A Portland dance company that has performed halftime shows at Moda Center is about to fill the Newmark Theatre with the sound of West African drums, and this time the cast brings dancers of different ages together onstage. Sebé Kan Youth African Dance Company presents Nankama: Born For This on Thursday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m., a production that brings Mali and Guinea traditions to a downtown Portland stage through live music and multigenerational movement.
The show centers on celebrating the journey of life through the years, according to KATU, highlighting different phases of life through dancers pulled from a range of age groups. Younger performers learn from older performers throughout the piece, while older dancers draw energy from the younger ones, a dynamic the station reports reflects the spirit of community-building across generations. Company members Karida Griffith Walker, Simone Walker, and Malia Riley are among those taking the stage as part of the ensemble.
A Company Built Inside Portland Public Schools
Sebé Kan was founded in 2004 by Derrell Sekou Soumah Walker, a Portland native who studied Mandingue drumming and dance in Guinea and across the United States before launching the group as an adult dance and drum ensemble, according to the Sebé Kan Youth African Dance Company. Walker has also worked as a Portland Public Schools educator specializing in West African dance and drumming since 2006, and he expanded Sebé Kan into a youth-focused program in 2018. His own technique was shaped by training with master artists including Mamady Keita, Mouminatou Camara, Alseny Soumah, Moustapha Bangoura, and Youssouf Koumbassa, the company's website notes.
The troupe's name carries its own weight. Sebé Kan comes from a Manden phrase meaning serious sound, with Sebé signifying something predestined or connected to purpose and Kan referring to sound or song, as reported by Grant Magazine. That naming choice underscores an artistic philosophy built around connecting young dancers to ancestral roots through movement rather than performance for its own sake.
From Grassroots Ensemble to Youth Training
After two decades as a grassroots community ensemble, Sebé Kan continues its youth training and performance programs. The ensemble performed halftime shows at Moda Center in both 2018 and 2019, and has also performed at Portland International Airport, according to Grant Magazine.
Weekly training happens at the Harriet Tubman Middle School Dance Studio, where students rehearse with teachers and drummers. Rehearsals there blend warm-ups, rhythmic notation, and peer mentorship across age groups, according to the company. In a region with relatively few dedicated spaces for African diaspora arts, that studio functions as something like an extended village for the youth who pass through it.
Returning to the Newmark Theatre
Nankama: Born For This follows Mobaya: A Coming of Age, which Sebé Kan staged at the Newmark Theatre in May 2025, as reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting. That earlier production also featured live West African music and multigenerational movement.
Sebé Kan has also lent its talent to other Oregon stages. In February 2024, the company collaborated with Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theatre on its production Rites of Passage, with Walker contributing original guest choreography performed alongside youth drummers and dancers, according to Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theatre. The collaboration combined contemporary dance with traditional West African percussion, illustrating the company's broader integration into Oregon's Black dance ecosystem.
Where and How to See the Show
Nankama: Born For This will run at the Newmark Theatre, an almost 900-seat Edwardian-style venue housed within Antoinette Hatfield Hall as part of the Portland'5 Centers for the Arts complex. Tickets for the October 1 performance start at $38 through Portland'5. The production promotes themes of community, culture, joy, cultural resilience, and empowerment, per KATU's coverage of the show.
