Sunday, February 07, 1999
Sampler Weekend spreads arts Tristate-wide
BY CAROL NORRIS
Enquirer contributor
If the mood strikes, go ahead and dance. No one's going to ask your age or if you've danced before or make you sit down for looking goofy.
It's a class taught by Shera Khamisi's Medasi Dance Theatre and one of the more than 100 free events that will take place during Cincinnati Bell's Fine Arts Sampler Weekend, Saturday and next Sunday at locations all over the Tristate.
The idea is to spread art all around and kick off the annual Fine Arts Fund campaign. Everyone's invited, and like Medasi's class (1 p.m. Saturday at the Arts Consortium, West End), most events are geared toward children.
In its 11th year, this year's Sampler Weekend is the biggest yet, with musicians, dancers and artists scheduled at 33 places.
“We want it convenient for everyone,” says Beth Charlton, project coordinator. “And we're trying to put it in people's neighborhoods”
The Arts Consortium has been a popular Fine Arts hangout each February, as it is most days of the week the rest of the year. Medasi Dance Theater is one of its featured groups.
Like many groups that get the spotlight on Sampler Weekend, Medasi gets little attention during the year when it meets, practices and works doing lecture demonstrations, festivals, church celebrations and an occasional wedding.
“We do traditional (African) dance but try to relate it to a contemporary setting,” Ms. Khamisi says.
Most traditional stories have a universal theme. Specializing on the djembe, her drum-based orchestra supports dancers and actors in colorful stories and dances. The 25 adults and 10 children range from 6 years old to older than 50, she says.
Each Sampler group has its own mission and reason for being. Members of Medasi like to think they're spreading African culture in a positive way. They consider the arts an important part of a global community, a way to connect.
The class isn't their only Sampler Weekend event: 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Raymond Walters College, you can stay in your seat and watch Medasi perform.
You're likely to see moves native to Zimbabwe, South Africa or Madagascar, countries recently visited by Ms. Khamisi in a search for new and old traditions to add to the group's repertoire.
IF YOU GO
• What: Cincinnati Bell's Fine Arts Sampler Weekend.
• When: Saturday and next Sunday.
• Where: 33 Tristate locations.
• Admission: Free.
• Information: 230-5000.
• There's more: Brochures are available at public libraries, Cincinnati Bell Phone Stores, the Contemporary Arts Center, Taft Museum, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Centers and at the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati Airport in Terminal 3.
Are Clintons protecting or using Chelsea?
A Saturday primary? Maybe
Should Cincinnati sue gunmakers?
Legal claims rest on negligence or nuisance
'Smart guns' are not answer, some experts say
TOUCHED BY TRAGEDIES
Census miscounts cost locals
Sampler Weekend spreads arts Tristate-wide
Fine Arts Sampler: Museum & Gallery Highlights
Fine Arts Sampler: Sunday schedule
Fine Arts Sampler: Saturday schedule
Hallmark's Hall of Fame tradition
Bishop saluted for race summit
Imagemaker Award winners
Trench cave-in survivor faces long rehab
The things we all take for granted
Clinton not Republicans' only problem
No slowing road work sometimes
Bauer may not have shot, but will have say
Courts step up to a new home
Deals before death grow
Fairfield police take aim at rare feat: accreditation
Furniture takes over at Turfway
Gadd enters not-guilty plea
Heat turned up for adult shops
Politicians move mementos of home
Skater keeps cool on ice
TRISTATE DIGEST
