On Sunday, November 17, I was able to attend the Diversity Drum, Song, and Dance Interactive Village performance. This program was sponsored by Butler University Center or Citizenship and Community. I really enjoyed attending this event because I enjoyed hearing the different drums and rhythms that were being played and learning about some of the African culture that was presented to us throughout the program. The program included students, the adults, who had taught the students, and the audience. The whole program was interactive and we, the audience, were encouraged to participate throughout the program. Before the program had begun, Sister Stella, founder of the Cultural Diversity Drum Circle (CDDC), passed out some of their extra drums to the audience and if you did not have a drum we were encouraged to drum along on the desks as we were in Jordan Hall 141.
When I was walking through Jordan, I could hear drumming from down the hall before I had even gotten to the room. I enjoyed being able to listen to some of the drumming before the actual performance had begun. I think my favorite part of the program was the Basket Balancing Dance. Before the dance had begun, Sister Stella had given some background about the dance. She had told us that, now, there is a basket balancing competition. This competition takes place in Uganda on July 2nd and is to help girls to learn to support themselves. Basket balancing has become a sort of sport and I admire those women who can do it while performing other tasks. This part of the performance consisted of students and Sister Stella dancing to the beat of the drums while balancing the baskets on their heads. It looked like all the students were having fun while doing it, and each of them had a chance to perform by themselves.
Another part of the performance I really enjoyed was the different poems read by Adam. Adam is a professor working at Indiana University and he shared one original poem and then read some poems from writes who are incarcerated. During his time upfront, I was impressed with his delivery of the poems. I am not claiming to know much about poetry, but with my limited knowledge, I enjoyed listening to him and all that he was saying.
Unfortunately, I was not able to stay until the very end of the program and missed the last speech and the Harvest Dance, I enjoyed the concert and would definitely recommend anyone to go if they have the opportunity. If you are interested in participating in the drum circle, they practice in South Campus on Sundays from 3-5 and at 5:30 at North Liberty Christian Church on Wednesday.