On May 6, 2026, students from across Western Washington University’s performing arts department came together to work toward stepping outside of their comfort zones to learn music and dance in different ways.
“You need to live the music and be in it,” Haruna Walusimbi said.
Haruna Walusimbi is a Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and dancer from Uganda. Walusimbi came to Western with his friend, Mark Stone, a professor at Oakland University, and taught workshops and held lectures for students in the performing arts department.
“The Western music department invites visiting guest artists to perform and work with students regularly, but this visit is unique,” said Patrick Roulet, the percussion area coordinator at Western, who has a doctorate in musical arts. “Haruna and Mark were the ones that facilitated us getting the embaire xylophone from Nakibembe, Uganda, years ago.”
While Walusimbi and Stone were mainly at Western to rehearse with the percussion ensemble to prepare for a series of concerts, they hosted a workshop with the dance department and invited choral students to help with rehearsals.
“Not only is it really fun, but it’s an entirely different form of instruction than that they get on a daily basis,” said Ali Sandweiss Hodges, the director of choral activity.
Sandweiss Hodges mentions that by getting to attend a session with guests like Walusimbi, they can learn notation firsthand, which is an entirely different experience than her learning the information and teaching it back to her choir students.
“It’s about sharing experience, but they get another flavor,” said Walusimbi.
Megan Turner, a dance student at Western, said she enjoys the communal aspect of dance and music, which was exemplified in Walusimbi’s workshop. During the dance workshop, Walusimbi taught students Tamenhaibuga, a traditional dance from eastern Uganda, which doesn’t have a specific order of choreography like in Western ballet and contemporary dance.
“The dance community in Western culture raised us to believe dance is something that it’s not, and this is the roots,” Turner said. “How can I pursue a career in dance if I don’t know those roots?”
The dance workshop was not only for students in the dance department. Walusimbi encouraged members of the percussion ensemble to join. Aiden Kimball was one of those students.
“This is the music that we’re learning, and I would feel dishonest saying I’m interested in different types of music and not go,” Kimball said.
Kimball said the dance workshop helped with his movement with music when he’s playing the embaire. When playing the pieces, the percussion ensemble needs to be in sync with each other to achieve the goal of sounding like one person on the embaire. Having this movement helps them understand the ebbs and flows of the music.
Kimball wasn’t the only student who stepped outside of their comfort zone. Many students in the percussion ensemble went to the dance workshop and even danced with choir students during their blended rehearsal.
“We had a great moment in rehearsal yesterday (May 5) when Mark suggested that we turn out the lights as we were playing the embaire xylophone,” Roulet said. “At first, they struggled to find the correct pitches, but their hands quickly found the notes, and afterwards they felt that they had learned to listen and to feel where the notes were much better without using their eyes.”
With Walusimbi traveling back to Uganda in a week, he and Stone said they are grateful to help share their knowledge and Walusimbi’s culture with Western and its students.
Isobel Diprima (she/her) is a campus life reporter. She is a second-year visual journalism pre-major and is thrilled for her first quarter writing for The Front. When she’s not writing, Isobel can be found curled up in bed with her cat, Twilight, reading a good book or taking photos for The Rage Magazine or of her friends. You can reach Isobel at isobeldiprima.thefront@gmail.com.
