Kumasi Allen
One, two, three, one, two, three.
drumming
Kumasi Allen
She is known as "Mama Ferne." For more than 50 years, she's been the mother of African dance in Wisconsin. Ko-Thi has done a lot of firsts in this state. Ko-Thi is an internationally renowned dance company, and Ferne Caulker Bronson is its driving force. Every step of African dance that's done within Wisconsin has come from Mama Ferne. And without Mama Ferne, Wisconsin wouldn't have African dancing, honestly. Whoo! The name Ko-Thi is Sherbro, which means "to go Black." It was very brave of me to call the company this in the '60s, but I did that intentionally because it-- "Ko" meaning "to go," as to seek, to discover and "Thi" meaning "black." The color black. We've actually seen a massive change occur in terms of how people perceive the African dance and music.
drumming
Kumasi Allen
Whoo! In the early years, Wisconsin wasn't so welcoming. We're talking in the '60s. We came out in African dress and attire and performed. It was to, bluntly put, people screaming at us, "Go back to Africa where you came from." I was young and naive.
laughs
Kumasi Allen
And I don't think I had any idea how hard it was going to be. No idea, no idea. Her idea to form an African dance company started on a day of deep reflection at an infamous trading depot in Ghana built by the Portuguese to export enslaved Africans. Sitting there at Elmina Castle and realizing that there was a disconnect between what Africans in Africa in the '60s thought with those Black people who live in that country called America, that's when the light came on for me. Here we are in the 51st year.
drumming
Kumasi Allen
What Ferne brought to Wisconsin and then the world was African dance, music, and empowerment. When you get in a room with people and the drums are going, the music is going, and the dance is going, you can actually hold on to something, that's called spirit.
singing
Kumasi Allen
This is why the drum and African dance was banned on the plantation. They knew that there was something powerful there. Ferne elevated that power, becoming a trailblazer at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. I think about her work as an academic and scholar. She's always been a frontrunner in that sense. She was the first person to implement African dance classes to build a degree program, a dance program that specialized in this art form. African dance wasn't looked at as an art form. It was more so looked at as a tribal dance. - Whoo!
cheers and applause
percussion and singing
Kumasi Allen
As the years passed, Ferne built Ko-Thi Dance Company into a beacon of African pride. When you step into this room, you are African. It used to be shunned and for a long time growing up as a kid, I was almost embarrassed to be African. I think Ko-Thi's vision is to help people to be able to dream... themselves. Because when you can dream yourself, then nothing can stop you. Mandela taught us that. Gandhi taught us that. Martin Luther King taught us that. It's the most beautiful thing in the world. Alright, here we go. From within the circle of truth,
Group
We will always find continuity, faith, and love. I think it's about reinstilling a connection so people can get back in touch with their soul power...
drumming
Group
...that Black people are beautiful, that Black people can be happy, and can be flamboyant, and can be colorful, and can be joyful.
singing
Group
Black people can embrace other people because we're confident in who we are. After more than 50 years, Ferne is in transition, mentoring the dance troop's next leaders with wisdom and grace. I call myself "the whisperer" because I feel my role now is to help their path in the leadership of the company be a little easier than mine was. Musical director of Ko-Thi Dance Company, Kumasi.
cheers and applause
Group
In African culture, you have to respect your mama. Even though she's not our direct mother, she continuously gives us knowledge of path. When we're wrong, she corrects us. When we say "Mama Ferne," we take that very seriously. It's out of respect for her.
cheers and applause
Group
It is the place where I became an artist. For Mama Ferne, the days of dancing have given way to the rhythm of writing. I hope my legacy will be that in the African tradition, my name will be talked about forever. It took crazy, and it took crazy to start Ko-Thi Dance Company, and it's going to take crazy to keep it going. I found a bunch of crazy young people who believe in a crazy dream and a crazy old woman who are crazy enough to be just this side of successful. Crazy!
chuckles joyfully
Passport
Follow Us