76 - Mfoniso Akpan: Artistic Director of Step Afrika, White House Performer, and Guinness World Record Holder

Interview date: March 16, 2025

Episode Summary:

Mfoniso Akpan, Artistic Director of Step Afrika, shares her unique journey from a science student at Stony Brook University to leading a renowned dance company. With training in various dance styles, she combines creativity with analytical problem-solving, using skills from her science background to enhance her choreography.

She discusses her extensive travels with Step Afrika, performing in 60 countries and 49 U.S. states, and the company’s mission to preserve African American stepping traditions. The episode emphasizes the importance of professionalism and discipline in managing the logistics of touring and rehearsals, while also highlighting the business skills dancers need.

Mfoniso encourages aspiring dancers to combine their passions with persistence and curiosity, offering valuable advice on building a sustainable career in dance.

Show Notes:

• (1:00) Mfoniso Akpan’s early dance journey and starting with percussive dance

• (5:00) Balancing dance with academics: Majoring in biochemistry and molecular genetics

• (8:00) Joining Step Afrika in 2005 and her transition from dancer to Artistic Director

• (12:00) Step Afrika's mission to preserve and promote African American stepping traditions

• (15:00) Performing across 49 U.S. states and 60 countries with Step Afrika

• (18:00) Breaking the Guinness World Record for the most steppers in a live performance

• (22:00) The importance of professionalism: Timeliness, responsibility, and teamwork on tour

• (25:00) Combining science and dance: How Mfoniso uses problem-solving in choreography

• (30:00) Teaching dancers the business side of dance: Professionalism, contracts, and logistics

• (35:00) Networking and building relationships in the dance industry

• (40:00) Mfoniso’s approach to balancing multiple passions and staying organized

• (43:00) Final advice: Believe in yourself, keep learning, and make the most of every opportunity

Biography:

Mfoniso Akpan is a distinguished dancer and the Artistic Director of Step Afrika!, a Washington, D.C.-based arts organization dedicated to the African American tradition of stepping. Her extensive training encompasses tap, ballet, jazz, modern, African dance, hip-hop, and step. While attending the State University of New York at Stony Brook, she majored in biochemistry and molecular genetics, minored in dance, and honed her stepping skills as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Akpan began her dance training at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center and has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Apollo Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Lincoln Center. She also toured with the off-Broadway show "Hoofin’ 2 Hittin," where she was a featured stepper and dancer.

Since joining Step Afrika!, in 2005, Akpan served as a performer and leader, becoming the Artistic Director in 2015. Under her leadership, the company has premiered off-Broadway, continued extensive national and international tours, headlined President Barack Obama's Black History Month Reception at the White House, and is featured prominently at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History & Culture with the world’s first stepping interactive exhibit.

Akpan maintains that stepping is a national treasure, an American cultural art form that is a keeper of history—past, present, and future—that should be preserved, innovated, and shared with the world. She continues to share her love of movement and education with students and art lovers globally.

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