a bit of Senegal in my weekend!

So this past weekend, my friend Anna invited me to this free dance performance that she had to attend in Los Angeles because she is required to see x number of dance performances and critique them for her dance class. This one just happened to work out for her timing-wise, and she invited me along.

Little did I know, until we got there and the group was introduced as "Futa Toro" [named after a region in Senegal] that we realized that it was a West African dance group, composed primarily of Senegalese people!!

The dancing was incredible and even somewhat familiar. The manic, possessed style of dancing reminded me of the beautiful women who danced at all of our family functions such as weddings and baptisms. They just go CRAZY and let loose and flail around so gracefully. These dancers were wearing familiar clothes and doing familiar dances, and playing djembe drums, and the whole experience was so surreal.

Here I was, sitting at this posh outdoor ampitheater in Los Angeles, experiencing a taste of Senegalese culture that I miss so much. So very strange.

The best part, though, came at the end of the concert when Anna and I were walking out. We walked past one of the drummers/dancers and I went up to him and said, in Wolof, "Are you Senegalese?" He said yes, also in Wolof, but looked at me quizzically as if to say "Who is this toubab?"

I told him "I am Senegalese too!" and he said "Really?" which is an appropriate reaction because, as I stated earlier, I was a random white girl in Los Angeles, speaking to him in Wolof. I could read in his head: "Does not compute."

However, we had a nice little chat in Wolof where I told him that I studied at the University in Dakar and that my husband lived in Ouakam. (Okay, so that part was partly me telling a bit of a white lie and enhancing my identity to a random person that I would never see again, but in my defense, there is also no word in Wolof for "boyfriend" or "significant other," so I am off the hook for my white lie) Then, the kicker, the man goes, "Oh, is he Lebou?" I was so ecstatic to hear reference to Senegalese ethnic groups, especially the Lebou which is the group that my family belongs to and that makes up most of Ouakam, and is (in my own opinion) the coolest and most culturally rich group, filled with mysticism and spirituality and a strong connection to nature and the ocean.

We ended the conversation by saying "Babanene yoon, insha'Allah," (Until the next time, G-d-willing) which made him laugh and made me so happy to meet a Senegalese person who could "speak my language," in a cultural sense. I felt very much at home and at peace when talking to that man, as if all the things that I was missing about Senegal were embodied in him. It was a very comforting feeling.

ANYWAY.

Here are some pictures from the dance performance:













(And yes, that is actually a traditional dancer ON STILTS in the last couple of pictures. He did all the dances that everyone else was doing too - it was incredible!)

Oh, how I miss Senegal and want to go back. Maybe some day soon...