More than 20 of Soumah's former colleagues from Guinea's national ballet troupe, Les Ballets Africains and the Les Mervilles D'Afrique, are participating in a weeklong conference on dance and music, ending with Oakland's first all-Guinea musical production, "Lahydi," tonight, Saturday and Sunday.

African drumbeats are commonplace at Malonga, a thriving center for multicultural dance, arts and music in downtown Oakland. But the studios and main theater are hopping this week as the acrobatic male dancers leap over each other in single bounds, create pyramids by standing on each others' shoulders, perform flips front and back or spin on the ground in what surely was the model for the breakdancing craze in the United States.

Soumah and artistic director Kemoko Sano oversee rehearsals, barking out instructions in their native language, positioning the dancers on the stage just so. Sano is a famous director and choreographer, revered in his native Guinea.

As a dancer, Soumah, 37, has won international acclaim in his own right and is sought after around the world both as a performer and teacher. He also is a cultural ambassador for Guinea, leading tours to his hometown every year and helping to support 34 members of his family. But there is no mistaking his respect for the older Sano.

"I've been with Sano for 20 years, since I was young," Soumah said. "He taught me to be everything, to dance."

That they could even hear each other over the drums on a recent Tuesday was a miracle. And pretty soon a balafon, which looks like a xylophone but has wooden keys laid over different-sized gourds to amplify the tone, is brought out to help tell the story of Lahydi, which translates to "the promise."

It is a traditional West African tale of trust, love and betrayal and the consequences that befall two close families of the same village when a lifelong promise is broken.

Two mothers, pregnant at the same time, promise that if a son is born to one and a daughter to the other, the children will one day marry. Soumah plays the adult son.

"These are all my friends, we danced the ballet together in Guinea," Soumah said. "(Members) split up and went to New York, Alabama, Hawaii, Chicago, everywhere. I called them up and told them I wanted them to be here, and they said they would do anything for me.

"Oakland is so nice and very supportive, I hope they will leave here with good memories," he said. "I hope (the show) goes very well. If it does, I will do it every year."

Soumah and Theo Williams, a producer who also lives at the Malonga center, are co-producing the show and footing the bill for the airfare, lodging, food and expenses for the performers while they are here.

The idea, Williams said, is to present as full a production as one would expect to see at the Zellerbach Theater in Berkeley or the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco despite only staging it on a community arts budget. If the show is successful, they will try to find a sponsor to stage another production next year.

"The Malonga center is going to try and elevate the level of productions seen here," Williams said. "Besides what the center gives to the community, we have world-class artists and musicians right in our own back yard. These people could be anywhere, but they chose Oakland."

"Lahydi" premiers at 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Tickets are $20 to $25; call 451-6100 or visit www.urbanevents.com The center is also sponsoring a series of public dance conferences from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today; 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.