Unit 2: Lesson 1

Prompts for this blog:

*Do you have memories of dancing as a child?

I certainly remember dancing when I was a child. As a toddler, I used to dance to the Valleydale Sausage tv ads. ("Hooray for Valleydale! All hail! It's Valleydale!") and also liked to dance and sing along to my grandfather's copy of "The Battle of New Orleans".

I liked to dance almost anywhere - especially in our back yard - and couldn't wait to take ballet lessons.

From elementary school to the summer before my Junior year in college, I studied ballet. (Snapped something in my ankle that summer.)


*When you hear music, are you affected by the rhythm you hear?

Some rhythm patterns just annoy me. Some make me feel like dancing.


*Do you start to tap your foot or bob your head in time to the music?

Again, it depends on the specific rhythm pattern.


*Do you think of Africa as a country or a continent?

That's an odd question. Africa is such a huge and varied continent.


*What images come to mind when you hear the word Africa ?

I've never been to Africa so most of what I know about its cultures and history come from fragments of material culture. I suppose I'm something of an armchair explorer. I have a piece of mud cloth in my studio, several masks from Ghana, assorted baskets, clothing and tea glasses from Morocco and several bookshelves devoted to Egyptology.