"Thanks to Marafanyi for making our African Drum and Dance concert one of the most exciting and uplifting moments for our students and audience members. It was certainly an evening to remember and the weeks of classes leading up to the performance were filled with much enjoyment, curiosity and laughter. Lara and Yael have given us all at the WAE Center a good case of Drumming fever!!"
- Elaine Schenkel, Wae Center Program Coordinator

The ladies of Marafanyi Percussion were honored and delighted to have been given a second-year residency for adults with disabilities at the Wae (Wellness Arts Enrichment) Center in West Orange, NJ. The weekly residency spanning several months culminated with a community showcase in January at Temple B'Nai Shalom, where the Wae Center conducts it's core activities focusing on creative and wellness arts.

Words cannot express the inspiration and satisfaction we are blessed with when working with this special group. Since this is our second year in residence we are able to develop and expand their West African Music & Dance repertoire and also share Marafanyi original compositions to incorporate into their learning process and the showcase. This year we added an original "Story Dance" that our group created collaboratively. Not only did we dance narrative choreography for this piece but there was a jazz element of musical improvisation added.

You can check out photos from the show in our "View My Pics" section on our profile page.

SHOUT OUTS ABOUND to the '07 WAE CENTER PARTICIPANTS of
"West African Dance, Rhythm & Song w/ Marafanyi"

2ND YEAR STUDENTS ~
Debbie – always ready for the next piece of knowledge to drop
Marcie – a lovely dancer, always willing to try something new
André – a heartfelt performer, impressed us with personal progress
Aaron – loves to entertain, the catalyst for our "Story Dance"!
Jay - relishes his successes in the program which are many!
Kelly – a proud performer and one of our most expressive students
Shawn – An enthusiastic seeker, could easily take our job ;)
Patty – A lovely, brave woman and enthusiastic performer
Jamie – drumming is in this woman's soul

1ST YEAR STUDENTS ~
Jen – a brave risk-taker with a beautiful smile
Claude – fabulous dancer and our jazz keyboard soloist
Adam – a gentleman with recall to beat the band, and a fine dancer
Steven – an expressive man with a valiant heart
Daniel – what can we say about the "Mayor of Broadway"?
Marquese – a sweet and graceful man, not unlike a swan

SHOUT OUTS as well go to the Wae Center Staff ~
Elaine, Marilynn, John, Linda, Mary, Alex, Marina, Lena, and Randy - kudos to you – our successes were many!

Special thanks to Wae Center Director, Marilynn's daughter Moncia, for supplying us with a great meal before the big show! Moncia's two young boys, Lev and Jonah, were special guests for our showcase. Wae Center staff member, Alex Tyshkov, who sat in with Marafanyi on bass and guitar - MERCI! We send a special thank you to Abraham, the resident "Go-To" man at Temple B'Nai Shalom and native of Ghana, West Africa. He set the stage, space and lights for the big show. BIG UPS to our sound engineer, Caté, who was a delight to work with and a fine artist in his own right please check him out at www.cateinfo.com. And as always we thank Lisa Gonzalez-Howell for completing the Marafanyi Trio so beautifully.

Thanks to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs the WAE Center has been able to work, play and perform with Marafanyi for three months a year in both 2006 and 07! We now have a dream to make African Drumming and Dance a consistent part of the WAE Center offerings by hosting a weekly class so students can regularly experience the love and joy they have for this music. If you can help us to make this dream a reality please contact Elaine Schenkel at ebschenkel@comcast.net or call (973) 325-1494.
You can send a contribution or donation to: 
JSDD/ The WAE Center
Attention: Elaine Schenkel
395 Pleasant Valley Way
West Orange, NJ 07052

DID YOU KNOW? Lara Gonzalez & Yael Shacham, Marafanyi Founders and Artistic Directors, have over 10 years of experience as teaching artists serving multiple intelligences. They each have particular training focused on Developmental Domains including Cognitive, Motor/Physical, Language/Literacy and Social/Emotional. The ladies believe we all access information in different ways (ie visual, motor/kinesthetic, auditory and more). Their holistic method of teaching drum, dance and song offers a variety of ways to connect with the abundant material they have to offer.

A Bientot,
Lara & Yael
Marafanyi Percussion
www.RootsHeartPulse.com
www.MySpace.com/MarafanyiPercussion
tel 877.904.2362 | email RootsHeartPulse@ureach.com