Standing Ovation

If you know me now, you may be surprised to know that as a child, I was extremely shy of public speaking or performances.  Just thinking about it would make my stomach turn and my palms sweat.  Before any of my required class speeches- it's not like I would volunteer for one of these things or something- I had to practice for hours in front of my bedroom mirror to memorize exactly what I was going to say.  You may say, hey, that's good to practice, and be prepared as possible for a speech!  It'll make you feel confident, right?  Wrong.  I used to hold notecards with prompts, but during one terribly important speech freshman year, my hands were shaking so badly that dropped all my notecards and forgot what else I had to say about Globalization in the Modern World... huh, it's happening?  Even during class, if I knew the answer to a question, I would never raise my hand unless I was absolutely sure because I would be mortified to be wrong.  It wasn't until college that I finally was able to relax in front of a crowd, and just wing it, especially in my engineering classes.  Sorry engineers, but you don't set the bar too high in the way of public speaking.

So, what does my past childhood phobias have to do with my life in Uganda?

Yesterday, I attended the district wide music and dance competitions for the primary schools.  Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from the day.  I must say, I was completely shocked.  The first presentation was a group of 20 girls singing the National Anthem for the East Africa Community.  Although the girls were just in their pink school uniforms and the stage was bare, there was something so beautiful about their performance.  Not only did their singing completely exceed my expectations, but I was most impressed with their confidence and determination to shine, which they did.  I am not one to be really sappy- it's not like I'm that girl that cries during movies- but something about it choked me up a little bit.  Thankfully, the other volunteer I went with felt the same way.

This music and dance competition was fierce.  There were ten events for the eight schools to compete in.  Quick math for you, that means there was 80 performances... Yes, it was a long day, and we ended up leaving a little early!  The events included:
Traditional folk dance
Traditional folk song
Western Traditional song
Speech
Drama
Original Composition
Poem
Creative Dance
(I know that's only eight events, but I honestly can't remember the other two!)

When it came time for the speeches, I was a little nervous for the children.  Not only are they giving a speech to a huge crowd of adults, for which their enthusiasm, delivery, information and presence will be judged, but the speech had to be in English.  English is a foreign language for them!  Despite the challenges, the children's performances were so moving.  Surprisingly, most of the orators were girls, and their confidence captured the audience.  In the speech, they were supposed to speak as local politicians giving a sensitization speech about the need for the East African Community.  Even I learned something new.  Did you know that they are proposing an East African Community, which will band Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania together much like the E.U.?  There will be open borders, a common currency, a common language of Swahili and a common leader.  Anyway, the girls took their roles very seriously with costumes, props and attitude.  I am so proud of all their hard work.

From there, we watched most of the traditional songs, which always had a story line behind them.  Ususally there was some kind of problem in a family or community, which fortunately was solved by the end.  When dancing in celebration, Banyole people have a very specific dance that basically only uses the shoulders.  It's hard to explain and even more difficult to do yourself, although I have many of my students telling me that I'm now a true Munyole based on my shoulder action attempts.  On a day to day basis, I have seen some of the kids trying this shoulder popping and rolling move, but never have I seen it actually performed to music and drums.  Let me tell you, it was amazing!  While it may be a primary school performance, you have to remember that some of these children are actually young men and women ranging from 14-17 years old.  And these girls really know how to shake it or rather roll it.  Their shoulder moves always drove the crowds to clapping, cheers and whistles.  Their music and dancing was intoxicating- between performances, Audrey and I couldn't help but try out our shoulders moves to the amusement of our neighbors.


Finally, I got to see a performance from my school.  I was so excited for them and happy that I recognized many of the children.  Even if I didn't know their names, I usually could figure out which class they were in.  To my surprise, the leading male singer was a boy from my sixth grade class who refuses to answer any questions during my lessons.  He's so shy when I'm teaching, but I figured it was his nature.  Au contraire.  He shined during the ten minute performance, during which he sang beautifully, danced with grace and pranced from one side of the stage to the other.  I won't let him get away with silence again.

Even though we left early, which of course I felt guilty about, we were so happy that we were able to attend and support our schools in their endevour to reach Nationals.  Unfortunately, none of our schools qualified, but I know that for one day, our children were the center of attention.  I can't wait to congratulate my students on Monday for their wonderful performances.  Much like my new found appreciation for sports, I'm happy that music and dance encourages my students, gives them another outlet to express themselves, fosters school pride and builds their self-esteem.

Interested in learning more?  There's an awesome movie about the dancing competitions in Uganda.  It's called War Dance.  Keep in mind though that this movie follows children from Northern Uganda, which has suffered internal conflicts for the last 20 years, so it's not exactly the same in my region, but you'll get a good feel for it.