Athens, Ohio: home of Ohio University, a multitude of bars on one street, quirky local restaurants and one of the foremost African dance troupes in North America.
Azaguno, which means “master drummer” in the Ewe Tribe of Ghana, has performed for the last decade, dotting the map with the places it has been commissioned to perform.
The group, which has been invited to numerous cities in more than five countries, is one of the few traveling African dance troupes in North America.
This week, it is performing in Taiwan.
Director Paschal Younge started the group in Morgantown, W. Va., while he was teaching music at West Virginia University. He moved the group to Athens when he and his wife, Zelma Badu-Younge, took positions at Ohio University.
“When we go abroad, they ask where we’re from and we say, ‘Athens,’” Paschal said. “And they say, ‘Athens? Where’s that?’”
Paschal, a music professor at OU, serves as the group’s director and composes original music for each show. Zelma, a professor in OU’s School of Dance, choreographs all the shows.
Azaguno is comprised of 15 dancers, 10 of whom are “apprentices.” For many performers, the transition from apprentice to traveling dancer takes about two years, Zelma said.
Experience abroad and professionalism are some of the factors taken into consideration when Zelma and Paschal decide which dancers will travel. While they both said they wish everyone could travel, the group’s trips are funded entirely by commissions, and they have little control over the budget.
The performance this week in Taiwan will feature two new compositions called “Conversation” and “Fire.”
“We’ve gone before,” Paschal said. “And you can’t do the same thing twice.”
The couple, which originally met when Zelma traveled to Ghana to work on her master’s degree in dance ethnology, has been working together for years.
Paschal, who worked for the University of Ghana at the time, aided in her research.
Eight years passed, and Zelma went back to school at McGill University to get her Ph.D. in education before returning to Ghana. She ran into Paschal again in a chance encounter.
Zelma’s run-in with Paschal was almost as fortuitous as how she found African dance.
Zelma moved around throughout her childhood, spending time in New York, Georgia, Canada and Ghana. She had been formally trained in ballet, jazz and modern dance but did not develop an interest in African dance until later in her life.
James Gbeho, a family friend, was serving as the United Nations ambassador for Ghana at the time and was invited to African dance concerts all over the world because of his diplomatic status. He knew Zelma was passionate about dance and brought her to shows.
“He just made sure that when they sent him tickets, they sent an extra one, and he would give it to me,” Zelma said. “He really took me under his wing.”
Through Gbeho, Zelma was able to take lessons with a master drummer, who in Ghana knows not only how to play the drums but also has knowledge of the dances and folklore of the people. The more her knowledge grew, the more she saw an overlap between African dance and her formal training in other styles of dance.
Throughout this time, Zelma and Paschal kept in touch. When Paschal moved to the United States to take a job at WVU, he gave Zelma a call. The two eventually married and moved to Athens.
“All I wanted in a man was someone I could travel back to Ghana every year with,” Zelma said.
Azaguno has been one of their main projects together, and now the two share their heritage not only with the 15 dancers in their troupe, but also with audiences all over the world.
“We don’t have a passion to be rich,” Zelma sad. “We don’t have a passion to be famous. We have a passion to share our culture.”
mh317008@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
