Dear Friends, I would like to share with you one a really great experience I was really happy to have taking my West African Dance Course during my time at Wes... - First of all, I would like to say, that I had many opportunities for getting my experiences with different worldwide national traditions staying there as a World Music Program's fellow, such as, for instance, the Indian, Indonesian, but also of my own music direction of a Modern Dance courses! So, as for a contemporary composer - fellow of that program, it didn't first fall me that simple to get an appropriate permission for taking that dancing course since we had a very strong and pretty uptight director of our studies, but my main advisor directed me to it saying like: "It would be good for you as a composer, Olga, to take it!", after what I then succeeded to get this necessary permission for me to take it! - My very first experience with it was just a cultural shock for me, as a native Russian, who first just dived into this hot atmosphere of the variety of all the traditional West African dances and their national instruments!.. Then I also began to take that course myself in practice... - We had a really great teacher for it, Iddi Saaka, who not only felt all those hot danceable rhythms being a West African native, but who also performed them as wild and cool as if he would be a real wild 'animal' himself..., and meaning this very positive!!. - He expressed him and this whole atmosphere of hotness totally during all these different traditions within their national West African dances - just like those real "animals", which are not necessarily that simple to find..., but who do exist creating their great choreographies with a real passion for that, much hotness at the same time staying very authentic!.. - I was a bit older student taking that course, comparing to my other classmates in it, so, the Iddi, - he often asked me to demonstrate his new choreography to our whole class, what I perceived as if he apparently liked this experience very much himself!.. - I never thanked him till today for having such a wonderful opportunity to receive this experience in my life dancing that beautiful variety of the African dances, because it inspired me to the main part to creating my current and future music perceptions to that time and then, to my own music conception!.. - I never thanked him for that as, after a few months of taking this his course, I then left.., and I left too early... - as I just had to leave too early... But now I wish to take a moment for this to really express my feelings of a huge gratitude to him for all these inspirations a good and smart enough student can take with them along on their way to then realize all these experiences in their own work!.. What also really matters for me here describing all that, is that fact, that I never shared here any foreign experiences of any other people doing some music or taking the dancing like this, but only my own ones, which once I have met, I was already able to take them with me on my further creative way myself... - So, I just thank you, Iddi, very much for that, also sending my huge greetings to your dancing course at Wes and to Ghana!!. And, please, also make sure; taking your dance course, just don't forget to make me feel that really happy yourself !!. Please, enjoy also the following links below for getting more from the West African Dance at Wes, and stay well !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOEaEgQvoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckSEAqzbqmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcdq2voSKAE