Touring Group Exposes Panola College Students to African Culture
By PATRINA A. BOSTIC
Longview News Journal
4/10/2002

CARTHAGE — The sweet, bold beat of South Africa found its way to a remote East Texas campus Tuesday as students at Panola College embraced African rhythms in the Q.M. Martin Auditorium.

"We are bringing African culture in a very nonintimidating way, and it's very educational,” said Lindi Yendi, artistic director of the Kuumba House Dance Theatre troupe.

The Fine Arts Division of Panola College, through a matching grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, presented the Kuumba House Dance Theatre company of singers, drummers and dancers from South Africa, Uganda and Houston that tour college campuses across the United States.

Songs were sung in a variety of languages, including Zulu, Xhosa and Sesotho, Yendi said. "We were really lucky to get them," said Liz Hedges, the college's theater director. "We are pretty isolated so we don't get the mainstream of cultural events. "We feel very fortunate to expose our students to all different types of cultures," she said. "We want to see a lot of cultural diversity."

Yendi, the troupe's leader, told the audience that some of the things that African people celebrate through dance are nature, rivers and rain. She said when it hasn't rained for a long time, her people perform a rain dance.

The four women dancers were adorned in vibrant beaded skirts and tops that accentuated the movement of the hips — unassuming hip-shaking movements that flirted with the audience.

The troupe, which included two drummers, changed into coal miners' clothes and presented a dance that miners did while on their breaks, Yendi said.

The dance resembled black greek fraternity dancing: slapping and tapping the legs, shouting and clapping to a beat.

"It made you think about where stepping came from; it was a good history lesson," said Winford Hawkins, 20, a sophomore education major. "Many more black students should be able to experience the excitement of African culture."

Richard Leffall, 20, a sophomore kinesiology major, said he was impressed with the college exposing students to cultural diversity. "It was a great learning experience for me."

The audience whooped and cheered when drummer Muhamed Kiuumbi of Uganda bent backward to a low position while beating his drum during the miner's dance.

Afterward, Yendi brought a sack of aluminum soda cans on stage and told the audience that as kids they danced with objects such as sticks, dry bones, rocks and coconut shells. "When we discovered how much noise these cans made, we decided we'd hold on to them," she said.

She then asked some audience members to come on stage to perform a dance done with the cans. "We had to get on a ship, then we got on a plane, then we walked over here, so we need someone to participate," she jokingly told the hesitant
audience, trying to get some to come forward and learn a dance on stage. Whites, blacks and others gathered on stage to perform a dance with cans.

"It was a totally fulfilling and invigorating experience, said Mary Homer, who teaches TASP preparation courses. "I really appreciated what the dance company presented to the audience and I'm thrilled for the students at our college."

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