--- title: Barack Obama Showed Off His Groove with His Step-Grandmother description: While on a visit to Kenya, former president Barack Obama got to dancing with his 96-year-old step-grandmother. canonical: https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-18T15:04:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:55.194Z og:title: Barack Obama Showed Off His Dancing Moves With Family og:description: During his visit to Kenya, the former president showed off a move or two og:url: https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3894bcc0a91df1a0/698935a2e76ad209c163286e/barack-obama-grandmother-kenya.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-KENYA-US-POLITICS-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Showed Off His Dancing Moves With Family twitter:description: During his visit to Kenya, the former president showed off a move or two twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3894bcc0a91df1a0/698935a2e76ad209c163286e/barack-obama-grandmother-kenya.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Showed Off His Dancing Moves with His 96-Year-Old Step-Grandmother  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 18, 2018 3:04 PM CUT  Former US President, Barack Obama (C) with his step-grandmother Sarah (2R) and half-sister, Auma (L) arrive to unveil a plaque on July 16, 2018 during the opening of the Sauti Kuu Resource Centre, founded by his half-sister, Auma Obama at Kogelo in Siaya county, western Kenya. Former US President, Barack Obama (C) with his step-grandmother Sarah (2R) and half-sister, Auma (L) arrive to unveil a plaque on July 16, 2018 during the opening of the Sauti Kuu Resource Centre, founded by his half-sister, Auma Obama at Kogelo in Siaya county, western Kenya.TONY KARUMBA—AFP/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 18, 2018 3:04 PM CUT Barack Obama is no longer president — but he’s still on a diplomatic tour of sorts this week. Earlier he gave a speech to celebrate [Nelson Mandela’s 100th](http://time.com/5337741/barack-obama-nelson-mandela-civil-rights-apartheid/ "undefined") birthday in Johannesburg, and previously he was spotted in Kenya getting festive with some of his extended family, including his step-grandmother Sarah and half-sister Auma Obama. The former president, who last visited his father’s native country of [Kenya](http://time.com/3974671/obama-african-union-address/ "undefined") while in office back in 2015, was there to support Auma: she founded a resource center, Sauti Kuu, and the group were marking the opening of the space in western Kenya. So to celebrate the milestone, of course there was plenty of music and dancing. And both Barack Obama and his 96-year-old step-grandmother joined in, to the crowd’s delight. First Obama got to his feet — and then he graciously helped Sarah stand up to try out some of her own moves. As we know, Obama is no stranger to breaking out in a jig and appreciating music, often releasing [hip playlists](http://time.com/4536504/obamas-workout-playlist-spotify/ "undefined") and getting snapped [enjoying the performances](http://time.com/3026961/obama-janelle-monae-kerry-washington-dancing-video-fundraiser/ "undefined") of famous White House guests. He also has a history of getting down while in Kenya: back during his state visit in 2015, [he put on a show](http://time.com/3972764/white-house-obama-kenya-kenya-visit-dance/ "undefined") with the Lipala, a traditional Kenyan dance. (Former First Lady Michelle Obama, meanwhile, has been on her own globetrotting travels. She was last spotted [hanging out with Beyoncé’s mom](http://time.com/5339645/michelle-obama-at-beyonce-concert/ "undefined") Tina Knowles Lawson front row at Beyoncé and Jay Z’s big show in Paris. And they were dancing, too. It’s just an Obama thing.) > [](https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1019571770901389312) > [](https://twitter.com/ntvkenya/status/1018782776688955393) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/"},"headline":"Barack Obama Showed Off His Dancing Moves with His 96-Year-Old Step-Grandmother","datePublished":"2018-07-18T15:04:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:55.194Z","description":"Obama's Kenya visit involved a dance, of course","url":"https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3894bcc0a91df1a0/698935a2e76ad209c163286e/barack-obama-grandmother-kenya.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3894bcc0a91df1a0/698935a2e76ad209c163286e/barack-obama-grandmother-kenya.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-KENYA-US-POLITICS-OBAMA","caption":"TOPSHOT-KENYA-US-POLITICS-OBAMA","creditText":"TONY KARUMBA—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5341833/barack-obama-dancing-kenya/","name":"Barack Obama Showed Off His Dancing Moves with His 96-Year-Old Step-Grandmother"}}]}] ```