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Liberian Dance from the Kru Ethnic Group
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| Naome Gedo Diouf | Kine Marcella Diouf, Apprentice |
At public feasts and celebrations of the Kru people of Liberia, West Africa, only women perform the klakan, a dance that signifies passage to womanhood. During a period of three months to a year, young girls are sent to the grebo bush, a traditional school in the woods, where they learn cultural skills and appropriate behavior, including the klakan dance, expected of them as Kru women. Master dancer Naomi Gedo Diouf, who is Liberian and has been dancing since she was five, learned the Klakan and other dances from her mother and grandmother. She is raising her daughter Kine Marcella Diouf who was born in California and is now eight years old, to follow many of the customs of her ancestral people through dance. Learning this dance is a traditional component of a Kru girl’s transition to womanhood.
Visit Naomi Gedo Diouf's website
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| Naomi Gedo Diouf |
These photos were taken during a recent visit by Amy Kitchener, ACTA Executive Director.
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Apprentice Kine Marcella Diouf is learning the Klakan coming of age dance from her mother and Master Artist Naomi Gedo Diouf. Here, Kine practices in traditional Liberian dress while her brothers who provide rhythmic accompaniment look on. The lessons take place at the Alice Arts Center in Oakland. In Klakan, the dancer is covered with red clay from the earth and white chalk from the swamp as a sign of her training and transition. |
| As a native Liberian, master artist Naomi Gedo Diouf (left) learned the Klakan and other traditional dances from her mother and grandmother. Since the apprentice is Naomi’s daughter, this project represents the generational passing down of Kru customs. |  |