Storytime

August 8, 2011

Dance class is unbelievably intense after taking two days without it.  We worked on the final touches of Gahu, including the entrance and exit sections.  I was pretty excited because Joe decided to join in, which meant I could hand my camera over to Markus, another German friend of mine.   I consider Markus our Dagbe paparazzi, and luckily he agreed to take a bunch of pictures while we danced.  Which is the first photo proof I have of myself dancing.  They are hilarious pictures.

 Above: Jo, Jacob, and I rock out during the first variation.

Left: Basic movement at it's finest!


Below: This movement took a while to get down, but it is probably the most fun.  We dance, switch partners, dance, switch again, and keep going until the master drummer decides to put us back into the basic movement.

We also started working on a dance called Agbekor.  It is much harder than Gahu for me, though many people say that it is easier for them.

During drum class, we worked on the Gahu variations.  I love playing sogo, even though it is very difficult.  The agbekor drumming is much different than the Gahu drumming.  I felt really confident with the ahachey part because of a previous experience with the rhythm. 

At night, we had a storyteller visit the village.  He told us various stories, often making us tell him the moral of the story.  I discussed one of the morals, and he danced Agbajah with me shortly after.  It was an amazing experience sitting outside with all of the village listening to “grandpa” tell us those stories by the fireside.