Battiste Langston, Andrea M. (9/25/1990)
From our 30th reunion memorial service
Andrea Battiste majored in international affairs and was a cheerleader. She worked for the Ministry of Art and Education in the British West Indies and with the Arthur Hall Dance Ensemble in Philadelphia. She died at her home in 1990.
Appeared in the Charlotte Observer, September 27, 1990
Mrs. Andrea Marie Battiste Langston, 33, of 615 Woodruff Place died Sept. 25, 1990, at home. Funeral and burial will be in Atlanta.
Mrs. Langston, also known as Noni Olaniyan, was a San Francisco native and had been a dancer and choreographer for 15 years. She earned a B.A. in international affairs in 1979 at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H. and had studied at the University of California at San Diego, UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College.
In 1981 she founded the Ile Ife Umoja Culture Bearers performers. She had worked with the Afro-American Children’s Theater, the Rameses Jubilee Celebration, CPCC, Friendship Baptist Church’s child development center, Spelman College, Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla., and “Africa Alive” festival in Rock Hill. She also had worked with the Ministry of Art and Education in St. Lucia, British West Indies, and Arthur Hall Afro-American Dance Ensemble in Philadelphia.
Survivors are her son, Kimathi Olaniyan; daughters, Chinue Olaniyan, Shashuweyni Olaniyan, and Adeneke Olaniyan; parents, Al and Joyce Battiste of Atlanta; brother, Anton Battiste of Atlanta; sisters, Ms. Ava Battiste, Ms. Arienne Battiste, both of Atlanta.
Memorials may be made to Noni Olaniyan Memorial Fund, care of Afro-American Cultural Center, 401 North Myers Street, Charlotte, NC 28202.
Republished with permission from The Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by The Charlotte Observer.
Appeared in the Charlotte Observer
NONI OLANIYAN: HER DANCE HAS ENDED,
BUT THE MUSIC OF HER LIFE LINGERS ON
Thursday, September 27, 1990
By Valca Valentine, Staff Writer
Noni Olaniyan was like a princess who stepped down from a magic carpet to share her special gifts.
She was a wife, a mother and a culture bearer who made her contribution by exemplifying what true freedom is: the courage to be yourself.
At 11 this morning, the creative community and all who celebrate freedom of expression will honor Noni during a memorial service at the Afro-American Cultural Center, 401 N. Myers St., in Charlotte.
Dance, music, testimonials and prayer are included in the ceremony for those who mourn the loss of our beautiful African sister.
News accounts have highlighted the tragic death Noni suffered in her Charlotte home Wednesday night. Adults and children cry and seek answers, putting their daily lives on hold.
But enough of that.
Noni`s way was always to put personal problems aside, because the show must go on.
She had an inner strength that was obviously connected to a higher power. She could separate herself from the things that could weigh a person down, walk onto a stage and electrify an audience. When she danced, it was if she were dancing on air.
You could feel the universal spirit that touches all people.
And so, let us celebrate her life.
We, her friends, learned from Noni that it’s important to be yourself, because that’ s all you can be. And there’s no better way to celebrate life than to be yourself.
That is what made her unique.
Noni, a graduate of Dartmouth College who traveled and worked across the United States, France, Italy, Holland, Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia, St. Lucia and Kenya, could easily have escaped to the middle class.
But she chose an Afrocentric lifestyle because for her, it seemed to possess more meaning. Her expression didn’t solely manifest itself through externals – her waist-length dreadlocks, dashikisor cowrie shell jewelry. It was deeper than that: It was a genuine love of everything African.
As a mother, Noni passed this love of culture on to her four children.
She shared that culture by giving them heavy doses of love and special attention. They danced with her, they performed with her.
They need not be victims. They received more love in their young lives than many people receive in a lifetime.
Other children, especially those she worked with in the Afro-American Children’s Theater, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and public libraries feel a loss. They, too, need to remember and draw on the love and culture Noni imparted to them.
Noni gave direction to many of us.
“Hey Bro!” “Hey Sistah!” was her usual salutation.
She’d hug you and the rich smell of sandalwood oil, her favorite, would stay with you for the rest of the day, almost as if she were sending you off with her special protection.
Friends remembered her Wednesday night.
Ruth Sloan, a Charlotte writer and producer who introduced Noni to the cultural community when she came here years ago, said Noni was “one of the most dedicated, beautiful women I have ever known.”
T.J. Reddy, a Charlotte artist and poet who, with his wife, Karen, looked out for Noni as she began her new life in Charlotte, said, “Culture for Noni meant shared human values.”
And Michael Porter, a Charlotte musician who performed with Noni, said “Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and all the rest of them are probably playing Noni’s song, letting her dance her little heart out.”
Republished with permission from The Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by The Charlotte Observer.
Appeared in the Charlotte Observer
EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK: A UNIQUE AND GENUINE SPIRIT
Thursday, September 27, 1990
By Jane McAlister Pope
Jane McAlister Pope is deputy editor of The Observer`s editorial pages.
When she danced, she seemed only lightly bound to Earth. Noni Olaniyan swayed to ancient rhythms with an almost ethereal grace. A light shone through her even when she moved through shadows. Now that light has been extinguished.
On Tuesday Noni`s estranged husband stabbed her to death, then killed himself. Another sad, senseless slaying in a time when murders are becoming almost routine. But this killing touched me deeply. I join the many who now grieve.
I did not know Noni Olaniyan - unfortunately, we never had reason to speak together or become acquainted - but I have seen her essence. Anyone could who saw her dance, and I had that good fortune several times. Each occasion shines brightly in memory, but one persistently sticks out, because of the children.
The time: mid-August 1989. The place: the Dilworth Jubilee, a neighborhood festival. Seven months pregnant, I was more interested in sitting than wandering, so I perched upon a stone wall to see what there was to see. Much to my delight, Noni was dancing, her African robes and longhair flowing as she swayed. She invited children into the dance, encouraging them to let go of self-consciousness and allow the music to take hold of their bodies.
They looked clumsy, but who wouldn’t beside her? Just watching, I felt like a hippopotamus next to a butterfly. Of more importance, they caught her contagious joy in movement, her sense of physical freedom.
I remember thinking: Here is a special woman, a unique and genuine spirit. Here is someone who brings a sparkle to children’s eyes.
Noni Olaniyan possessed rare gifts, which she lovingly shared.
Charlotte was made more beautiful by her presence, and is lessened by her passing.
Republished with permission from The Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by The Charlotte Observer.
In memory of Andrea Battiste Langston, the Class of 1979 has purchased the following book for Baker Library:
Bushman, R. I., The Refinement of America
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