Millikin University Percussion

Dominican Republic Tour

The MU Percussion Ensemble toured the Dominican Republic Jan. 6-13, 2007. This unique immersion experience began with an opening night performance in the district of El Malecon in the capital city of Santo Domingo.  While in Santo Domingo, MU percussion students studied folkloric percussion and dance styles (popular & folk) with Edis Sanchez: percussionist, dancer, scholar and founder of Drumayor, an institution devoted to research and promotion of Afro-Dominican culture. Also while in the city, the ensemble performed a lecture-recital at the Colegio Artistas de Plasticos exploring the parallels between music and the visual arts.

The group then traveled to Guymate where they participated in a performance of the Gaga, a quasi-religious drumming and dance ceremony hosted by members of this rural sugarcane community. The ensemble was named honorary members of Guymate in a ceremony following the Gaga.

The group then traveled to the Parson’s School of Design at Altos de Chavon (near LaRomana). This international school of design, with campuses in New York and Paris, provided a picturesque setting for MU students and Parson’s students to interact and explore the commonalities between their disciplines. Altos de Chavon, built in 1982, is an architectural replica of a 16c Spanish villa situated on a bluff overlooking the Chavon river as it empties into the Caribbean Sea. The culminating event featured the ensemble performing a concert and visual arts media production in the famed amphitheater at Altos de Chavon. This remarkable piece of architecture has provided a venue for the world’s most acclaimed musicians from Sinatra to Sting.