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Drum & Dance
With the room bursting with the sound of 30 percussionists pounding out powerful, frenzied, primal rhythms on drums from all over the world, it's hard not to feel tribal at Drum & Dance.
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DRUM & DANCE
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Time: First and third Sat., 8-11:30 p.m. (monthly in summer).
Price: Adults $6, children free.
Location: First Church Congregational, 11 Garden St., Cambridge.
Contact: 978-371-2502
Website: www.earthdrum.com
Get directions
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Held at the same Harvard Square hall as Dance Freedom, this open jam welcomes drummers and dancers of all kinds. Bring a drum and join in to play African, Haitian, and made-up grooves, or step onto the dance floor and let the driving beats propel you.
Or do both. Becky Hull-Falis, an office assistant from West Newton, originally just thought she'd drum, but felt compelled to dance as well.
"This is a brand-new experience for me," she says. "I've always enjoyed rhythm, but this really energized me."
Since 1979, the energetic, ritualistic, and just plain fun atmosphere at Drum & Dance has been drawing a diverse crowd of rhythm enthusiasts.
Parents, children, and others of all ages (many in their 30s and 40s), regularly come from as far as Gloucester and Providence. "The live element" is the attraction, says Paul Dakin, a university fund-raiser from Cambridge. "It has an energy that can't be replicated in a nightclub setting from recorded music."
As more and more drummers arrive, the fiery crescendo of rhythm and sound ignites some to dance so passionately that they are lost in movement.
The half-dozen dancers we talked to at Drum & Dance all looked much younger than they were. Maybe it's because they were relaxed, but maybe it's the dancing.
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