May Day Arts Festival 2009
Celebrating African Culture through Art, Music, and Dance
May 13, 2009
Themes of Africa permeated Packer's annual May Day Festival on May 13, 2009. This reflected a year in which Packer’s relationships with schools,
artists, and service organizations in Kenya and South Africa have blossomed.
The program began with the traditional Maypole Celebration, performed in two groups by the 6th Grade.
Coordinators Katie Gibson (dance) and Pam Agius (vocal) wove influences of African dance, drumming, and singing into performances by all of Packer's students from Kindergarten through Grade 4. All grades incorporated creative personal expression into their choreography.
Yellow-shirted children in the 2nd Grade performed their own version of South African “Gumboots Dancing,” combining rhythmic stomping with chants to celebrate their identity as members of their grade. Blue-shirted 3rd Graders sang “O, Desayo” an Angolan folk song. Red-shirted 4th Graders began with a spirited drum performance of “Rhythms of Guinea, West Africa,” and concluded by singing the official school song of the Ndonyo Wasin Primary School in Kenya, with which
Packer has begun an exciting relationship of service and cultural exchange .
After the performance, parents and guests could view student artwork in Packer’s hallways. The 3rd and 4th Grades displayed their portrait exchange project, for which each child was paired with a partner from Ndonyo Wasin to draw portraits of each other. First Graders dyed canvas sheets and drew animals of the Rift Valley in Kenya. Kindergarteners drew and painted animals of the Rift Valley and created a mixed media scene of the terrain and wild life.
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