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News release prepared by: Kristin Hodges, 785-532-6415, khodges2@1xbet online sports betting edu
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
K-STATE AFRICAN 1xbet online sports betting AND MUSIC ENSEMBLE TO FEATURE THE SOCIAL 1xbet online sports betting AND MUSIC OF GHANA
MANHATTAN -- An addition to the Kansas State University 1xbet online sports betting program will bring 1xbet online sports betting and music from a West African country to the university and surrounding communities.
K-State is adding an African 1xbet online sports betting and Music Ensemble that primarily will feature the social music and 1xbet online sports betting of Ghana, a West African country, and possibly explore other world 1xbet online sports betting and music forms.
K-State's Neil Dunn, percussionist and instructor of 1xbet online sports betting , will direct the ensemble. Dunn worked to start the ensemble in collaboration with Julie L. Pentz, assistant professor and director of the 1xbet online sports betting program at K-State.
"The African 1xbet online sports betting and Music Ensemble will provide not only cultural diversity, but the opportunity for students to learn and perform African dancing and drumming -- an opportunity that may not have been available to K-State students otherwise," Dunn said.
Dunn said the ensemble has 15 members and includes dancers and musicians. It is open to 1xbet online sports betting students who would like to learn and perform the pieces and will be limited to 30 members. There will not be auditions, but members will make a commitment to attend rehearsals and performances.
The ensemble will perform on campus and in surrounding communities. Dunn also plans to offer interactive workshops in African music and 1xbet online sports betting . He said the ensemble is an opportunity to bring diversity from other world cultures to the community.
Dunn said the dances will be educational for the performers, and the performances will be entertaining for the audiences. Performers will learn traditional social dances from Ghana, which will include a little history.
"These dances are definitely celebratory, especially Kpanlogo, pronounced pahn-logo, which was created in the 1950s to 1960s by the youth as a celebration of Ghana's independence from Britain," Dunn said. "Other dances, such as Gota, have a much older history but are still common today."
Dunn, Pentz and Autumn Scoggan, a 1xbet online sports betting senior in theater from Beloit, studied in Ghana in July 2008 at the Dagara 1xbet online sports betting Center in Medie, a suburb of Accra, Ghana's capital city.
They studied the country's 1xbet online sports betting and dancing for several social dances and studied other cultural activities, including attending wedding ceremonies and weaving a type of fabric called kente.
Dunn had met the director of the music center, Bernard Woma, in 2004 when the two studied and performed at the School of Music at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Woma also is the artistic director of the Saakuma 1xbet online sports betting Company, a master of the African xylophone and lead drummer for the National 1xbet online sports betting Company of Ghana.
Woma was a guest artist at K-State in February with Evelyn Yaa Bekyore, a dancer in the Saakuma 1xbet online sports betting Company. K-State students learned about several social dances from West Africa and had the opportunity to perform the dances on campus and in the community.
"I have been acquainted with Mr. Woma for several years," Dunn said. "Since we have this connection with him and the Dagara Music Center, we will continue to travel to Ghana to study the dances of the culture, of which there are many that come from many different countries and traditions. Ultimately, we also would like to travel to different countries in Africa and other continents to study 1xbet online sports betting and music."
