been the subject of a film by Kinsley Mbadiwe called The Greater Tomorrow.

In 1960, Asadata Dafora returned to Sierra Leone where he became the cultural director of the newly independent nation. His contributions to the dance world influenced many future artists, especially African American artists such as Pearl Primus and Katherine Dunham.

Dafora died in Harlem Hospital on March 4, 1965.

External links

• Asadata Dafora biography
• 1934 Review of Kykunkor