Africa comes to Springfield

All of Riverside Middle School was feeling the beat during an African drumming and dance exhibition on Friday afternoon.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100322/NEWS02/3220380/1003/NEWS02            # # # # Africa comes to Springfield  •  Riverside Middle School teacher John Swanson (center) and colleagues search for the rhythm while drummer Joel Mensah (right) and fellow Shidaa drummers lay down the beat.  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Josh O'Gorman STAFF WRITER - Published: March 22, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — All of Riverside Middle School was feeling the beat during an African drumming and dance exhibition on Friday afternoon.  •  Thursday and Friday, pupils in Lisa Mobus' social studies classes took part in the Shidaa African Cultural Project, a touring group of dancers, drummers and teachers who are based in Montpelier but whose roots stretch back to Ghana.  •  "I had a group in Ghana called Shidaa and the plan was to come here and work to bring them over, but when I came I realized it wasn't going to be that easy," said group manager Jordan Mensah, who came to Vermont seven years ago. "We had to start a branch of the Shidaa here, so we have Shidaa USA and Shidaa Ghana."  •  Mensah and his group, which includes his teenaged son Joel Mensah, tours schools throughout Vermont, with occasional forays into New Hampshire and New York, and teaches dance and drumming in Montpelier.  •  Mobus said Shidaa supplemented the unit she was teaching on Africa.  •  "I wanted to give them (the students) a true taste of African culture instead of learning everything out of a book or on the Internet," Mobus said, noting that visits from Shidaa and other groups are important for an economically disadvantaged town such as Springfield. "Nobody really has a lot of money to travel, so we try and bring the world to them as much as we can."  •  The pupils welcomed the opportunity to learn about another culture.  •  "I didn't know much about Africa before this," said sixth-grader Austin Meyer, 12. "I know I had seen it on TV and in books and stuff, but I never knew what it was about. I've learned about a lot of different places, especially Ghana and South Africa, and the workshops have taught me a lot."  •  Meyer was one of roughly 30 pupils who were brave enough to take the stage before the entire middle school student body to perform a trio of dances that celebrated gift giving, fishing and coming of age. Despite only having two days to practice, the synchronization of their dance steps was extraordinary.  •  "It was hard to learn at first, but by the time I got up there for the final show I had it down," said seventh-grader Tyler Briere, 13, who was one of a dozen pupils who performed the fishing dance.  •  Also extraordinary was the behavior of the pupils in the audience, who instead of laughing and heckling their peers, sat silently during each performance until the conclusion when they applauded their dancing classmates.  •  The students were not the only ones to take the stage. The exhibition culminated with a 10-minute dance by faculty and administration, and what it lacked in harmonious movement they more than made up for in sheer enthusiasm.  •  "I've learned just so much about daily life (in Africa)," said eighth-grader Jenn Kollman, 14. "You learn about geography and everything in class but you don't learn about what they do day to day so it's good these people come share with you."  •  For more information about Shidaa, visit www.shidaafricult.com.  •