AKRON, Ohio — The Black Beanz aren’t an average boy group hoping to make it big.
These Akron teenagers are African refugees who learned to sing and choreograph dances on their own, watching YouTube videos backed up with plenty of practice, said the group's dance coach, Chomba Olenga, 15.
On Saturday night, the Black Beanz will take to the stage at the Akron Civic Theatre for Global Getdown, an event allowing them to show off their skills and invite audience members to learn their moves as well.
“They should get ready to get excited because it’s going to be fun,” Olenga said.
Global Getdown is April 16 from 7-10 p.m. at the Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St. in downtown Akron.
An East High School student, Olenga came to the U.S. in 2016 with his mother and 11 brothers and sisters as part of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. Displaced from Congo, his family had lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania.
Since he came to the U.S., Olenga has been in several dance groups, with most in New Hampshire where his family lived before coming to Ohio, he said. In addition to being the Black Beanz coach, he is also a DJ and photographer.
At the Civic Theatre, the Black Beanz will perform with the Hot Pepperz, a trio of Nepali dance groups, said Tom Crain, co-director of Shanti Community Farms, an immigrant-focused nonprofit.
Shanti Farms is an educational urban farming project that helps young immigrants “learn and earn,” through performance-related activities such as Global Getdown, and Yard Corps, a project offering mowing, planting, landscaping and tree trimming.
The Black Beanz and Hot Pepperz are affiliated with Shanti Farm’s Teen Ambassador Cultural Representative Showcase (STARS).
At the civic center, the Black Beanz performance will fuse Bongo flava, which means flavor in Swahili, with hip hop, reggae and traditional Aboriginal dance, Crain said. The Hot Pepperz will perform traditional Nepali dance, martial arts and Hindi Bollywood dance style.
Black Beanz members are close friends and work collaboratively to create their dances, taking turns freestyle dancing, with Olenga as coach pulling it all together.
“So when we start dancing, like we just put on a song, then somebody's got to come in front,” he said. “If you think of a good move that goes with the song you bring your move, then somebody else comes in. Then I take which move is better.”
On Saturday night, the Black Beanz will open with a choreographed fight that tuns into a dance performed to an African beat, he said. Then the group will teach the audience.
“We wanted to teach people how to dance like African dances,” he said. “So after the Black Beanz are done performing, they are going to teach people, like make people stand up and chant a song, and do moves that people can dance to.”
The boys’ talent recently caught the attention of professional dancers. Black Beanz was accepted to perform at the 2022 OhioDance Festival, which is April 29 through May 1, Crain said.
To land that opportunity, the boys competed against hundreds of other groups, and was the only group not affiliated with a professional dance school and without a professional choreographer, he said.
Black Beanz members were also awarded full scholarships to participate in workshops over the weekend of the OhioDance festival, he said.
“We are so proud of these guys for this incredible breakthrough in statewide recognition,” Crain said.
To help the boys prepare for the festival, Crain put out a plea on Facebook for dance teachers, he said. Over spring break, Black Beanz has plans to meet with three volunteer dance instructors.
The Black Beanz also offers dance lessons for elementary-school children on Saturdays at Patterson Park Community Center in North Akron.
Black Beanz has a fan club and offers merchandise on its website. Tickets to the Global Getdown can be purchased online and are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $25 per ticket. For more information, visit the Black Beanz website.