To start my weekend, on Friday, Carolyn and I decided to go to the Dairy Barn and see all the beautiful art they had displayed for sale, since neither of us had been there before. We hiked all the way down Courtyard Apartment's hill, by the Ridges, and to the Barn. We were welcomed by an elderly lady who asked if we wanted to buy a raffle ticket to win one of the prizes in front of us. I looked in that direction, and the first thing that caught my eye was a gigantic cow painted in all sorts of colors with pennies attached in places. "We could get the cow and put it in our apartment next year Carolyn!" I asked her, smiling. The lady then told me that it wasn't for sale, but the other things around it were. We decided to go take a look.
I couldn't believe how many different collections of crafts there were: bags, pottery, paintings, baby clothes, t-shirts, jewelry, stained glass, even fancy dips and desserts. We walked along the whole barn, taking in how artistic people were from this area. One of my favorite displays was a collection of bags, all sorts of sizes and designs and colors. They had little pins on them, matching the style of the bag. My absolute favorite bag was one that had flip-flops all over, and a cute silver sandal pin on the front. The other favorite display, both for Carolyn and myself, was the one that you could eat! Incredible dips for bread, vegetables, cookies, anything you want were set out on a table for you to take samples! (Ever since I was a little kid I loved sampling free food!) Carolyn and I went down the table, sampling the dips with pretzals, pieces of bread, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Finally giving in, Carolyn bought a packet of White Chocolate Raspberry mix for her mother. I was afraid if I did buy one of them, they wouldn't even make it home! On our way out, we passed by the next best thing. The people working the event had more food for us to eat, and it looked delicious: little finger sandwiches, strawberries and cream puffs, bruschetta, and iced tea were set out on a table, with other assortments of hors d'ouvres. We grabbed ourselves a napkin and piled on some of the delicious goodies before heading back home.
That night I went to AZA with my friends Jen and Megan, knowing I would be in for a treat! I had been to this event last year, and decided I would go again, see if there was something else I could get out of it besides entertainment. This second time was much better than last year's performances, and I greatly appreciated it for the cultural diversity, the outstanding talents these people had, and especially the ways it represented the arts in so many different fashions.
AZA is an amazing performance of music and dance from the African culture. Directed by Paschal Yao Youngue and his wife, Zelma Badu-Youngue, the event definitely attracts a crowd. Memorial Auditorium was packed with students and families. I took my seat in the balcony, and waited for the show to start. As soon as the lights dimmed, and the curtains opened to reveal students and Paschal clothed in gorgeous robes from Africa, sitting with drums in their laps, the whole crowd cheered and broke out into applause.
The two hour performance was full of elaborate costumes, lively dancing depicting different aspects of their heritage such as courtship, hunting, celebrations and religious rituals, drumming and singing. The WVU Women's choir was there, drumming was performed by Azaguno and the dancing was done by the Ohio University African Ensemble. There were also a bunch of kids who danced on stage during one of the songs. To see them get out there and dance their little hearts out, without being nervous or scared was extremely inspiring. I leaned next to my friend telling her I don't think I could ever do something like that!
My favorite part of the performance would have to be when "Gue-Pelou" came on stage at the last song, on stilts and wearing this incredible costume. Known as "the tall mask" he serves as the mediator between the world of those living and the spirtual world of those who have passed. He looked like a scarecrow almost, with straw hands, this black cover over his face, and bright colors for his shirt and pants. He started dancing on stage with these hugs stilts, getting on the ground and even break-dancing! The crowd went wild watching this character dance and jump.
Saturday night I went with Carolyn to Ping Center for some dance lessons. Yes, I said dance lessons. Hard to believe seeing as I have little cooridination, and with the two of us dancing together, something is bound to go wrong! The class was run by Autumn Hutton from Belle Aimee dance studio in Parkersburg, WV. When she asked people to come up on the floor, nobody jumped out of their seats, and neither did I. Carolyn got up and pulled on my arm telling me this is why we came in the first place. "But nobody else is up there yet, when someone else goes up there, then I will," I insisted. Just as those words came out of my mouth, some members of the staff were standing on the wooden floor. Carolyn just smiled at me. "Now there's people up there, come on." I followed her to the floor and made sure we stood in the back, hoping we wouldn't be seen.
She started off with some simple steps: to the left, to the right, forward, back. I felt confident enough that I could get the hang of it. First she taught us some moves in swing dancing: the basic right, left, rock step. Then we used that basic step to learn how to do a turn. Carolyn was playing the role of the guy, so I got to do the turn and all she had to do was dance in place. Even that we messed up! You would think by now the left and right would be easily distinguishable, even for dancing! After that we switched it up a little, and I played the role of the guy. It was a lot harder than it looked, again with confusing the left from the right. We danced to "Footloose", but since the song was in a 4/4 beat, and we were dancing in 3/4 we decided to move a little faster than the instructor, to stay in the same pattern as the song. Wow, what a work out!
Then we moved onto some merengue dancing. This followed a slightly easier pattern, all I had to do was follow Carolyn's lead. We moved backwards, forwards, in a circle, whenever she stuck out her arm, I simply twirled. While she was spinning me in a circle, I grew a little dizzy, got too close to her, and wham! We hit each other right in the head. The whole room started spinning as I grabbed my head in immense pain, she just started laughing at me, looking around to see if anyone else saw that. We continued dancing, as if nothing had happened, but my head was still aching all over. I knew I had a huge red mark on my forehead, if not a bump. After embarassing myself, yet satisfying my desire to dance, we went back to the table to finish our snacks, and let our heads get better. All I could do was try and play it off like I did not have a huge knot on my head, even though I definitely felt one. I knew something like this would happen, both of us are extremely clumsy, and very accident prone. Next time, remember a helmet.
The weekend proved to be full of great cultural experiences as well as seeing more of what the arts has to offer. The craft show, seeing everyone else's works of art, all the time they put into every single piece, seeing how proud they are of their work and the enjoyment they get out of displaying it to the public and making other people's lives just as diverse and bright with their work is indescribable. They are very proud of what they do, and show a sincere enjoyment in giving art to the public. It made me hope that whenever I eventually write my great best-selling novel that people will enjoy it as much and that they will see how much passion I have for my writing. AZA provided a rich experience in culture and how art can express emotion, history, religion, a way of life. The dancing, singing and music which expressed love in courtship,worshipping and praise, even the celebration of a warrior, helped to create a unique understanding of their history and how much pride they take in expressing this heritage. The directors of the show, who also took part in the performances, I could tell really loved what they do, and took such enjoyment whether it was dancing or playing on the drums. The dance class, something I have always wanted to do but never had the opportunity for, made me realize quickly that it was a lot of hard work, but everyone can be taught how to dance, even if you are extremely clumsy like me! The patience it takes to teach someone how to dance is immense and even for the students, the coordination it requires and focus is incredible! I enjoyed it immensely wishing that I could learn more, but it was definitely a harder workout than I originally thought. By the end of it my arms, and legs were sore, but with those aches I had a deeper appreciation for ballroom dancing.
