history

In 1997, Northwestern University drumline member Josh Berner wrote a STOMP-inspired piece for Northwestern's annual, student-written musical Waa-Mu. They used pots pans and food trays from the campus dining halls and named the piece "Saga Stomp," taking the name from Northwestern students' common term for the campus food service provider, Saga. "Saga Stomp" combined complex rhythms, energetic choreography, and Northwestern humor in one wild piece and ran as one of the major highlights of the show.

Fueled by the success of "Saga Stomp," Jade Smalls, fellow drumline member and performer in "Saga Stomp" joined Berner to start an independent performance troupe based on the same concepts later that year. With financial help from Northwestern's student-run production company WAVE, they formed Boomshaka and by 1999 staged its first show as headliners, Sometimes You've Just Gotta Put Your Foot Down. Despite being held on the same weekend as Northwestern's notorious music festival Dillo Day, both of the back-to-back performances sold out.

The following winter, Boomshaka sold out all five performances of their second show Evolve, solidifying Boomshaka's presence on campus as a premier performance ensemble. During Spring Break 2000, Boomshaka established itself as a performance ensemble outside of the Northwestern community by touring the Northeast coast and performing in New York, Washington D.C. and Boston. Having grown into a yearlong performance ensemble, Boomshaka separated from Wave Productions in 2001 and produced its third show Be the Groove as an independent production company at Northwestern. Since then, Boomshaka has grown into an accomplished and established ensemble, performing across Northwestern, Chicago, and the country.

Notable Accomplishments

June 2006 Awarded Northwestern University's "Outstanding Performing Arts Production" for 2006 Spring Show, Behind the Groove.

November 2005 Featured guest performers of Toshiba at the RSNA (Radiological Society of North America) 2005 Conference.

September 2004 Featured performers at the second annual CINEME International Animation Festival.

January 2004 Special guest performance with 7-time Grammy Award winning musician Paul Wertico and the Chicago Percussion All-Stars

December 2003 Recipient of the 2004 Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts Grant

May 2003 Featured in performance with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project

March 2003 Interview and performance on MTV's Total Request Live

October 2002 First place winners in the dance division at the Chicago Cultural Center's "C2: College x Culture Competition"

April 2002 Performed with Howard Levy of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Chicago's own latin-funk fusion band Chevere

March 2002 Featured guest performers at University of Michigan's All-Star Dance Concert