by Lena Morgan
Guun Duun
the deep bass tones of the
djembé /pronounced gem.be/ drum
the traditional instrument of the Mandinka people of Mali.
Go doe; the tones played near the rim of the drum. Pa ta; the tight slaps of the right and left hands in the center. To teach drumming you sing these sounds, you feel these sounds. It is tradition. It is a deep grounding connection to Earth, to the pulse, to the heartbeat of us all. It is not written, but transmitted from teacher to loyal pupil.
Deja Mitchell is a student and a teacher of this tradition. Deja is rich in understanding the cultural depths and significance of the drum and how its influence cannot help but move bodies to dance in rhythmic, reaching, bending, foot stomping; unified movements to the beat of the drum and to one’s own heart. She generously shares this wealth. On her inspiring website, Deja ruminates on the power of the drum: “The djembé has a great cultural heritage in Africa. It may have the widest range of tones of all hand drums. Its healing power is complimented by its power to make people dance.” And dance Deja does.
Dance… Unified movements, to the beat of the drum and to one’s own heart.
Deja Mitchell
On a cool spring evening, I enter the beautiful space of the Eccles Community Art Center in Ogden, Utah to teach a yoga class. It’s one of those days. No students attend. But from the next studio, I hear the earthy sound of hands beating the skins of drums; of feet pounding
the Earth. Tribal, moving sounds reverberate through the walls, ceiling and floor. I can’t help but move my feet. All at once, they stop. I hear voices laughing and talking. As I exit, I run into a familiar face, Deja Mitchell. She is slightly out of breath and glowing with the energy of teaching her students to move their bodies to the primal yet modern earthly sounds of African drums.
We say hello and share a brief conversation. As I gather my things, I hear Deja discuss the African dance just taught. The students have excited questions about how their bodies move, about the timing of the drumming, about how they feel the rhythm. Deja’s voice is light and airy. Her frame is petite; her energy large.
A few days later, when visiting my son’s school, I thread my way around a line of giddy children. There she is again. Deja, calmly welcoming the children attending her African Dance and Drumming Class. She looks up and beams at me with her infectious smile.
The Wasatch Front is profoundly blessed with the expression of this woman’s drive to create unity and shared experience through her passions of dance, drumming and a deeper understanding of other cultures. This desire and intention have taken Deja to the far corners of the globe to learn firsthand from teachers in indigenous communities how to transmit the magic that is the art of the drum and dance. She brings back from her journeys not only her own teaching, but on occasion the teachers themselves. This exposes her students to authentic unfiltered African drum and dance. It also, and this is an intended ripple effect, exposes our community to the people of Africa. This is the true genius of Deja. How better to meet someone from a far off country with a different culture, language and way of living than to connect through a shared love of music and dance.
When I catch up with Deja again to interview her for this article, her presence is adventurous, having just returned from a retreat in Mexico. As we speak, Deja creates the imagery of her mission as a portal to shared experience through movement and the consciousness of drumming and dancing. These art forms unite people energetically, allowing openness in body and spirit.
Even though rhythm is our first experience in the womb; the heartbeat of our Mother, her footsteps, the sway of her body; it sometimes is missing from our busy lives. Drumming connects us back to our Mother and to the Earth Mother. It is ancient. The sound of the drums naturally reaches something deep inside us and compels our bodies to motion, to joyous dance. Deja has become the bridge for this energy in Utah.
I asked her to tell me what drew her to dance and why it is important to her:
Dance has so many aspects, but I think the most important thing that I enjoy about it is the magic presence that it brings me into. ‘What is dance?’ Dance is agreeing to be present in the moment and hold something as special. You can be moving in the world but once you bring some deeper awareness, or purpose to it, now all of a sudden it is magic. Now it is dance.
