Ghanaian Dance Troupe Feels the Need for Spee

The Twerrapon Traditionals are playing the Spee. This does not mean the Maryland basketball team is going to school a final club. The Twerrapon Traditionals are not collegiate ballers but members of a Ghanaian drum and dance troupe. Their connection to the Spee was made last summer when Spee members Ian D. Broadwater ’02, John A. Roberts ’02 and Allen P. Tsai ’03 were working on AIDS education with the World Education Program in Ghana. According to Roberts, after seeing the Traditionals’ show, the three “got to be friends with” the group. Back at Harvard, Roberts noticed the streets of Cambridge were woefully lacking a dance troupe, let alone a Ghanian dance troupe with its own rhythm section. The troupe was planning a U.S. tour that didn’t include Massachusetts, but thanks to Roberts’ efforts they’ll be bringing five drummers and four funky dancers to the Spee club this Saturday. It may seem odd that one of Harvard’s final clubs—often stereotyped as roofie-infested meathead havens—would go through so much trouble for an artistic extravaganza. But Broadwater says he is excited to introduce culture to the club. He also notes that the performance will be more fun than watching curling.

—A.J. Washkowitz