"If you can talk, you can sing," they say in Zimbabwe, "and if you can walk, you can dance." That spirit is seconded by Wyoma, the lead dancer and director of Damballa, a performance group. For centuries Africans have danced their prayers, seeking healing and closer connection with the natural world.

On this dramatic and lively instructional video directed by Tami Simon, Wyoma demonstrates how the playfulness of the body can be expressed through movements of the pelvis, the chest, the shoulders, and the feet. In one of the best segments, she shows how the activities of animals such as the snake, the elephant, and the bird can be incarnated in our flesh.

Wyoma and three other dancers, following the heartbeat laid down by the drummers in her troupe, present dances from Ghana, Guinea, South Africa, and Haiti. African Healing Dance conveys the exuberance of ritual movement whether you choose to join in or just savor in your heart these embodied prayers.

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