DiaTribe: From The Village To The Street

I really enjoyed listening to the wonderful discussion on African music in Portland, all the other parts that tie into it: community, culture, education, our sense of place, and dance.  Discussing what these projects and this music and dance culture means to our community has so much importance that I find it difficult to express.  I was a Jefferson Dancer and while at Jeff I had the amazing opporunity to work with Annoh; at American Dance Theatre we had the pleasure of working with Caton.  Every dancer that was sweating alongside me to the rhythm of those drums probably has the same feeling that I have every time I hear West African drumming, even if they haven't danced for 20 years.  Kids, adolescents, and teenagers that experience these sounds and rhythms carry these sound/movement/culture pieces in them as part of their self; so these sounds and movements become deeply meaningful for us personally and as a community. This is important because racial and cultural prejudices are still in need of being broken down today and if we can continue developing our sense of place and community in this inclusive way, we'll all be the better for it. We have been so lucky to have Obo Addy and all of the other African artists in Portland in our community for so long! (And benefiting from the generational effect as those that were in their teens then are now gifting onto their kids the appreciation and involvement for African culture in Portland.)