The African American Cultural Center Dance and Drum Performance Company is the cornerstone component of the African American Cultural Center.
Dance and drum is a universal language of healing and celebration. AACC founder Malcolm Erni believed that knowledge and understanding of traditional West African rhythm and movement would help to restore the vitality of the East Side community of Buffalo, New York.
The AACC Dance and Drum Performance Company is the first and oldest of its kind in the city of Buffalo, New York.
The movement, sound and visual of the repertory company connects directly to the West African traditions of the Diaspora that it celebrates. Its mission is rooted in the provision of authentic cultural exchange as means of educational enlightenment.
The African American Cultural Center Dance and Drum Performance Company developed under the instruction of West African cultural artists and influence of African American pioneers in the dance genre.
Senegalese nationals who have instructed the Company include, among others: Adama Seydi, Ussnom Sall, Raymond Syla and M’Baye Babacar Rama Diagne. The Company repertoire has been compiled with attention to the stylistic influences of American choreographers Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Pearl Reynolds, Rhema Sterling, Rod Rodgers and Ronnie Latham, among others.
The AACC Dance and Drum Performance Company has performed before an estimated 200,000 people in New York State, South Carolina, Ohio and Ontario, Canada.
The troupe opened for the world renowned Ivory Coast dance company Les Guirivoiries when they performed at the world university games in Buffalo in 1993 and took second place at the Canadian Arts Festival - International Folklore Dance Competition. They have performed at the Nigerian Independence Day Celebration in Baltimore, Maryland, and I Love New York, Art Festival in Albany, New York, and appear annually at the Juneteenth of Buffalo Festival and the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration (at Shea’ s Performing Arts Theatre) in Buffalo. Other Buffalo-area performances include, among many, the M&T Bank Plaza Summer Series, and Darien Lake Annual Summer Ethnic Festival.