DALLAS — Students, faculty members and administrators at Dallas Elementary School experienced the dance and sounds of Africa during a PTO-sponsored event on Nov. 21.
Fakoli Dance & Drum of West Africa, made up of three brothers, entertained and taught 500 elementary students about what life is like growing up in the African culture.
Led by eldest brother, 45-year-old Fode Sissoko, brothers Renald St-Juste, 41, and Solomon Mason, 23, played drums, danced, and taught important facts about their native country.
Sissoko, from Senegal, Africa, served as spokesman for the trio, played drums and danced for the audience. St-Juste performed on the drums while Mason walked on stilts throughout the students. Dressed in native clothing, the trio performed several drum tunes throughout the 45-minute assembly.
“It’s a cultural experience for the students,” said Rebecca Matus, Dallas Elementary PTO member. “They’ve been here before but not for several years. It’s absolutely important to show students different cultural things and to have them exposed to different experiences. The more exposure we get them all around, they will be better off educationally.”
“We have a really strong PTO here at Dallas Elementary; we are very blessed, very fortunate,”said school principal Thomas Traver. “They do a fundraiser each year and the money goes back to the children through field trips and through assemblies like the one today.”
During the performance, Sissoko invited faculty members to center stage to teach them an African dance. The students cheered in approval while their teachers danced.
“I thought they were amazing, especially the guy in stilts. He was really cool, especially when he did the worm. That was really cool,” said fifth-grader Molly Walsh. “They’re really good on the drums and the guitar, I never saw a guitar like that before.”
The Kora, a native African guitar, sounds like a harp and has a notched bridge like a lute. Sissoko, who played a tune for the students on the Kora, is considered a master drummer and an 18-string Kora player.
“These guys were exceptional; they were very engaging with the students. They had 500 students in front of them,” Traver said. “They (performers) kept them engaged throughout the program. They got them physically engaged, they got them verbally engaged, they got them mentally engaged and I thought it was a terrific program.”
Traver enjoyed the traditional dance, music and the West African culture. “It was a very good experience for children living in the Back Mountain; we don’t have a lot of exposure to these kinds of cultural experiences.”
