Sharing her moves

The pounding rhythm of traditional drums filled the room as students swayed and bobbed to the pulsating beat. All eyes were focused on the front of the room, waiting for their cue on what to do next.\n"Up and down, knees bent, up and down, knees bent," dancing to the drum beats and the words of visiting scholar, Myrna Munchus-Bullock, M.F.A., students danced the African dance known as "umfundalai" Wednesday.\nMunchus-Bullock is a visiting scholar to the Department of Kinesiology and the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. She is here at IU working with the African American Dance Company and teaching master classes and lectures.\n"I was invited by the Department of Kinesiology, and I am here to raise awareness about the International African AIDS Pilgrimage; A Walk for Global Healing," Munchus-Bullock said.\n"As part of my one week residency, I am teaching master dance classes," she said. "I knew the department because we used to work together and they have seen me teach and perform."\nSaturday Munchus-Bullock is teaching the African dance "umfundalai," which means "essence." All students and members of the Bloomington community are invited to attend her class. At noon Friday in HPER 125 Munchus-Bullock is also giving a lecture about the creative process and her social work.\nMunchus-Bullock has taught at Penn State, Temple University, and Muhlenberg College as a teacher and director of performance companies. \nSince July she has been traveling all over the United States and parts of Canada, from Vancouver to Seattle to Northern California. \nMunchus-Bullock said the International African AIDS Pilgrimage; A Walk for Global Healing is a two year walk through Subsahara Africa starting at the Cape of Good Hope. The walk will begin in December 2003.\n"My husband is working with me, and I am traveling with him," she said. "We started on the East Coast and traveled over to the West Coast, and now we are working our way back to the East Coast."\nElizabeth Shea, a professor in Kinesiology, said the department is pleased and honored to have Munchus-Bullock visiting.\nThe umfundalai class consisted of around 30 students dancing, swaying their hips and using hand motions to tell a story or parts of stories. \nUmfundalai is a dance that brings information about the cultures of African peoples from the continent and diaspora. \n"The class was awesome," freshman Emily Johnson said.\nJohnson and Liz Marshell are both in a modern dance class..\n"I have not taken dance for a while, and I just thought taking a modern class would be fun," Marshell said.\nBoth Johnson and Marshall said the African dance was a little like modern dance, but it was different because there was more hip swaying and movement.\nThe dancers wore long material skirts known as "lappas," which represent the garments of women of African cultures. They danced in lines and in groups of around four, and then the next group would follow.\n"At the end, we thank our heart for beating, the earth for holding us up, then we thank our hearts for beating again because it didn't have to be so, then we thank the heavens and each other, and finally we thank our hearts one more time for loving, and we open our heart to share the love," Munchus-Bullock said.