Dorothy Wilkie
African Dance

Dorothy Wilkie’s Dancing Tradition

Dorothy Wilkie writes that “The styles of dance I teach, re-stage, and perform, have a rich history that spans the Atlantic Ocean and reaches into the Diaspora of African people, and include West African, (Senegalese, Guinean, Nigerian, etc.), Brazilian, African Cuban, and other Caribbean dances.” She feels, however, that when she started studying West African and Afro Cuban dance with Enrique Admiral, “everything sort of came together in a very meaningful way for me. The spiritual, rhythmic, and movement parts of West African and Afro Cuban dance took hold of me through Yoruba devotion to the orishas (deities).”

Dorithy Wilkie is the artistic director of the dance ensemble Kulu Mele. She writes that “Though my performances with Kulu Mele African American Dance Ensemble take place at community events such as weddings, festivals, and bembes (Yoruba ceremonies), and also at universities, museums, and main stage theaters, I hold dearest those experiences in which I can express Yoruba cultural messages, and in which the audience is participating in and experiencing them as well. A legacy of the African Diaspora, the Yoruba culture has a presence in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean and in the U.S., as well as in Nigeria and other places in West Africa.”

“Our dance and music are essential parts of Yoruba ceremonies, to heal, to seek forgiveness, to offer hope, and to celebrate”

Artists Statement

Dorothy Wilkie has taken on the great responsibility of conveying, with artistic excellence, the meaning that dancing and drumming traditions have to the people from which they come. She writes that “I also want the broader community to have a chance to appreciate these arts as beautiful and meaningful. I focus on teaching young children in my North Philadelphia neighborhood so that they are raised with open minds. I also focus on performing both for the Yoruba spiritual/cultural community here and the widest possible audience because these traditions deserve that kind of attention and understanding. I am personally transformed with each piece I study and perform. I feel I must share that kind of possibility with the members of my troupe and with my young students. There is a path here, one that is hopeful and constructive. I want others to be able to move in these new directions if they are as inspired as I am. The dances, drums, and songs have meaning. It all connects, as a complete circle that lifts you spiritually. It feeds my spirit, and I want the same for the children I teach, as well as for my fellow dancers and musicians, and for others in our community.”

Accomplishments

Dorothy Wilkie has been the artistic director of the Kulu Mele African American Dance Ensemble for more than twenty years. She has choreographed many of the works in their repertoire.

Received a grant from Dance Advance (a program of the Pew Charitable Trusts) for her and drummer John Wilkie to travel to Guinea to train with master dancer/drummer M’Bemba Bangoura and other member of the National Dance Company of Guinea.

Funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 2001 and 2002 to travel to Havana, Cuba to study orisha dancing.