Members of Step Afrika! performing during "Drumfolk." (Courtesy Jacob Andrew Iwinski)īut they couldn't stop the beat, the performers - powerful in spirit and technique - shouted onstage. The episode led to the passage of the Negro Act of 1740, which forbade enslaved people from learning to read, assemble in groups, grow their own food and even banned the use of the drum. Once it was over, colonizers took swift action and killed most of those who rebelled. Wood writes in the "Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History." Properties were damaged and colonists were killed during the uprising. The show marks the start of the theater's 2022-23 season.ĭuring the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, a group of enslaved people shouted for liberty while beating the drums, historian Peter H. 16, the company explores the uprising's impact on African American music and dance culture. In " Drumfolk," a new work by Step Afrika! at ArtsEmerson through Oct. More than a dozen performers gather onstage, stepping, chanting and ushering the audience through time in a movement-focused history lesson centered on the Stono Rebellion of 1739 - where traumatized enslaved people rose up in pursuit of freedom. On an upraised platform flanked by tall, clay-red sticks, sinewy bodies soar through the air and step to the beat of bellowing quick-paced drums. Members of Step Afrika! performing during "Drumfolk." (Courtesy Jacob Andrew Iwinski)
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