BICHINI BIA CONGO SOARS…

It is utterly fascinating to watch a group of African American women professionals dancing with a Congolese Dance theatre company thrilling fans with such magical performances that endears them to the hearts of many African dance enthusiasts in the United States of America.

Apart from dancing, the ladies also play the long Congolese drum ‘Ngona’, the drum strapped on the ladies, as they play soothing and delightful harmonious percussion in their breathtaking performances.

For thirty two years Biza Yaya Sompa, ace Congolese dancer and drummer has been teaching and performing Congolese dance in Michigan starting the first Congolese dance group in the Midwest.

The group has thrived over the years going through challenges and obstacles but has managed to excel as one of the finest performing groups in the United States of America and the only Congolese dance company in the Mid West.

The members of the group are Dr. Antoinette Williams, Dr. Tamara Tucker, Sarita Leonard, Crystal Williams, Ndambi Chatman, Zakya Sayeed and Nehanda Gyan-Apenteng. All the members are African Americans enjoying their careers yet they all have so much passion for African dance and feel connected to the continent through African arts.

It is amazingly remarkable to watch the all ladies group play Congolese drum in such a rhapsodic manner. The rhythms various drumming pieces resonates and charges in an African spiritual ambiance that blow their audiences away.

As Diaspora Africans, members of the group are committed to embracing their culture through African art.

The group inspires audiences nationwide with high-impact artistic quality African dance performances. The artistic goal of the group is to promote African cultural awareness and to celebrate the connections between Africa and cultures of other parts of the world that unifies all people. The group also educates and allows an opportunity for their audiences to develop an appreciation of African dance.

The group specializes in dance workshops, drumming and instrumentation classes, dance theatre productions, school performances, cultural festivals and other social occasions.

Bichini Bia Congo dance Theatre Company is a non profit dance company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As the only Congolese dance company in the region, the group has established itself to be an authentic African dance performance theatre company.

The group recently marked an important landmark of its formation; they celebrated their thirtieth anniversary at the Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor.

The concert dubbed ‘Ki Ntsamu Kiani’ which literally means that ‘Now I’m going to tell my story’ recapped Biza’s odyssey as a dancer and founder of the group. The concert also brought together and featured the alumni of the group for the past thirty years in a spectacular performance.

Biza and the Bichini Bia Congo Dance Company were utterly stunning on stage. The packed auditorium grew wild in cheering them with a standing ovation after the three-hour performance. Incredibly cheering on and singing along to Congolese traditional music.

Biza’s choreography was exquisitely put together to tell his story in dances like ‘Kondo Kanda’, Kizzingu and a solo performance by Biza were tailored to tell his story as an accomplished dancer and drummer.Other dances performed at the show were ‘Nzokongo’, Zebola, Amba, Sala Ma yaka, Matinu Ma Nuni, Nzobi, Ganza.

The contrast between the dynamic, vigorously high impact dances such as Ganza with the soulful, melodic pieces such as mama musiandi, gave the show Bichini Bia Congo’s versatility and flare.  Creative Director and Founder, Biza Sompa, gains his inspiration from his dances from his life experiences.  For instance, Mama Musiandi is the name of his beloved Grandmother.  This acapella piece with its rhythmic ebb and flow could give the audience chills.

In an interview with Biza Sompa, founder and artistic director of the group, he attributed his talent in dancing to his grand-mother who he credits to have thought him dance when he was a child. He said, “I give credit to my grand-mother who taught me to dance; she was a good dancer and whenever she got down dancing everybody loved it”

Biza’s talent was nurtured from his childhood; he was ushered into his neighborhood dance group at the age of eleven. He narrated further, “When my father and my uncles moved to the city, they brought their culture with them so I used to attend ritual ceremonies in the city with them, of which dance was apart”.

Biza joined a dance group during this time but did not take it serious because the group had just been formed. As the years went by he focused his attention to learning a trade; how to fix cars and also tailoring, until one day he was in the house when a car came looking for him, the National Dance Company was being formed so they wanted Biza to audition and luckily he was chosen to be part of the group.

Biza traveled with the Congolese National Dance Company to Berlin and Russia among other places and that is where he got to see other dances for the first time and realized the aesthetics of dances from all over the world.

At the age of nineteen Biza traveled to join his elder brother Tito Sompa in France, his brother was already established in Paris as a dancer and drummer. Biza’s brother was the first to teach Congolese dance in Paris.  Biza taught Congolese dance with his brother and performed in Paris professionally. Upon invitation of Tito Sompa to the U.S., Biza began his American dance career in New York and California introducing Congolese dance to his new audience.

Biza happened to visit a friend in Michigan and as he put it, he fell in love with Michigan thus decided to settle in Ann Arbor. He got a job as a dance instructor and lecturer at the Washtenaw Community College. He also formed the Bichini Bia Congo dance Company in 1979.

Biza says his support, inspiration and strength has been his wife who is Jilla Sompa, a Zimbabwean native also living and working in Michigan.

Biza Sompa is in touch with his home country Congo; he travels there at least once a year and wishes to be there more often. He hinted that he has plans of starting some projects back home to support his people as well as the budding economy.

He also plans on taking the dance company to Congo and other parts of Africa for the world to see the precision, creativity and cultural enrichment Congolese has to offer both the artistes and its audiences.

Biza now teaches African Dance at the University of Michigan and the Washtenaw Community College both in Ann Arbor Michigan.

Ladies of the Bichini Bia Congo Dance Theatre Company have unequivocally embraced their roots through Congolese music,  they are very connected to their heritage through the power of African dance.