Join Bessie Award–winning Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater in celebrating its 25th anniversary (2026–27) with its production of The Revival: Djembe in the New Millennium, coming to Los Angeles on May 9, marking the company’s first-ever performance in the city.

The Los Angeles engagement serves as the centerpiece of the African Soul International three-day celebration (May 9-11) of African heritage, community, and the Mother’s Day National Holiday, hosted in partnership with African Soul International (ASI), a 25-year-old West African cultural arts education organization that serves more than 200 schools annually across the Los Angeles region. The weekend will open with a performance by “Le Ballet Dembaya,” one of LA’s premier West African dance companies, underscoring a cross-coastal celebration of African diasporic culture, unity, and artistic exchange. ASI's on-site boutique will be open throughout the event, offering West African imports, cultural fashion, and curated gifts, a perfect complement to the weekend's celebration of African heritage and community.

The Revival depicts the transformative influences of West African culture, music, and dance from Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Haiti, and Trinidad on the urban cultural landscape in Bed-Stuy during the early 90s to the present. It also fuses traditional and contemporary music genres and dance styles including Folklore, Djembe, Afrobeat, Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B, as well as the song “African Dream,” recorded and performed by Talib Kweli (from his album “Reflections Eternal”), which is a fresh addition to the show.

The newly revamped production will also feature a live ensemble of six dancers, four master drummers, a balafon player, and a guitarist, new costume designs by Nigerian fashion designer Wunmi of the WowWow by Wunmi line, a live griot performance by Kweku Amankwa Hunter, and a multi-media retrospective tracing the evolution of African diaspora arts in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy community.