For five years, Banda has taught residents how to rhythmically celebrate their bodies every Wednesday at the Saratoga Community Center, where all cycles of life and living—birth, death, travel, healing, welcoming, marriage—are interpreted through dance.

As much as the class is a learning experience, it is also an intense workout, with constant movement through various songs. As drums and vocals set the pace to this physical exploration, students keenly focus on Banda, ensuring proper footwork and pacing. Unknowingly, smiles sweep the faces of the participants as they learn to let go and give their bodies time to creatively wander.

But Banda is not just teaching the students how to move—he is also inadvertently creating a unique cultural community.

Banda aimed to stir up a special sort of fellowship in America in 1987, when he left Malawi, Africa, as a political refugee to become a college student in Ohio. After graduating with a major in theater and a minor in dance, Banda began setting up literacy community programs throughout the South. He then took to the California coast to study theology. Years later, he is a master teacher, performer, shaman, masseuse, and 2001 recipient of the "Unsung Heroes of Compassion" award given by the Dalai Lama.

Not only does teaching African dance provide Banda nostaglia of his past but he uses it to reconnect a society that is constantly being modernized and pushed and pulled apart. "It's good to just get together and dance," he says, "to get into the body and away from the mind." The Bay Area seems particularly receptive to this form of reconnection. "The response has been amazing," Banda says. "There has been an openness ... one thing after another, in terms of being welcomed and accepted."

Senior Saratoga recreation supervisor Kim Saxton-Heinrichs says the class is very popular. "People work very hard in there, but it's a lot of fun. Students—men and women—come out with big smiles on their faces, saying what a great, fun workout it is," she says. "He is just amazing. When you meet him, you feel all the generosity and spirit that he has. He is honest and wonderful; everyone loves him."

Students are very enthusiastic about the class, and a number of them have attended for several years. George Havelka has been taking the class for four years. "I love to move," he says. "And it's not just an hour of a good workout. It's an hour of different movement. It's such a good class."

Leanne Gibson has been participating for nearly three years. For her, the class "puts things in perspective. It helps you realize there is still happiness, and you can be joyful." And it is not just the dance movements that create the positive atmosphere. "Masankho has so much joy. It is great to be with him," she says.

"Dance builds community, and it builds friendship, and it builds honesty," says Banda. "Here, we live increasingly fragile lives. People are isolated by distance or where they work. By having this time, we slowly start building a small community."

A new session of Banda's class, "Celebrating the Rhythms of Life with African Dance," will begin June 18 and last through Aug. 18. The class is sponsored by the Los Gatos­Saratoga Community Education and Recreation Department and takes place on Wednesdays from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. The cost is $96. To register, call 408.868.1248. For more information about Banda, visit www.ucandanc.org.