The Company based at the National Theatre has performed to roaring ovations by audiences and received raving reviews in the media on nearly all the continents of the world. With aesthetically pleasing dances that combine ancient folk and contemporary dance forms, the rich polyrhythm of percussion and mellifluous melodies, the National Dance Company proved itself worthy Ambassador of Ghana.

 

The company marks the culmination of development initiated by the first President of the Republic of Ghana in 1962 when the Ghana Dance Ensemble was established in the Institute of African Studies under the directorship of Professor J.H. Nketia. The Ensemble was trained and developed by the Late Prof. Mawere Opoku, the Artistic Director whose choreographed pieces and arrangements of traditional dances remained the standard repertoire of the Ensemble.

 

F. Nii-Yartey succeeded Prof. Opoku in 1976 as Artistic Director. In addition to the standard repertoire he embarked on the development of his own concept of the African Dance Theatre, creating extended works that explore not only African Dance forms but also the polyvalent features of performance in African societies within the framework of the Dance Drama, an approach which has become the hall mark of the National Dance company which he now directs.