World Comes to VGCC in Cultural Fair
From didgeridoos to belly dancing, Hawaiian footwear to “bones” playing, Vance-Granville Community College’s Civic Center was filled with tastes of culture from around the world and across the area Thursday during the college’s annual Cultural Fair.
The college’s Cultural Awareness Committee stages the event each year to expose students, staff, faculty and the community to the diverse culture throughout the world. Vance-Granville has students and staff who are natives of about 15 nations worldwide, and they took the lead in exhibiting artifacts, historical objects, clothing, food and other items from their cultures.
A wide variety of music was also displayed for the entertainment and edification of Cultural Fair attendees.
Among the countries and continents represented were Afghanistan, Asia, Ecuador, India, Latin America, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Australia, and several other African nations.
Vance-Granville students and staff had displays on Global Environmental Awareness, Indian education, Continuing Education and curriculum art, Disabilities Awareness, Technology and Global Education, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice and Free Trade Coffee.
Heading the entertainment were the VGCC Day Care students singing Irish songs. Phillip Brantley played jazz and flamenco numbers on guitar, Native American dancers from the Haliwa-Saponi tribe demonstrated their colorful dances, and musicians and dancers from Orange County performed clogging and traditional folk music. VGCC student Cheryl Kornegay enthralled the audience with a belly dancing demonstration, including numbers in which she balanced a sword on her head and midsection while dancing.
Danny Alridge demonstrated the ancient tradition of playing music on bones, and the Friends of Bluegrass from Warren County played and sang their traditional American music. Mexican students performed a native dance that simulated birth, life and death.
Vendors were on hand to exhibit and sell Hawaiian footwear and pocketbooks, beaded jewelry, handpainted crafts, Native American pottery, paper crafting, floral creations and sewing crafts.
To make it an educational experience, students had a questionnaire to complete by going to the different booths to get the answers to questions for which they received class credits.
Cultural Awareness Committee members indicated they were pleased with the quantity and diversity of entertainment and displays, and students and visitors expressed their delight in the opportunity to experience a “world tour” here on the Vance-Granville campus.
NATIVE DANCE– Teen-agers from the Haliwa-Saponi tribe demonstrate Native American dance at the Vance-Granville Community College Cultural Fair Thursday. (VGCC Photo)
OUT OF AFRICA– Pat Marrow of Henderson, a Teacher Associate student at Vance-Granville Community College, displays her collection of native masks from the African nations of Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Kenya at the college Cultural Fair on Thursday. (VGCC Photo)
FROM DOWN UNDER– Linda Medlin, right, of Ridgeway and Vance-Granville Community College Teacher Associate students play a tune on didgeridoos at the college Cultural Fair on Thursday. Medlin and her husband, Jay, made the Australian wind instruments, and she recently demonstrated them to Teacher Associate students at the college and taught them to play the instruments. (VGCC Photo)
