STEP AFRIKA! Performs at Harllee Middle School, 1/12

More than 300 Manatee District elementary school students and their teachers, representing ProjectSTAGE, will get a foot-stomping thrill this Thursday, January 12, 2012 when the renowned dance company Step Afrika! puts on a special performance and student workshop at Harllee Middle School.

Step Afrika! specializes in a dance style known as “stepping” a form of dance that uses the body as an instrument. According to the dance company’s website, stepping “combines footsteps, claps, and spoken words to produce complex rhythms, and has roots in African dance and military marching. In stepping, the dancers wear hard-soled shoes that crack and slap against the floor. Step Afrika! is a dance company committed to furthering the tradition of stepping.”

The dancers from Step Afrika! will perform for the students and teachers of ProjectSTAGE in the Harllee Middle gym at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. They will eat lunch at the school and then put on a workshop from approximately 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The visit from Step Afrika! part of ProjectSTAGE, a grant funded by a U.S. Department of Education three-year grant to the Manatee County School District. The grant was written by the school district and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Education and Community Engagement Department. Funds are provided to train teachers from Manatee County Title One Elementary Schools in arts integration techniques in order to improve student literacy. The grant was awarded in winter 2009. Elementary schools included for participation by the grant are Bayshore, Blackburn, Daughtrey, Manatee, Moody, Oneco, Palmetto, Rogers Garden, Samoset and Tillman.

Harllee Middle School is located at 6423 9^th St. E., in Bradenton.