Sunday, October 15, 2023, 2 – 4pm EDT

Join Griffin Lotson of the world famous Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters and Tambra Harris of Atlanta's Giwayen Mata for a beginner workshop on the African and African American traditional Ring Shout, part of the Praise House Project at Emory.

Praise Houses were small, usually wooden structures commonly used for worship by enslaved peoples across the American Southeast. As an act of resistance, congregants would gather in circle to stomp or shout upon the wooden floors, performing what was known as the Ring Shout (full body rhythmic movement). This act ultimately created a communal drum—secretly preserving their cultural identity and traditions.

Following the workshop, there will be a public performance of the Ring Shout, Saturday, November 4, 2-4 PM. Workshop participants are not required to perform, but it is strongly preferred.