Adannia ’27, Lynn ’26, and Nathan ’25, reflect on a fully immersive musical experience.
Today my peers and I got to experience a wonderful performance that was an accumulation of singing, dancing, playing instruments and more. We got to both watch others perform and perform ourselves. The performance began with multiple songs performed by students from the school, Tambores de Cabildo. As some students sang and harmonized with one another, others played drums, maracas, and piano. Together all these elements formed a wonderful sound that carried throughout the room. After students from Tambores de Cabildo performed we all got to watch students from Deerfield perform. Deerfield students and faculty performed violin, piano, the flute, and the trumpet.
After watching all these performances my other peers and I began to perform. While some Deerfield students stood on the stage singing and playing instruments, others and I performed a dance to the song El Pescador. The females in the dance wore beautiful long skirts with red, blue, yellow, green and white, while the males wore hats. After this performance was complete we moved on to performing La Mujer Momposina. As some of us played instruments others of us sang, I was one of those who sang. As the instruments played and voices harmonized an amazing, energetic sound was created. After we completed this song we then performed our final song, La Piragua. In this song I played the maracas. This was my first time ever playing the maracas where my purpose was to keep the tempo. While I played maracas people sang, rapped, played drums and piano, and together we created a vibrant and electric sound.
-Adannia ’27
I was transported to another world during the musical performance in Cartagena. The beach on stage was like a painting, dyed in the mesmerizing colors of the setting sun, casting a warm glow over the entire scene. The smiles on everyone’s faces were infectious, reflecting the pure joy and happiness in the air. The vibrant percussive music filled the air, pulsating with energy and rhythm, creating a lively and invigorating atmosphere. It was a moment where time seemed to stand still, and I felt completely immersed in the beauty and magic of the experience.
-Lynn ’26
All throughout our trip to Colombia not only have we listened and performed with music but we have also done a lot of dancing. In La Escuela de Tambores this included dancing to the music as we sang or dancing in a circle. It was fun seeing people start to get how the different dances work and by the end seeing all of us dancing together with the dancers from Palenque. Another important moment involving dancing was by Juanchi’s house where the invited dancers taught us a combination of dance moves and we had a dance battle. The mix of the music, the beach, the scenery, and the smiles on everyone’s faces made that day one of my favorites from the whole trip. Overall the whole trip was one I will remember for the rest of my life and the dancing was part of what made it so memorable.
-Nathan ’25
