Monday: A Day of Dance

A Day of Dance

Another beautiful day in Ghana.  We met our same driver Kwaku and drove to meet a Geneseo professor named Jen who recently married a Ghanaian man named Yahaya.  We had arranged to take a dance and drum lesson with the troupe that Yahaya runs.  We left Yahaya's shop and headed to the Castle Restaurant which is right next door to the Cape Coast Castle. We found out we would be drumming and dancing outside on a patio in between the two buildings. On our right was the ocean and on the left a street filled with many children eager to watch us learn.Two drummers from the dance troupe patiently taught us some rhythms and let us improvise on their drums.  After spending an hour sweating over our drums, a dancer named Philomena took over.  She made us take off our shoes and started to lead us in dance.  Local children cheered us on as we mastered our moves and they mimicked our dance moves, without even trying.  Senora came up with many names for the dance moves in order to help us along, like The Chicken, Windmill, and our favorite, "Don't Punch Your Friend". An hour later, we performed to many pedestrians and onlookers.  Ghanaians are so kind and never laugh at you.  They think you are wonderful for just trying.  We love these people.  We were drenched in sweat and sat down with Jen at a local restaurant and had yam balls and pineapple pancakes.  Jen then took us shopping in town and introduced us to local snacks, including Obama family cookies.  We should add at this point that Ghanaians love Obama.  They know more about him and his family than most Americans.  I don't think anyone here misses George Bush.  The highlight of the day was watching a rehearsal of Yahayas dance troupe, Korye.  For two hours, without a break, these young men and women danced tirelessly, as the drummers kept the beat.  If they felt the heat, you wouldn't know it although they were dripping with sweat.  They were amazing!  They had moves that astounded us and it all seemed effortless.  All the dancers had smiles on their faces the whole time.  Spectators lined the walls of the courtyard, offering encouragement.  The young children watching were stepping right along with the dancers and you just know they were dreaming of one day becoming dancers too.  Once finished, they invited us to join them and show us our moves that we learned earlier.  How wonderful to dance with these young professionals and everyone was impressed.  Well, maybe not impressed but they certainly cheered us on. We finished the night eating again in The Castle Restaurant under very little light indulging in Red Red, Rice, Snapper, and beans with Coconut Curry.