Dance, Dance Cultural Revolution

Welles Park, in the city's Lincoln Square community, will be transformed into a Mecca of music and dance from global cultures this Saturday and Sunday at The Old Town School of Folk Music's Chicago Folk  Roots Festival. A dance tent will offer visitors dance lessons from a variety of cultures, such as Aztec rituals.

The dance lessons, free with the price of admission, are an excellent entry-way into a culture foreign from your own according to Senior Lecture of Theater at Northwestern University, Joel Valentin-Martinez. "It's a quick and most of all enjoyable way of learning about another culture's perspective," he said.

Idy Ciss, an immigrant from Senegal and dance instructor at the Old Town School, is teaching a West African dance workshop at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. "West African dance is what I know because I am from West Africa," Ciss said. "This is what I know. This is my life."

His workshop will be accompanied by the thundering sounds of live drumming. Ciss advises newcomers not to be intimidated. "I tell people to have the courage to at least try," Ciss said.

The dance tent has been a big attraction since the festival started 11 years ago, at times drawing crowds as large as those at the main stage, according to Sarah Dandelles, program manager of dance and movement education at The Old Town School. "It's about having fun and enjoying the music," Dandelles said.

Misia Jaminski of the Wesoly Lud Polish Folk Dance Ensemble will give Chicago-style Polka lessons at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday. The Chicago-style Polka is "more of a hop than the German style which is more of a slide," Jaminski said.

Newcomers to Chicago-style Polka might be surprised to find out how fast-paced the dance is. "Some of the routines are from the Swing Era. It was the Polish way of keeping tradition alive," Jaminski said.

Although, she adds, that no one should expect to fully learn everything about a single form of dance in one of these brief lessons. The lessons "just give people a taste of anything because obviously you don't have time to make people qualified for 'Dancing with the Stars'."

 To see a full Schedule go The Old Town School of Folk Music's Web site.