Finding out about African cultural traditions

Many of the accounts of Africa given by the supporters of slavery depicted the continent as being devoid of culture. This was blatantly untrue. African culture was as rich and varied as European culture.

Moreover, these cultural tradition survived the passage across the Atlantic. The slaves took their culture with them on the slave ships and fought to ensure its survival when they arrived in the Americas.

Members of the Sundance Group lead the students in an African dance workshop.

Hermitage students were the first to arrive and immediately joined in.

Students were given the opportunity to find out more about the cultural traditions of Africa by participating in African drumming and dancing workshops. These were provided by the Changing Perspectives project which, amongst other things, explores how slaves were able to keep alive their oral and traditional values through works of art, music and dance. The project will feature many visual and performance artistes from the African community in the North East, including the Sundance group who came along and helped to make the day such a success.