African Dance

So, with my new membership to the YMCA, I have discovered that they offer Wednesday evening african dance classes. Now, if you know me, you know that I am NOT a dancer. I am 6ft tall. and, i am certainly not light on my feet. But, if there is one kind of dance that i like to do... it is african dance.

My close friend Kevin Shon introduced me to it, at West Virginia. I only did it for one semester there, but, I. loved. it. But, I will tell you it is some fricken hard work. You sweat so good. Some photos from that semester.

I then did both african drum and dance while in vancouver, off and on for the 3 years that I was there. And, it is amazing~ i have found, that it is only in small african dance classes, that i have come close to meeting people who understand what makes a heart beat with the sounds of africa. The "talking drum." I took my lessons as Masabo, which is now Ammara, and taught drums by Fana Soro (the Ivorian in the following video).

i am happy, to be able to have a close, accessible dance class to go too. It is hard, and i am so uncoordinated. But, it makes me sooo happy :) I can't wait to find my feet again. But, until I do, here are some quotes from "Scribbling the Cat." A book I fell in love with a few years ago. well worth the read.

"we should swim, sail, or walk away from Africa, incrementally. Letting bits of her drop away from us, and gradually, in the way, assimilate."

"God made Africa first. When he still had imagination and courage."

"Don't look back, so much, or you'll get wiped out on the tree in front of you."

" THen K... wiped his face with the flattened palm of his hands, a gesture that I think of as being very African. The gesture of a people who are not accustomed to the conveniences of napkins or towels."

"I don't think we have the range of emotion to fully feel what someone else is feeling. I don't think that anyone of us can sit in judgement of another human being. We're incomplete creatures... barely slipping by. You are your own accident of biology and geography and time. He is his. I am mine. We all might have been one another, but for a hiccup of fate."

"Remember the #1 rule about flying...' 'what?'

'Don't think about whether it'll kill you or not.

just spread your wings and drop."