Dance the winter blues away

It took a lot of cajoling of my lazy self to travel up U.S. 93 on a gray weekend morning in mid-December, but I finally made it to Afrofusion. I may never miss it again.

At the rear corner of a storage-unit maze between Kalispell and Whitefish sits a well-fitted-out studio called Rio, where people spring to life through dance. 

Twenty dancers filled the room, including a handful of first-timers. Five drummers lined one side of the floor. “We can’t do African without live drumming,” instructor Leslie Yancey said and shrugged. “There’s no way.” 

Yancey came to the Flathead after years as a choreographer, performer and teacher, mainly in New York City. With red hair pulled back hard into a ponytail, she wore a chartreuse pullover and a voluminous wrap skirt in a bold blue and black pattern. 

We shucked our shoes and got to it, warming up with a salute honoring African culture and tradition. Then we formed into rows to learn the West African doundounba or dundunba, the dance of strength. 

Yancey cues with her hands because the sound of drums takes over and fills the room. “The drums guide you,” Yancey said. “Tune into that conversation.” She also works to increase our physical awareness. “In our culture we don’t often get a chance to move this” as she pointed to her torso at the January event: “I don’t care how you move it, just move it.” 

Both welcoming and workmanlike, Yancey shepherds enthusiastic and curious learners through exuberant movement and music, which impart an all-day glow. She demonstrates a sequence, the dancers mirror it, and then Yancey might nod and say, “Now let loose” if we look too studious. 

Cheryl, a dancer at the December event, lingered afterward. “This class has been a godsend,” she said, explaining how it helped her out of debilitating illness 10 years ago. “The more I did it, the better I felt.” 

We’re lucky to have a deep and varied dance scene here, which stretches from African and waltz to tap and swing, ballet and folk to salsa and hiphop, and more. 

Among the avalanche of reports on the wide-ranging positive effects of dance, the British Medical Journal published a 2024 research review of a hundred-plus trials, which concluded that dancing reduced depression symptoms more than walking, yoga, strength training or standard antidepressants.  

Dance seems to be popping up everywhere, along with music to accompany it. Ananda and Iona, drummers for the Afrofusion offering, said 29 students showed up for their beginner djembe drumming course, which started earlier this month. Research shows that playing an instrument boosts brain health, just as dance does. 

I can’t wait to tell my gym-rat teenage son what can get him the good feelings, and the girls. 

For me, the biggest barrier to a brighter day is kicking off the covers on a weekend morning. Cheryl also said getting there is the hardest part. Home chores and time leaches like the internet never end, but Afrofusion only happens once a month. She tells herself, “You know you love it, you know it helps.” 

Margaret E. Davis, executive director of the Northwest Montana History Museum, can be reached at mdavis@dailyinterlake.com.