Bronson stands tall at the front of the room and shouts, “I want you all to repeat after me.” With that, Bronson takes in a deep breath and screams, “I am somebody!”

On a recent Tuesday afternoon on the second floor of Mitchell Hall, a meditation practice is taking place at its finest. The 50 students in Ferne Bronson’s African dance class are sprawled out across the floor after performing a rigorous movement phrase. Bronson stands tall at the front of the room and shouts, “I want you all to repeat after me.”

With that, Bronson takes in a deep breath and screams, “I am somebody!”

Many of the students look at each other in confusion, but they quickly follow her instruction. They tentatively respond, “I am somebody!”

Snorts and giggles abound from the class members as they finish their response. It looks like much of the class is embarrassed by this new exercise.

Bronson ignores her surroundings and presses on.

“I am somebody!” she screams, even louder than before.

The class settles down during this time and they fearlessly shout back, “I am somebody!”

Bronson continues this exercise for the next couple of minutes, but each time she says the three words, she takes in an even deeper breath and drags out the final word “somebody” into what seems infinity. It’s quite impressive.

She first started using this mantra as a way of getting through tough days in her life, she says. Bronson would stand in front of a mirror and shout this out to herself until she finally believed it. She now uses it in class, hoping students will explore their own inner beings.

“Once you can say those three words out loud to the world, you are no longer a victim,” she explains.

Those are wise words from a woman who has devoted her entire life to preserving African dance and culture.

Ferne Bronson grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa under the care of her father, who was African, and her mother, who was African-American. She traveled back and forth to the United States in her 13 years of living in Africa until her mother eventually decided to move to Milwaukee.

In her high school years, Bronson received a Milwaukee Modern Dance Scholarship and traveled to New York City, and studying with the great pioneers in modern dance such as Katherine Dunham and Lavinia Williams. Though Bronson enjoyed her study with these great dancers she said she felt, “shipwrecked at sea, with nowhere to turn.”

It wasn’t until Bronson had the opportunity to study with Pearl Primus, a revolutionary social protest dancer from New York, that she found what she called her “lighthouse.”

Bronson studied under Primus through classes at an old YMCA building in downtown Milwaukee.

“She was a very buxom lady, adorned with beautiful bracelets,” Bronson recalls.

She said Primus didn’t fit the ‘normal’ shape of a dancer and was continually exposing people to ideas of oppression, racial prejudice and violence.

From this, Bronson knew she had to carry out her vision. She was inspired by Primus to preserve her African heritage and expose it the Milwaukee community.

Bronson founded The Ko-Thi African Dance Company in 1969. With Ko-Thi, Bronson has been able expose her heritage to thousands of people around the world.

Her company has carried her legacy into the Milwaukee community by educating students in inner-city schools about African heritage. They’ve also been able to become a part of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts dance program, where the company currently holds residence.

It is the evolution of Bronson’s dance company into a strong family that strikes me as a powerful stepping stone to Ko-Thi’s success. Bronson agrees and says she believes Ko-Thi is a communal effort. She says many of the master teachers started out in the youth company, Ton-Ko-Thi, at a very young age.

Bronson joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dance department in 1971 and created the African dance classes she still teaches to this day. Many of Ko-Thi’s drummers accompany Bronson’s African Dance classes at UWM.

“That isn’t to say there is a hierarchy present in the company, because there is,” she says. “There is history, mythology and technique that are passed down from generation to generation in African dance. And within all this fast-paced, rhythmic dancing there is a community constantly brewing.”

Though Bronson says she is blessed that she has been able to pursue her dreams in life, she is troubled by what lies ahead, specifically for her company. The lagging economy forced her to cancel her company’s fall dance concert back in September.

“I’m afraid Ko-Thi may be going through a black period soon.”

She says local Milwaukee performance venues are asking too much money in rental costs and are demanding a high price to hire stagehands for the concerts.

“I know that we have a general audience that will come to our shows, but not enough to make a profit,” Bronson adds.

Bronson says she is okay with having her company take a break from the spotlight for a while.

“All dance companies go through their dark years. We will continue to rehearse and educate the community for the time being.”

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