The Dance Center and Ayodele Drum and Dance Present
Ayodele Drum and Dance
Friday, October 31, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 12 p.m.
Tickets: General Admission ($30); Non-Columbia Student Ticket ($10); Free to Columbia College Chicago students.
Ayodele Drum and Dance’s first standalone concerts at the Dance Center feature the company’s repertoire of masquerade works in honor of Halloween and a new drum piece created by Founding Executive/Artistic Director and Dance Center faculty T. Ayo Alston inspired by her training with Merveilles de Guinée based in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.
"Thematically we are collecting our repertoire of masquerade pieces from different ethnic groups and countries in Africa,” says T. Ayo Alston. “I think seeing that variety and that kaleidoscope of perspectives is a way for us to continue to build community, continue to share with community, and continue to bridge gaps in understanding of African dance.”
Ayodele Drum & Dance exists to foster community from a feminine perspective through the study and performance of diasporic African drum and dance.
Banner image of current and former company members courtesy of Ayodele Drum and Dance, photo by Marc Monaghan
