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HOUGHTON - Mama Yeye has heard the excuses bystanders give for not participating in one of her African dance workshops: Not African. No rhythm. Not a big enough butt.

At her beginners' class Wednesday night, she wasn't having it.

"I came here all the way from Atlanta. You're not going to sit in the audience," she told the crowd of more than a dozen people at the McArdle Theater at Michigan Technological University.

Mama Yeye, whose name is Apetebli Yeye Olori Oriyomi, led several workshops at Tech between Sunday and Wednesday, including Sekere drum building, Yoruba storytelling and African dance.

First Wednesday, she introduced the building blocks of the rhythm - the djun-djun, a bass drum played with a stick in conjunction with the agogo bell; the djembe, a smaller chalice-looking hand drum; and the congas, which later migrated to Cuba and became the foundation of Latin jazz.

The dancers first sat in a circle and practiced basic clapping exercises. Then came the dancing. Mama Yeye would demonstrate each new step for the dancers and continue with them for a few feet before turning back and letting them continue on their own.

African dance is polyrhythmic, Mama Yeye said, meaning dancers' bodies will be doing different things in different directions. She told the dancers not to bother counting the beats, which would make their dances too mechanical. Instead, she told them to get the pulse of the rhythm.

"Once they're in it, they don't have time to be looking at the book," she said of the drummers. "They feel it."

Moves included stepping with rapid knee lifts, two of each leg in succession, and kicking your way forward.

Mama Yeye described that step, performed by the males, as a way to show they were as powerful as the drummers.

"You guys are into that; it's why we have football," she said.

After learning a series of steps, the dancers concluded with another circle, with each dancer stepping into the middle for a quick solo. The workshop then closed with a Yoruba prayer.

Benjamin Bandt liked the focus on the basics of the dances.

"She explained it really well by breaking it down into a number of steps in unison," he said.

Jennifer Mwanzi had fun, despite being out of shape, she said. She was amazed by how well the 52-year-old Mama Yeye moved.

"I was shocked ... she was very agile," she said.

Mama Yeye pledged to come back.

"When I come back, I expect to see you, and you to bring another friend," she said. "This has to continue. It can't just die in the snow."

Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com.