Friday, July 19, 2013
The Rangeley Friends of the Arts, with generous support from NEFA and local businesses including Oquossoc Grocery, presents its Annual International Night. “A West African Evening in Rangeley” will begin with a gathering featuring West African flavors at 6 pm, followed by Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theatre at 7 pm at Stephen A. Bean Airfield. Tickets ($15 adults/students $10) at the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce (6 Park Road) and at the door.
Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theatre presents traditional West African music and dance.
Their founders and Master Artist are from West Africa, and the group is based in Burlington, VT. They offer traditional rhythms and dances from Guinea, Senegal and Mali, West Africa and have brought the spirit of West African music and dance to New England since 1993.
“It’s a high-energy, physical, aerobic dance form with footwork that can be technically 
challenging,” said one of the group’s dancers. “It’s poly-rhythmic, with different rhythms fitting together like a piece of a puzzle. A huge part of learning the dance is understanding the music and the rhythms. You move inside the rhythm, that as a Westerner you would’ve never heard of or thought of till someone shows you.”
In the Bambara language of Mali, “Jeh Kulu” means “community” and we invite you to join with us as a community to taste the flavors of West Africa before the show. The performers will then dazzle us with exciting choreography and traditional drums.
Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
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