Dancing! Chanting! Jumping! Kenyan Nicholas Sironka, a Maasai master batik artist and Fulbright scholar, leads a troupe of energetic Maasai and Luo performers. This spectacular interpretation of East African traditions and history features depictions of rites of passage, becoming a warrior, and praise of the cattle who give them sustenance.

A Closer Look - About the Artist:

Social consciousness underpins Nicholas Sironka’s wide-ranging work as an exhibited Batik artist, published children's author, Fulbright Scholar, cultural consultant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and designer of a peace torch carried by African women to the United Nations' 1995 World Conference for Women.

The performances are raising money to pay for the public school education of Maasai girls, who otherwise are married at 12 or 13, and to install village wells and latrines. About 300,000 Maasai live in Kenya, about 10 percent of the country's population, but an accurate count of the number living in bush villages is unavailable. Historically nomadic warriors renowned for their bravery, the Maasai in time began herding cattle and settling in villages. Some Maasai traditions were lost in the exposure to modern culture. One of Sironka's goals is to help keep the culture and language alive.

To be a member of this troupe, Sironka  auditions young adults from Maasai villages. The criteria are a talent for song and dance as well as a pressing need for employment. Troupe members come from families with no other source of income. “There is no point in getting somebody who has 100 cows to sing for you. You need those who don’t have other avenues of earning a living,” he said. Sironka has had numerous solo exhibitions and has applied his artistic talents in places ranging from the Somali refugee camps in northern Kenya, where he worked with displaced children, to the International School in Vermont, where he worked with young Americans.

While Troupe members focus on educational opportunities for Maasai girls, they also support Maasai communities by purchasing cattle, building wells, and improving health and living conditions. The funds are derived from minimal charges for the school and community performances plus the sale of the beautiful beadwork for which the Maasai are known.

However, sharing Maasai culture with Americans is also an important goal. Westerners have long been intrigued by the Maasai, an ethnic group of Kenya and Tanzania, who preserved their traditional pastoral ways as the world changed around them.

For more information on Sironka’s work and art, visit:  www.sironkamaasai.com.