The event brought together local musicians, dancers and students
By RORY CONLON — city@theaggie.org
Peregrine School, a Davis preschool and elementary school, hosted the Multicultural Arts & Music Festival on Oct. 12. The event featured student artwork and performances from local Davis musicians, dancers and Taiko drummers.
Peregrine School students, who range from 12 months to 12 years old, hung their paintings and drawings along the back fence of the campus. Chris Erickson, the head of Peregrine School for two years, said students created artwork based on the theme: “What is your favorite food to eat with your family?”
“Beginning with our 12-month-olds, they create something based on the prompt and they also give a narrative, which at the 12-month, one-year, two-years and [three-years-old stage] is quite simple and straightforward,” Erickson said. “But as we work our way up, you begin to see kind of how human development works. The stories get more personal and certainly more elaborate.”
Rayne Kanpp, a third and fifth grade teacher at the school, said the stories on the wall also reflect students’ relationships with their families.
“Early on, it’s ‘I like this food,’ and then as you get higher [in age], it’s like, ‘I help make this food,’” Kanpp said. “‘On the weekends with my mom, I pour the syrup on the pancakes.’ It gets more developed and detailed, and it’s really nice and cute.”
After students and parents viewed the artwork, they were invited to watch local musicians, dancers and Taiko drummers perform on stage. Monika Frymus, the program and events coordinator for the school, said everyone who performed at the event was connected to the school.
“David [Campos] is the grandfather of one of our students,” Frymus said. “The dance group we have are actually alumni, and for the last performance, one of our staff members is part of the group.”
Before David Campos performed four songs, including a cover of “Freight Trains” by Elizabeth Cotton, Erickson introduced his wide range of musical influences to the audience.
“[Campos’] multicultural influences come from various chapters of his life, including his early childhood in Mexico, which exposed him to Norteño Mariachi and the regional traditional music of Mexico,” Erickson said. “At the age of seven, he immigrated to the United States and experienced the urban sounds of country, Motown and R&B. He then spent some time in Appalachia, where he added a love of early American music.”
Afterward, the Red Maple Dance Group took the stage to perform two numbers: “The Story of Mulan” and “Water Dragon Chant.” Emily Li, a third-year student at Davis Senior High School, said the group learns, teaches and performs dances in the Davis community.
“We teach Chinese dance to spread awareness of our culture in the community,” Li said. “A lot of people don’t know about the different forms of Chinese dance. I think it’s really cool for them to see how diverse it is.”
19 members from the Koyasan Spirit of Children Taiko group also performed at the event. Kaori Kubota-Sakauye, who has been a member for 27 years, said they were invited to the festival by one of their members to showcase Taiko drumming to a young audience.
“Taiko is a traditional performing art from Japan, and it’s been very popular in the U.S. for the last 50 years,” Kubota-Sakauye said. “Our purpose is to go to different places in the Sacramento, Davis area and show kids what it is about.”
In addition to featuring local performers from different backgrounds, the event also served as a fundraiser. Erickson said that parent donations for food, drinks and artwork at the event would be invested back into the school.
“The fundraiser money just goes back into our annual fund, which helps us as a non-profit independent school,” Erickson said. “We make our money from tuition, fundraising and grants. Sometimes, we have specific fundraisers for specific things, but our annual fund helps us in many different ways: paying staff, power and water bills, materials for the kids, materials for the teachers and our rent.”
Dave Zavatson, who sold drinks to adults at the festival in exchange for donations, said he became a member of the Peregrine Board of Directors to stay involved in his children’s education. He described the appeal of the event as “multifaceted.”
“We get to showcase the school to the community, but then we also get to showcase multiple different cultures,” Zavatson said. “It’s just exposure to different cultures, which is valuable, even if you’re not directly paying attention to it. It’s there, it’s subliminal, it’s in the background and you’re exposed to it. I think there’s tremendous value in that.”
Written By: Rory Conlon — city@theaggie.org
