Sherwood 2021 Gaudete Dunje
You may not know this about me, but I am a huge fan of Renaissance Festivals!
I have been attending festivals my whole life starting as a teenager at the Bristol Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin. I’ve been started performing at the Texas renaissance festival in 2001 and after that went on to perform at several other festivals including the Michigan Renaissance Festival and the Arizona Faire.
My experiences have been varied! In fact… The first year that I worked at the Arizona Faire I worked in a jewelry booth during the day and ran down the lane to dance as a guest with another troupe three times a day during my break. (I also lived on the weekends in a tiny 6′ x 6′ room at the top of the ladder immediately above the shop… But that is a story for another time!)
I’ve had the honor of performing with the incredible Domba troupe out of Arizona as well as the Michigan based Nommobugunte West African Dance Ensemble.
Nowadays all of my renaissance festival experiences are through the incredible early music ensemble Istanpitta. I have been performing with them now for 22 years and it has been such a beautiful learning experience! I started as a fill-in dancer standing in the dirt just to the side of the stage. Now, years later I have the opportunity to sing, play the flute and dance with this magical ensemble every single year.
Learn more about them at Istanpitta.com.
This video comes from an incredibly rainy weekend at the Sherwood Forest Fair in Texas. It’s a combination of two songs “Gaudete” and “Dunje” – two of my favorites from our repertoire.
A special thanks to my daughter for taking the video… and joining in on the singing near the end! 🙂
Enjoy!