An international student from Ghana, senior dance major Naadu Bentsi-Enchill spends a lot of her time moving. She performs with a variety of dance groups on campus, including Xtacy, WesStep, and Precision Troupe. She is also the co-chair of ISIS and co-founder of Sunsum, Wesleyan’s West African Dance Company. She’s a senior interviewer, and she spent the last two years as an Resident Advisor in Clark. She managed to stop moving long enough to sit down with The Argus to talk about everything from dance moves, to globalization, to writing up some thoughtless freshmen and an RA.

The Argus: Why do you deserve to be a WesCeleb?
Naadu Bentsi-Enchill: I have no idea! I guess most people always see me in profile; I’m always going somewhere. I hardly have time to say “hi,” so people are probably just like, “Naadu is doing a lot stuff. We’re not sure what, but maybe we’d like to know?”

A: So you’re a dance major. How did you know that was what you were going to focus on?
NB: I was going to be a French and Psychology double major. I was very sure of that. But [in freshmen year], Molly Birnbaum ’09 called auditions for her winter dance. I didn’t have any intention of going, but a couple of friends said “You have to go!” And I said “I have no formal dance training!” I was very new to the whole modern dance thing. After working with her I started taking a whole bunch of classes and I fell in love.

A: What do you think about when you dance?
NB: Nothing. There are times when my mind is completely blank; those are the times I cherish dance the most. In Modern III…we do across-the-floor exercises and there are points where you don’t know what your eyes saw on your way from point A to point B… within in your head there’s just this peace.

A: Can you tell me about your dance thesis?
NB: It was influenced [by] my Spring Dance. I had a full cast of self-identified people of color, and it had to do with a poem I wrote about my scoliosis. When I got feedback from our showings, some dance majors said, “Oh, this is clearly about race. It’s clearly a political statement.” I was shocked.  “Where did that come from?” A lot of the people writing these comments were writing theses. They were eating, breathing, and sleeping with topics having to do with racial identity, gender identity, things that helped them form that conclusion. For my thesis, I evolved that idea to the parameters through which dance is perceived and how the audience’s background comes into play, as well as if these parameters can be isolated and controlled for, in hopes of creating dances that can be read as intended.

A: What does the choreographing process entail for you?
NB: I draw from a lot of things. I couldn’t really tell you what the formula is of my choreography. I doodle a lot. When I’m looking for dancers, I pay attention more to their faces, to see how strong of a presence [they have].  That definitely reads a lot in terms of how you can connect to your audience, regardless of how much technical training a dancer has. If you’re dead on stage, you’re dead on stage.

A: Do you use technical terms with your dancers?
NB: Not at all. I’m not technically trained. Period. I’m not going to be in rehearsal and tell someone to do a tour jeté. I do a lot of stuff with silly sounds like “wooo-ooo” and vocal cadences. I try as much as possible to really do my movement full out in front of the dancers. I try to emphasize not pretending but actually knowing the movements. I don’t have any serious ballet terms or anything. I just say [gets up to act out movement.] “We’re going to go…and boom, cat, swipe!”

A: You were an RA for two years. How was that experience?
N: I lived in Clark for three years.  It was fun. I really liked my residents. A lot of them had a lot of fun with my name. Occasionally when they see me they’ll call out “Naa-DO!” or “Naa-DON’T!” I liked the fact that it wasn’t hard to have that mutual exchange of respect.

A: What was your craziest experience as an RA?
N: I’m on my rounds, and my wonderful resident has decided he’s going to sit his friends down, get two handles of vodka, and set them down on the lounge table. It was on his way back to get the shot glasses that I arrived on the floor and saw this whole set-up. He sees me and just says “Hey, how’s it going Naadu?” and then he stops and goes “Oh, Oh, Oh, hey…” [Laughs] I felt so sorry for him.  He was about to put the shot glasses and down and then realized, “Oh, Naadu’s my R.A. I’m busted.”

A: When I was stalking your senior interviewer profile, I also saw that you want to move back to Ghana and start an arts school. What’s your vision for that?
N: I had no formal dance training because arts in Ghana are still developing. A typical Ghanian parent is not going to send their child to college to study dance or to draw or to play an instrument. They’re going to say you should be a business student, or go into law, or be doctor. It’s important for me to go home and show that it isn’t just a pastime; it is an academic pursuit through which you can demonstrate and explore social justice issues. Essentially human capital flight is real. Colonialism replaced our traditionalist values and said they were bad. Today they assess us with Western criteria and structures that don’t necessarily fit our society. I feel like capitalism needs an underdog of sorts to keep functioning and that in itself is not sustainable. It’s definitely sent a lot of things we had established in Ghana into this historical abyss. The youth doesn’t really know where they came from. We have to take hold of what we still remember today and let the youth of Ghana know that globalization is not about forgetting your culture and diluting it with others, it’s just about getting connected with others.