The event I attended for the cultural plunge assignment was called Leap into African Dance. There are five weekly classes, and I attended the first one. The first class took place February 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Mountain Yoga building. This program is sponsored by Guinea exchange, and in attendance of the class one is expected to donate five dollars which is then given to the foundation.
I initially learned about this event through Facebook. I read the description and realized that it would be a great fit for this assignment. I was also drawn to this particular event because I grew up dancing! I saw this event as hands-on opportunity to broaden my knowledge and submerge myself into a new culture.
While looking around the room, I noticed that all
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However, I still think there is a lot to be learned from my experience. For example, when I first entered the studio I was slightly shocked to see that all three of the instructors were white, middle-aged women. Additionally, the main instructor had made up names for the dance moves that were not culturally appropriate. For instance, she named one move “the football”, which is not representative of the African culture by any means! In terms of multicultural education, this experience shows that we tend to take the true culture out of things to make them fit to our own standards. Personally, this experience was eye opening in the fact that even though I was attending an African Dance class, I was not receiving the full cultural context of it.
With this in mind, I think it is important as a future educator to inform my students about ethnocentrism, and how to be aware of it! I will encourage my students to fully embrace cultures for their entirety, not just bits and pieces of their choosing. All in all, even though the event may not have been culturally accurate, it was still a wonderful learning experience – and not to mention a great workout