African dance allows -- even encourages -- a person to show his or her personality.
Asa Ene-ita and two of her dance students swing their arms and move their feet as Brent Berry beats out African rhythms on a djembe.
Ene-ita bows a whistle, and the dancers move into a different formation. Berry speeds up the rhythm and the dance takes on a celebratory tone.
African dance comes from within. There are no plies or time-steps to learn.
"African dance is very natural," Ene-ita said. "Ballet dance is very structural."
In her classes, Ene-ita teaches dance movements from Senegal, Nigeria and other West African cultures.
"I add in some modern steps," she said, explaining that the inclusion of familiar steps makes learning unfamiliar steps easier and more fun.
In African dance, slow steps typically are used for marriages so the bride can show off her gracefulness, she said. Faster steps, repetition of jumps and continuous turning are seen most often at festive or ceremonial events.
Berry, who teaches drum classes at C&C Drums and Guitar, said African dance represents a unique relationship between drummer and dancer.
"I'm watching their feet. If they speed up, I speed up," he said. "There are different rhythms, and the downbeat is very presented so it's easy for a first-time dancer to understand."
Ene-ita, who came to Lawrence eight years ago to attend Kansas University, teaches African dance classes at the Lawrence Arts Center and gives presentations in schools and other educational settings.
Katie Kutilek, who has taught dance at the arts center, Liberty Dance and the former Lawrence School of Ballet, is one of Ene-ita's students. She and other members of New Dimension for African Dance troupe rehearse for one hour, twice a week.
"It's not about technique and muscle knowledge but about a human who dances," she said. "There's no wrong movement. It allows for your own personality and interpretations. In ballet you go to the bar and do the same things that have been done over hundreds of years."
Candi Baker, director of dance at the arts center, said Ene-ita brings an ethnic quality to the center's dance program.
"Her teaching approach is not typical. " She teaches much like they would in an African village, as if you were a child where you observe and imitate and pick up new rhythms and movements, " Baker said.
"It's about a sense of the music and rhythms and to let them come out in a variety of ways. There's more of a sense of absorbing and internalizing the movement."
Ene-ita's next class at the arts center begins Sept. 16. The class will meet from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays until Nov. 4. For more information, call the arts center, 843-2787.
-- Jan Biles' phone message number is 832-7146. Her e-mail address is jbiles@ljworld.com.
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