The Telescope

Issue Date: 10/26/09

Drumming and Dancing

By Rob Harmeling

Media Credit: Deb Hellman

Performing arts and cultural diversity have always gone hand in hand, which is why many students are now drumming and dancing to a very old, yet unique beat.

The World Drum and Dance Program at Palomar was founded and developed by Director Patriceann Mead, who came to Palomar in 1997 from New York. Mead said that she has put together one of the most comprehensive World Dance program in Southern California and has incorporated many different dance traditions, including Afro-Cuban/Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Hawaiian/Tahitian and Spanish Flamenco.

Mead's World Drum and Dance Ensemble is a culmination of both the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian drum and dance classes, which celebrate the traditions of the African diaspora brought to Cuba and Brazil during the colonial slave trade.

"The influence of African music and dance traditions within both cultures is what I want to share with the students and is what we celebrate in this class," Mead said.

The drum and dance classes meet every Wednesday evening in room D-6 in the Performing Arts building, where the students can be seen dancing and drumming to the rhythmic beats unique to their namesake. One noticeable aspect of the classes is the live music and song provided by the drummers and dancers. This oral tradition sets Palomar's Drum and Dance program apart from other colleges.

"The dances tell stories," said advanced student Julann Lodge, who has taken both drum and dance classes on and off since 2001. "They are the hot point of my week."

Lodge added that the classes "provide a musical bridge that students of many ethnic backgrounds can relate to."

"When students finish the program, they've had an opportunity to experience a wide variety of cultural dance," Mead said.

In following tradition, the dance students wear colorful Cuban style skirts or Brazilian sarongs. The instruments and costumes are provided to all the students.

In 2005, Mead brought Cuban artist Silfredo Lao Vigo into the program to instruct the drum classes, team teach the Salsa class and co-direct the Ensemble. Vigo's classes focus on Cuban Rumba and Franco Haitian as well as Brazilian Samba styles.

Using timbadores, segundos and quintos, which are hand drums better known as congas, the drum class offers a unique opportunity for beginners to play along with advanced students, while giving the advanced students the opportunity to play in the ensemble once their skills are proficient.

Advanced student Robin Adler is particularly fond of LaO Vigo's style.

"He's more traditional in the way he passes down instruction," Adler said. A singer by profession, she is attending her third drum class at Palomar College. She said she hopes to incorporate the style into her own music.

Flight attendant Rene Noga-Shook also takes time out of her busy schedule to attend the drum class. Shook began in the World Dance class but said the drumming was so much fun that she not only enrolled in the drum class herself, but recruited her sister also.
Shook enjoys how the drum patterns go with specific dance rhythms.

"You really lose yourself in the class," Noga-Shook said. "The class is a nice break from the world."

The World Drum and Dance ensemble performs on and off campus at various community events each year. They are also planning a performance in the Palomar Student Union for December.

For more information on courses and performances, go to their Web site (click on Faculty, then Patriceann Mead).

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