At DanceAfrica, the Enduring Power of Love

Not every love story has a third character, but in the case of N’Goma and Normadien Woolbright, there was one, and he was a force of nature: Chuck Davis, who brought African dance traditions to the United States and founded the DanceAfrica festival. It was his idea that the couple — his friends and colleagues — would marry on the stage of the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the annual festival in 1983.

“Life is love,” Davis says in a video shot at the wedding, crossing his arms across his chest before reaching them broadly to either side. “Love is all.”

The wedding was a lavish occasion, but it was more than a theatrical staging of a ritual. DanceAfrica, the vibrant festival now in its 47th year, is as much about building and honoring a community as it is about showcasing artistic forms. Personal moments like the Woolbrights’ marriage ceremony are part of its texture.

Davis brought the couple — N’Goma, 80, is a drummer and Normadien, 71, a dancer — together by bringing them into his world. They have been involved with the festival since its inaugural presentation, first as performers and now as fixtures behind the scenes. At DanceAfrica, N’Goma is a stage manager; Normadien is assistant stage manager.

N’Goma first met Davis while working for the New York Transit Authority. Davis’s musical director worked there too, N’Goma said, and he “wanted me to come down to a dance class with him because I told him I played the drums. I went down to play and Chuck said, ‘Welcome aboard.’”

Up till then, N’Goma imagined his life would be “working a regular 9 to 5,” he said “That was my life — what I projected for my life anyway. But I found the dancing so interesting that I changed course. I still was working, but I just started doing more with Chuck. My whole life changed.”

That was before N’Goma met Normadien, who first encountered Davis when she was in high school and he set a dance on students. She went on to join his company; when her dancing career was over, she transitioned to stage manager. They left the city in 1988, moving first to North Carolina and then to Florida. Each year, they travel to New York for the festival, which Davis directed until 2015. (He died in 2017.)

DanceAfrica’s current artistic director, the choreographer and dancer Abdel R. Salaam, spoke about the wedding in a video program shot with the couple during the pandemic. “This was not just N’Goma and Normadien getting married,” he said, adding, “this was our wedding. It was our marriage. It was our community renewing our love and our spirit and our vows to the culture.”

The couple will work their backstage magic again at this year’s festival, tomorrow through Monday, which focuses on Cameroon. (Siren — Protectors of the Rainforest, a Brooklyn company led by the Cameroonian-born Mafor Mambo Tse, will perform in place of Cie La Calebasse, a Cameroonian dance company that had to cancel because of visa issues.)

Recently the Woolbrights spoke in a video interview about their deep connection with Davis — they are the executors of his estate — their bumpy start as a couple, why, when in relationships, you must let a person be who they are and how their wedding happened in the first place. Did they have a choice? Not when Davis was asking.

What follows are edited excerpts from our conversation.

How did you become a couple?

N’Goma Chuck taught classes at Lehman College, and I would go up there and play drums for his class. I saw her in one of the classes. I said, Wow. She was really long and elegant, you know? She wasn’t interested in me. But when she got into [Davis’s] company, and we were in the company together she had no choice but to be around me as much as possible.

Normadien He worked long and hard.

N’Goma That was ’72 and then it didn’t work until ’77 when we got together. That’s a long, long time.

How did you end up getting married onstage at B.A.M.?

N’Goma Once we started going out, seeing each other, Chuck said, “I want to do an African wedding.” He said it just like I’m telling you now. “I want to do an African wedding, and you and Normadien will get married.” She was in Lake Tahoe. She didn’t even know anything about it. You don’t tell Chuck Davis, “I’m not doing it.”

Did you want to get married?

Normadien Eventually. But the thing was, my head was about dance. You know, we were together, but there were other things that I wanted to do, and that was the blessing that N’Goma never said to me, “Norma.” I went on tour for almost three months and he’s like, This is what you do. And that was rare because most people wouldn’t understand something like that. He would take me to the airport.

N’Goma You were attracted to [a person] because of the way they were. That’s why a lot of people get separated! It’s not the same person you met.

So back to the wedding: Normadien, how did you find out?

Normadien I was on the road on tour, and when I came home, my girlfriend said: “I’m upset with you. I heard you’re getting married.” I said, “I am?”

Oh my God.

Normadien That’s what I said. It took me a while and I said, “Well, Chuck, how did you know?” And he said, “I just knew.”

N’Goma You had your dance life and I was doing my thing, and when the time came, we would be ready. But Chuck made the time. He accelerated the time.

What do you think Chuck was thinking? Did your marriage represent something bigger or something more?

N’Goma He had traveled to West Africa so many times and he saw so many different ceremonies. I don’t think that he was so enamored with us getting married. He just wanted to make a big production.

Normadien Chuck was always about family and friends, and we were just so close. It was a closeness that not many people knew about. He would always say, “You are my right and my left” and for me, he was my brother.

You started stage managing in the early 1980s. How did you transition from dancing?

Normadien I injured my knee. If I can’t give 100 percent, then I know it’s time. I was always helping Chuck with whatever. I was like, I need to take a step and I want to stay around this, and this is one way of me staying involved.

And I always said being on the other side of the curtain, being that dancer, how would I want someone to help me?

You were so close to Chuck Davis. What was it like when he was dying?

Normadien It was quiet.

N’Goma Before he passed away, though, he was in the bed and he said: “I want my feet on the ground. Sit me up so I can get my feet on the ground.” That was so profound to me. I said, “You’ve danced all your life, all you know is your feet moving on the ground.” I said, oh my goodness, this guy’s going out thinking about dance.