By Julie Collins
CyberNews Staff Reporter

March 6, 2002

Penny Furgerson, the woman responsible for setting up the African dance and drum classes at Drake University this week, is no stranger to campus. Furgerson not only instructs dance classes in Morehouse Ballroom, she is also a Drake alumna.

The idea to organize the classes came to Furgerson after a Drake student who takes her classes in Morehouse suggested that students on campus might be interested in learning about African dance.

Furgerson enlisted the help of Mor Thiam, director of Royal Drummers of Africa, which is based out of Atlanta, to instruct the drum classes. At the last minute, Thiam was not able to attend. Weedie Briamah, a Ghana native from St. Louis who is the chief drummer for the Royal Drummers, is in Des Moines this week to instruct the drum classes in Thiam's place. Briamah teaches at Washington University, Forest Park Community College and the Jackie Joyner Kersee Boys and Girls Club in St. Louis when he is not working with the Royal Drummers. Thiam's wife, Miriam Balde, a former member of the Ballet Nacional of Senegal, is also assisting in the dance classes.

"For the short time we pulled this together, the response is great. Hopefully through this program we can bring more artists together. I think with things like this Drake wins and the community wins," Furgerson said.

The cofounder of the nonprofit Gateway Dance Theatre in Des Moines, Furgerson has been dancing since she was a child. Furgerson still retains her dancer's grace and is as passionate about dancing as she was when she was younger.

She came to the United States from India in 1956 to attend Drake with the help of Des Moines philanthropists A.H. and Anna Blank, whom Furgerson met while working as a tour guide in India.

Furgerson was enrolled in Drake's pharmacy program at a time when women and minorities represented a minimal population on campus. "I think we only had a handful of minorities. You could count us on your fingers," she said. Yet being, "what seemed like only Indian in Des Moines at the time" did not trouble Furgerson. That she was one of the few women did not bother her either. "In India I went to the boys' school to take science, and I was the only woman in a class of 150 to graduate from my college in India. So I was used to being a misfit," she said.

Furgerson said her plans following graduation from Drake changed a number of times. "I planned to return to India after graduation, but then I met my husband," she said. Furgerson and her husband, Lee, met in the 1960s and wanted to enter the Peace Corps together, but their priorities changed once they started a family.

Yet one thing never changed—Furgerson continued to dance. Once she came to the United States, she had the opportunity to perform all over the country. In one instance, while in Chicago at a dance festival, Furgerson was spotted by a director who later cast her as the lead in an off-Broadway Indian play called "Shakuntala."

"My life has been wonderful in that I have been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time," Furgerson said.

In 1972 Furgerson co-founded Gateway Dance Theatre with her husband, in part because she had not seen anyone "of color" dancing in Des Moines. "Our dance company was really started in order to reach out to the people who hadn't been included," Furgerson said. "We look to make our teaching accessible to at-risk students, those without the opportunities or financial ability to explore experiences in the arts."

Furgerson's dance instruction is a mixture of multi-ethnic dance movements with contemporary forms of expression. It combines elements of classical, interpretive, popular, primitive and folk dancing. "I like to call it a diverse experience. It's a fusion of different styles," Furgerson said.

"I think using the arts is a very good way to break down barriers and make people a community," Furgerson said. "I'm trying to be a catalyst between Drake and the community in my small way."

The African dance and drum classes are offered every evening this week. Admission to the classes is free for Drake students or $8 per drum class and $5 per dance class. The week will conclude with a free performance at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Olmsted Parents Hall. The program is sponsored by Drake University, the Coalition of Black Students, the Student Activities Board and Gateway Dance Theatre. More information and class times can be obtained by calling the Student Life Center at (515) 271-3411.