Fifty fourth graders clapping, stomping, jumping, and singing in rhythmic unison is enough to bring tears to your eyes with pleasure, which is what happened when I went to the rehearsal at Edgartown School that Ugandan dancer and musician Godfrey Muwulya was leading. During the two-week residency organized through the Yard, Muwulya worked with students and teachers from six Island schools. That’s touching some 250 souls, teaching them about East African dance and culture using their whole bodies, rather than sitting at their desks.
The 50 Edgartown students were practicing a piece called “Ekizino.” It is a community dance from southern Uganda in the area called Kigezi, a mountainous region that gets cold in the evening. Because people don’t have heaters, they light fires, sing, and dance to keep warm. Indeed, the sweaters came off during rehearsal, as the students threw themselves into the rhythmic stomping and clapping. Godfrey continually urged them to put their all into it, and in response to his enthusiasm, they gave him everything they had.
During the rehearsal, I spoke to Ebony Goldwire, an education support professional, who was admiring her students:. “This is my third year seeing Godfrey at the school. I think it’s great. They don’t even know they are participating in teamwork. Kids can read books. They can watch videos, but there is nothing like this authenticity. This is as real as it gets. They love the movement, and are learning about the culture.”
Muwulya approaches the group at each school the same way. He first introduces the piece, the region it comes from, the people it belongs to, and its meaning. Unlike in the West, where dance is traditionally taught through counts — one movement per count, Muwulya explains, “I’m teaching them to look at me and copy. In Africa, we do the rote method, where I just dance, and the kids look at my footwork and follow.”
On Friday, Nov. 15, all the schools gathered for a final showcase at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center. The place was packed and buzzing. The kids were full of nervous energy, and the parents with eager anticipation.
Muwulya and four Montessori students kicked off the showcase with “Intore,” a Rwandan battle dance performed by heroes who represent how they protect their animals, women, children, and property. Muwulya entered first with a captivating solo of sinuous movement dressed in a colorful outfit of pants, an overskirt, and a streaming headpiece that swung about as he snaked his head. The dance crescendoed when four youths joined, enthusiastically demonstrating their ability to inhabit the movement.
Chilmark School fourth graders wore small rattles wrapped around their lower legs in “Orunyege” that accentuated their moves in response to Muwulya’s drumming. Split into two groups in alternating lines, they executed the complex choreography of this love dance performed during traditional wedding ceremonies, or to welcome people from the royal family.
A large group of fourth and seventh graders from the Tisbury School performed “Ekitaguliro,” a western Ugandan dance of the Ankole people, who are cattle keepers. The dancers’ movements imitated the animal with phrasing the students repeated in all four directions.
The Edgartown students, with red shirts, black pants, and orange ribbons around their wrists, were up next, and performed with even more zeal than when in rehearsal.
Dressed in all black, the Oak Bluffs School students deftly used colored wands and drumsticks to beat out rhythmic patterns while they danced, alternating stomping and bouncing on the balls of their feet. Their northern Ugandan piece was “Rarakaraka,” from Acholi. It is a communal love dance, and is also performed at other happy celebrations.
Love, in fact, permeated the post-performance experience. Muwulya invited the entire student body onstage, and then beckoned the audience to join them. Parents, teachers, grandparents, and babies poured forth. They learned a lovely short piece, which everyone performed in gratitude for the wonderful morning affair.
Speaking with Muwulya, I learned that he started performing African dance and music at 5. “In my village, there are a lot of artists, like drummers, dancers, singers. If you are little and you are in the community where they do this activity, you always adopt it. When you are young and you imitate them, little by little you get into it. When children have virgin brains, everything can get in so easily, especially when you love something.”
Deborah Damast, director of the Yard’s Kids Do Dance program, first brought Muwulya to the Vineyard in 2011 to co-teach an East African dance workshop, and he has been coming ever since. Programming director Yvonne Mendez said, “Godfrey has affected generations of kids in the schools. The minute I say he’s coming, teachers, parents, and the kids are really excited. The arts are one of those things that make a big impact on students, and they carry it with them.” Clearly, this year was another case in point.
