Ethnographic Description Mark Deux

I attended an African Dance workshop at the Rhody Center on 3/20/2014, thanks to RIPTA difficulties preventing my attendance of a Sidy Maiga event on the 19th. The dances here are singluarly undulatory. Much focus is put on the outspreading of arms and the flowing of shoulders and hips. One dance is seated, with mannerisms akin to a blooming flower. There was also an exercise performed in a tight circle with the instructor in the middle. The instructor remains still and loose and the dancers in the circle pass him around to each other by way of light pushes. The music shows no reserve about completely changing its affect and rhythm at a moment's notice. Drums are highly prominent. Some of the melodic and rhythm instruments show a distinctly Western influence and even stray into electronica. The social environment is extremely open -they're learning a dance called "lady butts" as far as I can tell, and this does not seem to be a source of anxient for anyone here. The dancers are all women except for the teacher, between the ages of 12 and 50 or so by my measure. The physical environment is a straightforward European-style dance studio. There's a piano in the corner but it is not used for this class. As this is a class and not a true performance (but certainly a performative event) there isn't really an audience aside from me, but then again, in some African viewpoints, the learners are the audience since "audience" is an interactive terms for many African societies. They are a willing and excited crowd save the youngest, who looks a little out of her element. The audience is fairly diverse, with two white women, a black woman, a Hispanic woman, and an Indian or Pakistani girl. The instructor has a slight Ethiopian accent. There was an instance where the youngest sat out to the side for a period - this was not acknowledged nor was it condemned. This speaks of a free-flowing performance environment where the "audience" is invited to take part in whatever ways they wish. Important to note I think is that the music is canned - there can be no interaction between the dancers and the musicians because the musicians are not present. This provides quite a significant cultural disjoint for me, since it feels very much tailored to outsiders. The audience-performers engage with varying degrees of zeal - the oldest here gets quite into the whole thing and pays rapt attention to the instructor, while the youngest, as I mentioned before, is much more reserved.. The instructor maintains a very effective balance between businesslike and friendly. His motions are especially flowing and calculated. The overall experience is extremely welcoming - my entry was treated as normal, and there is much laughter and dialogue between the dancers themselves and the instructor. One of the dancers' suggestions was even incorporated into the circle exercise, that the center person cross their arms over their chest so as to feel more natural. The end was extremely organic, with the conclusion signalled with a single clap of the hands and a "Thank you."