Dance Rhonde

Title

Dance Rhonde

Artist

Seaux-N-Seau Soileau

Medium

Painting - Acrylic On Canvas

Description

One night as I was washing dishes I could hear my young daughters singing in the living room. I almost dropped the plate I was washing. Where had they learned my Maw-Maw's song? I ran to the living room where they were. "Where did you learn that song?," I asked. My Maw-Maw sang it to me when I was little. I could remember a line or two of the song, but my young daughters knew every word. They didn't know the signs my Maw-Maw had shown me. So I showed them. They told me their French teacher at school had taught them the song and was trying to get a dance troop together. They asked if they could join. Of course I said, "yes!" My daughters learned the dance steps my Maw-Maw had told me she would teach me, but we never were enough kids together to do these dances. My daughters learned so many songs and the purpose of the songs. The songs and dances were often called "Lenten Games," because they were done in Lent, the 40 days before Easter. Many Cajuns gave up music during Lent and these songs are done without musical instruments. They were sung by older ladies who watched over the teenagers and young adults who danced. During the time when these dances were done girls still wore bonnets and always wore dresses. Cajuns often were barefoot during warm weather. I painted traditional Cajun and Creole clothing on the children. These are like the costumes I made for the dance troop my daughters danced with. I was so happy my daughters had learned the songs my Maw-Maw had sang to me and knew the dances I had often heard about growing up in Acadiana.

Uploaded

March 27th, 2020

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