[CHILDREN'S VOICES CHATTERING] [CHILDREN'S VOICES CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Greetings, My name is LaQuetha. My name is Sam. I'm Alfa. I'm Jacent. I'm Adam. And I'm Danielle. And we are– Nondi Wontanara. We are African drum and dance
teaching artists who love and love to share
African culture through traditional
dance and drumming. That's right. [INTERPOSING VOICES] That's right, Alfa,
there's something magical that happens when
you hear these drums. It just sparks
something inside of you that makes you want
to move and dance. Yeah, yeah. Check this out. [DRUMMING] You see? I can't even control myself. I just can't help it, that
rhythm just makes me so happy. Well, you said it
perfectly Adam. There's nothing we
love more than seeing the smiles on people's faces
when they hear the drums, sing the traditional
songs, and dance the traditional
African dances, all while clad in authentic
African costumes.
Yes. African dancing and
drumming is an art form that's uplifting to people. Yes, that's right Sam. And this video is part of the
Kennedy Center's Education Online Collection of Teaching
Artists Presents, where teaching artists
all over the country lead arts activities
that you can enjoy in the comfort of your home. So today we're going to
explore some movements from the African dance, Funga. You guys ready to dance with us? [GROUP AGREEING] Well, if you're ready, kick
off those shoes and let's move. Yeah. [DRUMMING] (SINGING) Funga Alafia, Asè Asè.
Funga Alafia, Asè Asè. Aye, Funga Alafia, Asè , Asè. Funga Alafia, Asè Asè. (SPEAKING) Why don't you
all sing along with us? Come on, repeat
the words after me. Say Funga. Funga. Alafia. Alafia. Asè. Asè. Asè. Asè Again, Funga. Funga. Alafia. Alafia. Asè. Asè. Asè. Now sing. (SINGING) Funga Alafia, Asè Asè, (SINGING) Funga Alafia, Asè Asè, Aye, Funga Alafia Asè Asè. Funga Alafia, Asè Asè. The word "Funga" means welcome. The word "Alafia" means peace. And the word Asè
means, and so it is. So when you put all of
those words together, the meaning of the song is
welcome, we bid you peace and so it is, we're
glad that you're here. Funga is a dance that comes from
a country in West Africa called Liberia. It is a dance that is
done to welcome people when they come to visit you
at your home in the village.
In this dance, you
will see movements that represents actions that
you would do to make someone feel welcome in your home. So are you ready to learn some
movements from the dance Funga? All right, here we go. [DRUMMING] Now, that movement
represents your excitement when you know that your visitors
are coming to visit you. You look down the road
and you see them coming, and immediately you
start celebrating, by giving thanks to your creator
by pushing your hands up, and giving thanks
to your ancestors by pushing your hands down.
Now, for the feet
for this movement, they are constantly moving. You're alternating stepping
in a marching pattern, and it never stops. Now, the arms are
bent at the elbows with your palms facing down,
and then you push up four times. And then turn your palms
and push down four times. You ready to try it? Let's put that together. Here we go. And five, six, seven, eight. [DRUMMING] Good, keep going. [DRUMMING CONTINUES] Next move. [DRUMMING] Now, this movement represents
you telling your guests to come this way, to
come into your house. And then you show them the
path that leads to your home. Now, we're going to
start with the feet again and the feet do a
running pattern. So you step four
times, running forth. Like this, go ahead
and try it with me. One, two, three, four. Good, again. One, two, three, and four. Excellent. Now your arms are similar
to the first movement, except for your palms
are facing your body.
Then you extend your arms
out, make a big circle, and bring it back into yourself. Let's do that again, extend
your arms out, big circle, bring it back into yourself. Let's try that movement,
just with our hands, really quickly four times. Ready? One, two, three, four. Again, here we go one,
two, three, and four. Awesome. So now let's put those
two parts together. So we're going to run four times
while we're doing our hands. Ready? Here we go, one,
two, three, four. One more time, one,
two, three, and four. Nice. So the second part
of that movement is when you show the guests
the path to your home. So you're gently
swaying your arms to each side with the palms
facing up and one arm extended. Now the feet for this movement
do a step step step, step step step pattern on each side. But the key is to
lift your knee when you're doing this movement.
It looks like this. Step step step,
and step step step. One more time, lift, step
step step, step step step. You got it. So now let's put those
two parts together where we're showing the path
and we're doing the step step step, and the step step step. Ready? Here we go, five,
six, seven, eight. Step step step, step step step. One more time, step step
step, step step step. Now, are you ready to
put all of that together? We're going to tell our
guests to come this way, come into our house and
then show them the path. You got it, we can do it. Here we go. five, six, seven, eight. [DRUMMING] Good. [DRUMMING CONTINUES] One more time. Next move. [DRUMMING] So this first move is
just going to require that your feet go step,
step, and then you alternate. OK? Step, step, and
then you alternate. I think you'll be able
to do that just fine.
Now your hands are going
to mimic your feet, OK? And then they go double time. One more time, all
right, double time. Now, we're going to put those
two parts together and give this move a shot. [DRUMMING] So our guest has
washed their hands, and now we're going
to offer them a meal. So what you're going to do
as far as your feet first, is that you're going
to step to the side and then you're going to
make a circle around yourself with step, step, step, step, OK? We're going to try that
circle right now, together. Step, step, step, step, stand. Then we take a circle back
the other way, all right? Step, step, step, step, stand. Now, with our hands, our
hands are up with our plates. But when we're turning,
we bring our arms back down until we stand on
the other side, all right? So let me show that to
you real quick, right now. Arms up, and then we
turn, step, step, stand. And then we turn back around,
step, step, step, stand.
I know it seems a
little complicated, but let's just give
it a try and you can practice this on your own. [DRUMMING] [DRUMMING] So this movement is a
celebratory movement. So we're going to
start with the feet, and we're going to go
right, left, up on our toes, right, left, a big jump,
right, left, up on our toes, right, left, big jump, nice. So now we're going to
put a literal twist into, it we're going to go
right, left, up, right, left, jump and turn,
right, left, up, right, left, jump and turn.
Awesome. Now let's add our hands. They're going to
go out, in, and up. Yes, out, in, and up, awesome. Do you think we can
put it all together? I think so. Let's do that, here we go. [DRUMMING] Nice job. Again. [DRUMMING CONTINUES] So this next
movement, our guests feel so welcome that maybe
it's just overwhelming, right? So we're going to let
them know that they have no worry in the world.
While we're going
to do that, we're going to put our hand on our
hip, whirl around our head, wipe, and throw. One more time, going to
whirl, wipe, and throw. I think we can do, that we're
going to do it four times, OK? Here we go. [DRUMMING] You all did an amazing job. Weren't they good, everyone? They were. Yes. Today, you learned some
movements from the dance Funga.
And now I have a
challenge for you. Think of some creative ways
to move that represent actions that you would do
to make a guest feel welcome when they came
to visit you at your home. If a guest came to visit you,
would you give them a nice hug? Would you offer
them a cool drink, or would you play
a game with them? How would you express these
movements using dance? [DRUMMING] We hope you enjoyed
our video, and will explore others in the Kennedy
Center's Artists Present collection. Thanks for watching. [DRUMMING] .