So... I think I can dance.

Helllooooo friends and family!

I am officially finished with classes for the semester! The only academics I have between me and summer break are four exams to be taken over the next four weeks. I have already taken two of my finals, both for different aspects of ethnomusicology. On Wednesday, I had my transcription final, where we had to listen to two different pieces of music and write them down. That one was easy. Yesterday, I performed a Shona Mhande for my performance final. The Shona people are from Zimbabwe, and the Mhande is a rain-making dance ceremony that happens at the beginning of the summer to ask the ancestors to send rain for the crops. The lyrics are call and response style:
Leader: Dzinonwa muna Zambezi, dzinonwa muna Sawa (We drink in the river)
Response: Mhondoro dzinonwa, mhondoro dzinonwa (the lions drink)
Lindsay videotaped it and posted it on youtube (Dancers are me, Lindsay, Sarah, and Lisa and we are accompanied on drums and singing by the rest of our class)... so you should probably check that out. And apparently, our dance was effective. We were in the first group and by the time the third group went, it was really cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. I really loved this performance class and looked forward to it each week - I'm sad it is over!

Love,
Linda