On Thursday evening, After my usual drumming class at Newtown Community Centre (Click here for info) I decided to see if the West African Dance Class needed an extra djembe drummer to play along with the dancing. The group consisted of a few familiar faces of people who I had drummed with before, along with some new faces who were very welcoming.

The dancing is run by a young lady named Jenny who I had met very briefly before at a course I attended in Wainuomata. The class had around 20 people Dancing and six of us drumming. The drummers were very skilled and I was glad that they chose a drumming score to play that I had learned and been playing for quite a while.

All in all it was an amazing evening with the drumming finishing off on a really high tempo and the dancing flowing seamlessly into the rythm and creating a really tribal atmosphere. I guess thats what I had been looking for when I turned up and was not disappointed. I will be there next week

If anyone would like to attend the West African Dance Class that Jenny runs then please contact Jenny on 0276996918 or Email jenbloomfield[at]gmail.com Replacing [at] with the @ sign.

Classes are held at Toi Peneke, Back Room studio, 61 Abel Smith Street, Thursdays 8pm – 9.30pm (PLEASE REGISTER WITH JENNY FIRST)

If anyone is interested, during school terms there are African Djembe hand drum classes at the Newtown Community Centre in Wellington. Here we learn African Rythms and Beats with the traditional Djembe hand drums. These classes are for beginners to advanced on a drop in basis, so if you feel like it, please pop down and see us. Drums provided, $10 per class or $8 if you bring your own traditional African Djembe.

Classes start at 5.30pm on Thursdays during school terms and stop around 7.30pm.

Location:

[View with PicLens]

Newtown Community Centre, Courner of Rintoul and Colombo Streets, Newtown, Wellington.

If you need more information please email me on: simon[at]sacredspace.co.nz or contact the organiser Julian Raphael on communitymusic[at]xtra.co.nz

Please replace [at] with the @ sign

See you then