Sixth-graders perform djembe hand-drumming techniques and traditional West African dance for their fellow students during a school assembly at Henniker Community School in Henniker on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff)
Sixth-graders perform djembe hand-drumming techniques and traditional West African dance for their fellow students during a school assembly at Henniker Community School in Henniker on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) Credit: Elizabeth Frantz—Monitor staff


The sound of West African drumming filled the Henniker Community School gym on Thursday as sixth-graders participating in the school’s artist-in-residence program showed their fellow students what they had learned. In particular, they showed off the djembe hand-drumming techniques and traditional West African dance steps they had learned from guest instructors Steve Ferraris and James Marshall.