i ni sogoma

[good morning mali]

This morning was my first day in Mali and it was great to wake up to the Djoumanzana sunshine from my window. Despite a late-night arrival and little sleep, I decided to wake up “carpe diem style” at 9am to catch up and have breakfast with the other students who have been staying at Yeredon. I have a lot of catching up to do in learning our dances- Dounounba and Sunguru Banni- but it felt great to move and see M’ba and Sali, our dance instructors. After 2 hours of producing Malian sweat in the dance studio, I had an amazing Djoun Djoun lesson with Madu, one of our drummers for dance class. I’ve never had instruction in Djoun Djoun so this was a real treat- I plan to take Djoun Djoun lessons after every dance rehearsal and Ngoni lessons in the evenings for the rest of my visit to Mali.

To top off a great day we decided to go to a night club- La Terrace- and had a blast chatting away, having some drinks, and basically starting the party with our toubabou moves. I hadn’t gone dancing in months so it goes without saying that Mali+dancing+dancers+Lady Gaga=fun. What a fantastic and exhausting first day in Mali! I can’t wait to get the ball rolling with my creative work and youth advocacy- I’m excited for things to finally materialize after months of planning craziness!