Cyberspace dance connection
College of Staten
Island students partner with dancers from South Africa
Staten Island Advance - April 23, 2005
Nothobile Ndokweni was dancing passionately. The
big-boned African woman, dressed all in white with a white head
wrap, had given herself over to the liberating rhythms of her South
African homeland.
She swayed and swirled as the members of her South African women's
vocal group and some college students sang a cappella, stamped their
feet and clapped their hands in rhythm.
Quite a spectacle.
But the most remarkable aspect of Ms. Ndokweni's dance was that the
circle of people around her began in a classroom in Grahamstown,
South Africa, and ended in a classroom at the College of Staten
Island.
Credit state-of-the art technology now in place at CSI in
Willowbrook.
As part of the International Partners in Learning Virtual Crossroad
Project (I-Pals), CSI students connect with international students
and other citizens of the world to share and enhance educational
opportunities.
Five lucky CSI music students got to see the five-member Nokulunga
Women's Group sing, perform and talk about traditional African
music.
What makes the project possible is a 256-megabyte broadband
connection via CSI's video-conferencing lab. The technology, which
includes a huge view screen, provides a virtual cyberspace
connection that allows students on opposite sides of the planet to
meet in real time.
For Professor William Bauer and his students, this conference is
part of a three-workshop program. Bauer, a jazz aficionado who
teaches music theory, said he believed that pairing the African
vocal group with his students would give them a better understanding
of the musical process.
"I wanted them to learn to get up and move to the music and
experience the music. The human body is the first instrument; if you
tune into the body, you will be able to make more beautiful music."
Bauer calls those selected for this project his best of the best:
students Gerrianna Cardito, Robert Kipp, Patrice Panelli, Izzy
Ramkisson and Robert Stumpf.
While the CSI students were in their video-conferencing lab, the
South African group -- under the direction of American Professor
Diane Thram -- met in a classroom a world away in Rhodes University.
With the help of the huge screen, Island students and their South
African counterparts could almost reach out and touch each other.
CSI students got the opportunity to look on while the African
singers sang Dumzela, Bantwana Bokugula and Mandela, a paean to the
former South African president -- all the while watching their body
movements and trying to follow the song-music-body combinations. The
American students had some initial difficulty.
"We've learned the same thing in class, but here it is much more
cerebral," said Ramkisson, 24, of Westerleigh. "There, however, the
whole process was much more spiritual."
While Kipp said he saw traces of Motown in the movements, student
Patrice Panelli, 19, of Huguenot, said she saw a different focus in
American and African music. "The music is more about enjoying
themselves rather than about entertaining other people," she said.
By
Kiawana Rich
Reprinted here with permission from the
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