Report on Training Trip to Upstate New York
(Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Lansing & Binghamton)

Written by Kate Tsubata and Christella Hardman

After the WAIT team’s Great Lakes Tour (late November, early December), in which the One Year Trainers traveled and performed around eight states and Canada, the team was asked to return to upstate New York to teach HIV/AIDS prevention, spread the WAIT message more, and help start a WAIT team there.  City after city, from schools to Boys and Girls Clubs to churches, it became more and more apparent to the team that, not only does New York need better education, more role models, values, and encouragement of individuals to develop their unique talents to be pushed in the educational and community institutions – but the cities that we visited also has clear potential to do so. 

Christella in mid-air.

The ten-person trainer team arrived in Rochester on Sunday, the 22nd after a relatively smooth 7-hour drive through beautiful weather and good company.  We pulled up to the Townsend family home in Hilton, NY and were greeted by Aunt Kiyoko, Mary (an interning glass artist), Timo (Aunt Kiyoko’s son), and a delicious chicken, pasta, salad, cheesecake, and dried banana chips (that Uncle Milon Townsend’s mother made especially for us) meal.  We discussed the upcoming performances, chatted, Josh de Groot helped Timo with math homework, and then we all went to sleep in our various rooms. 

The next day, we practiced a bit and helped tamp down the grass adjoining the driveway, and then drove to the St. Paul Lutheran School for an afternoon performance before the older youth.  About 25 people were in attendance.  At the end of the presentation, many came up to sing and dance with us.  Principal Hummel and the various teachers and parents expressed delight with the way the message was conveyed. 

After a snack back at the Townsend home, we traveled to the United Missionary Baptist Church in downtown Rochester.  We cleaned and prepared the upper room, opening several windows to bring in some fresh breezes.  As the 40 or 50 attendees gathered and we began our performance, a sudden rainstorm brought gusts of wind and rain onto the dance floor, but we quickly cleaned up the puddles as the performance continued.  We added the dance “Been So Good,” in honor of the congregation, and had a lot of response from the congregation, and people were very generous in donating to our work.

The next morning, we packed our sleeping things and luggage, and then followed Aunt Kiyoko to Greece Christian School, in Greece, New York.  We met the administrators and set up our equipment in the lovely sanctuary.  The young people of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades came in, and were extremely attentive but somewhat quiet during the performance.  As we are used to a somewhat more rambunctious response, we wondered if they were really relating to the message.  However, many came up to dance and sing at the end, and a spontaneous teaching session took place with those who were not required for an immediate class, for about ½ hour, on breakdance, hip hop, songs, and skit parts.  The kids expressed a strong desire to start their own WAIT team, and the principal promised to consider it.

Audience members engage in breakout talent sessions.

Back on the road to Syracuse, we arrived early, so we decided to fundraise.  We met some very wonderful people, and received many donations, and our singing and breakdancing really raised their spirits.  With that as our foundation, we went to the Hamilton Street Boys and Girls’ Club, where we set up for a performance and training.  We had performed there in November, so we were happy to see many of the faces of the people we met then.  During the performance, however, it seemed that some were inattentive and bored by the presentation, so near the end, Mie spoke about the seriousness of our work, breaking down in tears.  When we went to the breakout sessions, a few kids participated, but not as many as we had hoped.  Several were extremely inspired however, especially 13 year old Jonathan Torres, who was very serious about being part of a WAIT team in Syracuse.  

The next day, we performed at the Shea Middle School and Belvue Academy, which share the same facility.  Some 240 6th and 7th graders responded enthusiastically to the presentation, and teachers and staff reported that it was the best presentation they had seen in 6 years, and that the kids were more inspired than they had ever seen them.  Karinda, our hostess, and Principal Williams, were very excited about having WAIT perform for other schools in the area, and possibly starting a team in that school.

That afternoon, we returned to the Boys and Girls Club to perform for the 6 to 12 year old kids, and we interspersed a simplified powerpoint with the WAIT performance.  To our surprise, the kids were quiet, attentive and very inspired, and even the older kids, who the day before had not shown much interest came back to watch the performance again!

Jonathan performed with us, which was really a great sacrifice on his part since he had baseball practice at that time.  Several wonderful volunteer staffers and fulltime staff attended both performances and expressed their interest in helping WAIT get going in Syracuse.

That evening, we benefited from the delicious food prepared by the Syracuse families, especially Aunt Grace Davin, Aunt Yuko and Uncle Vince Savage.  We watched a movie, “The Queen,” and munched on popcorn and ice cream—yay! 

The next morning, we regaled Aunt Miyako and Uncle Vince with a few acts as we packed the van and prepared to travel to Ithaca.  The grey day convinced us that rain was coming, so we didn’t expect to perform outside, but in fact, we found upon arriving that the Ho Plaza of Cornell University was to be our venue, and that amplified music was not allowed after 1 p.m., so we simply performed for passersby without any background music.  We did use acoustic instruments, but the situation was pretty difficult, and we just tried to do our best.  After, we met up with some of the friends we had there, and prepared for our evening performance for a mentoring program.  Unfortunately, that also fell through, but we did perform for the staff.

Our team with Jon of the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club

Some of the team got to experience rock climbing that evening after a delicious stir fry meal at Uncle Chad and Aunt Ann Hoover’s home, while most of us went to sleep.  The next morning, we packed our equipment and headed up to Lansing Women’s Residential Facility, stopping at some small business areas to meet local people and request donations.  We had a wonderful time meeting area people, and then arrived on time at Lansing, where we set up and did some preparations before the residents arrived.  Many remembered our presentation there back in December, and had told the newer residents about us, so we had a very receptive audience.  The performance included many elements that were new, and the team gave out everything without holding back.  The girls responded with equal involvement, and in the PowerPoint presentation and the game show, they displayed a level of knowledge and passion on the issue of AIDS that surpassed that of most audiences we have had over all 5 years of our existence. 

We discussed bringing the same presentation to other homes for at-risk youth with the supervisor, who promised to let all of the facilities know about the efficacy of our performance. 

Since we had a cancellation for the evening, we traveled up Lake Cayuga to Wells College in time to see an entourage of elegantly dressed Renaissance players parading through the campus.  We toured around a bit, spoke to some students, and sang a capella in the Summers Hall. 

Returning to Ithaca, we partook of a delicious spaghetti dinner and shared informally with some of the many Cornell and Ithaca College students gathering at the Hoovers’ home. 

The next morning, we packed and departed for Binghamton, where we arrived at the Boys and Girls Club on Washington Street, and did a quick round of fundraising before our performance at 12:30.  The Alves family and Ten-Seng Guh were there, having arranged for our performance there, as well as some Boys and Girls Club staff. 

The audience was quite responsive, and answered the game show questions quite well.  At the end, many jumped up to show their talents.  A sort of competition of beatboxing, rapping and poetry followed, and many were demonstrating their abilities in gymnastics and other movement.  Nate, one of the staff, expressed his desire to start the WAIT program there, and Gale Alves and Ten-Seng committed to help.