Salama Africa Dance Crew changes dance narrative

The Dzaleka Refugee Camp-based Salama Africa Dance Crew has established itself as one of the most impressive dance acts in the country.

Formed in 2014, the dance group operates as a registered organisation named Salama Africa Dance Crew and has 10 members. Their main focus is arts and education.

The group has performed at almost every major festival in Malawi such as Sand Music Festival, Lake of Stars and Tumaini Festival. They also boast of having performed with some of the big name artists such as Lucius Banda and Tay Grin besides featuring in a music video of Zambian musician Pompi.

In an interview, Salama Africa Dance Crew manager Toussaint Farini said since the group was formed, they have helped to change the way people viewed the art of dancing.

“Right now you can see that dancing has an impact.  Since we came on the scene, we have changed the narrative about dancing. We have pushed the art to a new level. Now people can appreciate that dancing is a job which pays well,” he said.

Salama Africa Dance Crew also operates a recording studio at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa District and also runs a digital learning progarmme targeting children. Currently, the programme serves 1 000 children who learn using tablets.

Said Farini: “We have produced more than 300 songs for people based in the camp and others from the communities outside.  We have deliberately set low prices for our services because we want to promote more artists to produce their songs.”

One of the members of the group, Chris Iwamboshi, said the only challenge they have faced is being denied travel documents to enable them travel and perform outside the country.

He said last week they missed an opportunity to perform in Ghana because of the same. However, he said they will not be discouraged by that.

“I think the government [of Malawi] should reconsider this stance. Some of the boys in the group were born here in Malawi and they feel more Malawian than anything else. When we go out there what we represent is Malawi,” he said.

The group leader said they plan to expand their services to the whole country so that they can reach out to more people in area of arts.

He said: “We feel we have won it all at the local level. Our plan now is to compete at the international stage.”