Monday - Resurrection Dance Theater

On the way back from Blanchard we found that Ronnie had had to tie the side door in the van open with a piece of wire. We stopped at the Carribean market and bought some Prestige beer and other supplies. This store was like a regular supermarket with fluorescent lights and refrigeration inside, SUVs and other cars in the parking lot outside - except that there was a guard with a shotgun and poverty all around. Doug told me during his July mission trip there was none of the Prestige available because the UN had cornered the market. Sounds like the economy is improving, at least. We saw a few Americans and also some UN people in the store.

That evening, we had a special treat. After Michael’s dinner of chicken and rice, there was a performance of the Resurrection Dance Theater by the boys of Saint Josephs. During this performance we saw a whole different Walnes (photo left) as the lead dancer and singer. They had a number of skits re-creating their life on the street, including one of a poor shoeshine boy almost getting arrested for taking the purple hat of a well-off but non-paying customer. Fairly early in the show, 3 drummers took position to the side of the stage, led by Bill (photo right), who drummed ardently for over an hour.

Michael served as the narrator, involving the audience in the shoeshine skit and getting us to dance in a circle with the boys after the performance was over. At one point he told us about the Resurrection Dance Theater, how it had performed at the Dance Africa festival in the U.S. and how Bill had studied in the U.S., made contacts and even traveled to Ghana to learn more about drumming.