At African Drops we want to share Africa the way we see it through our Journey. We want to share information of cultures, people and places. After covering music it's a must to continue with the activity that starts when the music comes on, also known as Dancing.
This week we meet Uma!
Uma is a twenty year old professional dancer and is now studying dance at the university of London. Uma started dancing at 3 years old and never stopped.
While dancing Uma enjoys the sense of freedom and the thrill off learning new things.
She describes her style defiantly as all round with a extra tone of experimental and feminine. Starting in ballet and contemporary, she built a strong technical base to start exploring here own style. Around the age of 13 she started exploring the world of Hip-Hop and found her spin in breaking. Most recently she started adding high heel commercial and house to her dancing resume. We took a moment to ask Uma some questions to get an insight on Uma's views on dance and the dancing community.
Uma what is your dancing highlight so far?
'One of my favourite moments is a performance I did recently for Frieze Art Festival, in London. Where I got to perform in an art gallery dancing on a floor installation.'
Do you ever get inspiration from your African roots?
'I definitely get inspired by the way African dancers tend to play with polyrhythms in music. I haven't learned very much afro steps but I take my musicality training from watching afro dancers.'
If you have to choose between a B-Boy / B-Girl jam, or a afro tunes party, which would you pick and why?
'For a party I would definitely choose afro because the vibe is more relaxed and fun. B-boy jams are fun for the competition.'
As an international dance student do you see a clear difference in the dance scene in both countries?
'I'd say afro beats are very popular in both Holland and the UK. The B-Boy scene is better in Holland but the hip hop scene is better in the UK. The UK is also doing a lot of innovative things with hip hop theatre at the moment.'
Do you notice an increase in Afro dancing around you in the world of dance? For example in styles where afro wasn't a thing before?
'I do see more influence of afro in other styles and a lot of afro fusions; for example - afro house, afro contemporary and even afro in high heels. I also notice a lot of hip hop and R&B artists collaborate with afro artists.'
Another special thanks goes out to Uma for giving us her time. We appreciate the support and her willingness to be a participate in this interview.
Would you want to know more about Uma and her moves? Go check out her Instagram at @Umapuma1
Trust us, you won't regret it.