Dance is sometimes the same movement, but with a different level of perception. Of course, it feels really good to move and there are many layers to that. The healing, the self-expression and creative layers. It does so many things in the unconscious. For me, it’s meditation. When I perform, it’s like I am meditating; I am present. But, at the same time, I am also opening up this portal to the people who have agreed to be witnesses. Now they are a part of it. We are both in this magic space. They are there, as am I.
Hopefully I have prepared enough that I can be a good conduit, to open that shared window of presence and make it ‘something’. The people, the audience, we are all coming into this space. That is what I love about dance.
Deja Mitchell
I’ve had the honor of witnessing the presence of Deja’s performance. Her dancing is a fluid, lucid experience where the rest of the world falls away. There is only the stage upon which feet ground and lift, drums beat and pause, uniting everyone involved. The connection of beat to feet to soul is noticeable. And it cannot be unnoticed.
Deja’s work is not limited to dance and what she does touches all ages. Elementary schools in Utah have sought Deja out to offer this experience of sound and dance; to
teach the children to feel the rhythm of their bodies, and of the Earth. Deja welcomes her students with a reverence for the journey they are about to begin. They enter the auditorium, stepping through the threshold of their school day into the dance, the drum, the joy. They cannot help but align with each other as they share the experience of expression, movement and music. What a gift to offer children. An extraordinary gift to students with physical and mental disabilities. For example, consider the deaf child dancing in perfect tempo to the drumbeat she cannot hear, but has been taught to feel.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Deja touches the lives of many elders. Deja teaches them movement in a chair or in their beds, to open their experience. And to remind them of the movement and rhythms of their bodies. With elders, as the body becomes less mobile, the world becomes smaller. Deja’s work expands these limitations, and in so doing expands the elders’ world and worldview. Deja describes this community as one of her most successful avenues for transmitting the beauty of muscle memory and opening horizons. Her mission is not only to transform bodies to be fit and firm, but to teach people to be open as well as grounded. This is not a technical teaching. It is instead a transmission that pulses through the body, effecting lasting change to both body and soul. Young or old is irrelevant. The magic is the feeling; the grace that dance, movement and drumming bring to those participating.
Deja on the djembé
Deja offers workshops for drumming and dance for all levels. She choreographs and performs modern dance as well. She explains that the mix is perfectly sensible if one
thinks about it:
There are all kinds of categories and labels for dance, but at its best it is a blend of primitive sound linked to movement, movement linked to story. African drum and dance, just like modern dance, do both well.
Deja Mitchell
She also explains that the practice of choreography and modern dance on a daily basis, which she did for years, hone the skills of the dancer’s body and train the mind such that the movements and form become second nature. This frees the dancer to flow into the music without outward effort. It also allows unification in the dance when performing with others. And this freedom allows a deeper level of presence for the dancer. It is the foundation for the dancer to become the teacher.
As her work has evolved and spread throughout the community, Deja’s intention also has expanded. Her new goal is to capture the synergy of embodied presence with dance and movement; to capture and teach on film so that it can be available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of age or physical ability:
It is my desire for the visuals and vibration to be so inviting, so exhilarating, and so vital, that those who can’t be there in person are able to share in the experience in another dimension and through a different media! What an incredible opportunity for everyone regardless of their situation to be able to experience this.
You can’t necessarily force or predict whether you can capture the magic on film. It’s coming if it’s going to be there. You can prepare and invite it, flow with it and be grateful.
Deja Mitchell
Her current film project is focused on bringing simplified movement to elders.
Everyone who meets Deja is intrigued with this beautiful, graceful woman who emanates light. She offers diverse and rhythmic gifts to our community and beyond; integrating the traditions of the djembé, the stories told through dance, and the African people.
Her connection to these arts of sound and movement seems natural, flowing. She teaches as though it were an inherent part of her. Young, old or in between, Deja opens portals of connection from drums to dance; teacher to pupil, performer to audience and back again; the portal between body and soul. So, let’s drum. And let’s dance.
Visit Deja’s website
tribalovedancer.com