While we may have to wait a bit longer to enjoy an in-person performance at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, we can still benefit from Krannert’s role in supporting and commissioning important new work. Case in point: Step Afrika!: Stono. This celebration of resistance and activism, inspired by the company’s dance piece Drumfolk, commemorates the 281st anniversary of the Stono Rebellion—the largest insurrection of enslaved Africans in North America, which took place on September 9, 1739, in South Carolina. Just one year after the Stono Rebellion, The Negro Act of 1740 outlawed the use of drums by enslaved Africans, which gave rise to the use of body percussion forms like ring shout, tap, hambone, and stepping that fuel the traditions and artistry of this Washington, DC-based troupe
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