Sharon Hoyer of New City interviews T. Ayo Alston about our upcoming presentation of Ayodele Drum & Dance at the Dance Center in “Joy and Sisterhood: Ayodele Drum & Dance Make Their Dance Center of Columbia College Debut.”
“There are these old rules like ‘women are not supposed to play djembes...We understand the music for ourselves; we can play for ourselves.””
Ayo, which means “joy” in Yoruba, is Alston’s adopted artist name. “Ayodele” translates to “joy in the home.” This philosophy undergirds the company’s ethos—it’s the first thing Alston mentions in our conversation, and it can be found in the first sentence of the “Who We Are” section of Ayodele’s website. The role of women to this concept of joy in the home is grounded in Alston’s travels to the Republic of Guinea to study drumming and dance, where she was struck by the important role women have in Baga culture—as mothers, as symbols of community.
“I feel it is essential for women to be in tune with African dance as a cultural practice, as a healing entity, as a coping mechanism,” Alston says. Ayodele Drum & Dance makes its standalone concert debut at the Dance Center of Columbia College, where Alston has served on faculty for a decade, on October 31 and November 1.
Alston can attest to the healing power of music and dance from personal experience. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she grew up taking a range of performance lessons from a young age—tap and ballet as well as voice and acting—but fell in love with African dance when she first saw it in seventh grade, thrilled by the combined energy of live drumming, singing and dancing. Alston’s mother died when she was a sophomore in high school, causing her to take, what she describes as, “a bad turn.” After-school programs in West African dance buoyed her through her loss and grief…
