Ndere Troupe

Last Sunday night Travis and I met up with some good freinds of ours at the Ndere Center. Recently we heard about the place and that they have a trained troupe of dancers who perform each Sunday at the center. Of course I was dying to go watch the dancers and it worked out perfectly for us to meet up with our friends. Amber and Terril work up in Northern Uganda and come down for breathers every 6-8 weeks. It is alway so much fun to hang out with them when they are down here. Ambers parents were also there for a visit along with some family friends.

Ndere had a great facility with beautiful paintings done by local artists and other cultural art displayed. It was such a neat place. So strange that we had not heard a thing about it before now. Even when talking to friends hardly anyone knows about it.

The group performs traditional dances from all over Uganda. It is also cool how most of the dancers are from underprivileged families so dancing with the troupe provides them with opportunities that they would not have otherwise. The variety of drums and other instruments were also AWESOME!!! It was just an all around great experience.

You can see how CRAZY active these dances are, one dance the guys jumped almost the entier time.

One reason that I was so excited to go to see this group dancing is because I am planning on doing a Ugandan theme Praise concert for the close up of my dance classes that I teach here. I got all kinds of ideas of steps and got some great African Children's Choir music. Also making adorable wrap around skirts for the girls out of a very traditional Ugandan print.