A Nuanced Performance From African Troupe

Audiences who go to see theatrically packaged West African dance usually know what to expect--intricate polyrhythms; vigorous, precision attacks on both drums and movement; and inevitable, seductive reminders of just where the roots of blues, rock and rap lie. North Americans don’t come to African performance as strangers--somehow, we’ve been there.

But we haven’t been everywhere, as proved by Wofa, a likable 10-member percussion and dance troupe from Guinea. At El Camino College in Torrance on Friday night, Wofa (which means “let’s go” in the performers’ Soso dialect) offered many familiar hallmarks, but instead of the nonstop, brightly lit numbers of larger African companies, they created a more intimate, nuanced performance.

Music was the focus--the three dancers were not as articulate as many local and touring African dancers seen here, and often seemed like an afterthought. Individual pieces, tied together by processionals or a wandering drummer, were creatively arranged and staged, frequently in shafts of light and wafting fog (a slightly overused effect by the end).

Each section tended to feature particular instruments--square sikko drums produced a steady thrumming like summer rain; a more delicate sound came from kryin drums, which look like small logs and are played with sticks; and rushes of dexterous rhythms on the dounoun drums were balanced with the contemplative tones of the balafone, a wooden xylophone.

Working with traditional forms and its French artistic director, Francois Kokelaere, Wofa seems to be on a path toward performing its own evolving African identity.