Chechen Dancer: Makhmud Esambayev
A Dance Magician
Many believe music is a universal language. Regardless of ones nationality or background we can all recognize and be touched by the power of music. Makhmud Esambayev, a Chechen dancer born with an exceptional ear for music, devoted his
life to touching others with his own power.
Esambayev was born in 1924 in the small Circassian village of Stariye Atagi, which is located on the foothills of the Caucasian mountains. Stariye Atagi, about twenty km south of Grozny, is one of the largest villages in Chechnya. Chechens are the world's most ancient people with a very unique anthropological type and culture. Culturaly, Chechnya is represented by dozens of ethnic communities. The Ingushis, Kumyks, Russians and Nogais have formed the largest ethnic communities. In addition to them, there are also thousands of ethnic Armenians, Jews, Ukrainians, Avars, Tartars Georgians, Azeris, Kurds, Andis, Lezgians, Circassians, Ossetes, Dargwas and Laks in Chechnya that have contributed to the overall culture.
Historically this extremely diverse area has produced many great artists, writers, playwrights, musicians and composers. Esambayev, however, stood out from all the rest. Since he was seven years old his father used to take him to village weddings
where he would perform an act of song and dance for the crowd. He was always greeted with vast approval and excitement. When Esambayev turned fifteen years old he joined the Chechen-Ingush song and dance company and four years later became a member of a show biz task team who held concerts for his countries army. At the age of twenty Esambayev advanced his physcial and musical talents and became a soloist of the Kirgiz theater of opera ...
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... divisions within the minds of men.
His art, in many ways, had closed a mental gap between people of various ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs and ways of life. It could even be said that his dances
embodied, "...on the threshold of the third millennium, mankind's dream of peace, friendship, brotherhood and international unity." (Chechnya 2005)
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For as long as humans have existed, they have turned to beings above them and around them for guidance. The Egyptians, the Romans, and the Greeks all had intricate mythology surrounding the way the world works. Faith is a prominent theme in A Lesson Before Dying, a book by Ernest J. Gaines. In the story, Jefferson was a young black man who was sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. Grant was a man who got out of the town he grew up in and got a higher education before moving back. At Jefferson's godmother's request, he helped Jefferson overcome the objectification and stigma he faced. Over the course of the book, Grant's faith in change, children, and Jefferson evolved and helped him understand and overcome problems in his life.
Schwartz, Boris. Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia, 1917-1981. 2nd edition. Indiana University Press, 1983.
If you watch modern movies you will find that these times it is quite easier to be a hero than it was fifty years ago. The world gives us multiple opportunities to proves ourselves and give us the self-satisfaction of being able to say you are a hero. But what is a hero? Grant says, “A hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men don’t and can’t do. He is different from other men. He is above other men. No matter who those other men are, the hero, no matter who he is, is above them.” (193) Obviously Grant matches his own description of a hero. He proved himself a hero by counseling Jefferson while being a teacher with “more than enough” problems of his own.
Vancil initiates the criticism of A lesson Before Dying in an old-fashioned, excessive religious genre of attitudes. He claims that Grant Wiggins is reluctant to atonement for guilt to uphold the Christian faith belief system within the Quarters, the small community of Wiggins’ residence. Wiggins has just evolved into the Diaspora of African-American people whose adapted a new way of thought and forever changing lifestyle alterations ranging from the southern to western regions in America. It may not be in complete agreement and acceptance by the matriarchs and patriarchs of the community but it progresses into a unique character identification tool for oneself. Black Americans were unwillingly detached from the true African tribal culture and therefore must attempt to gain a bountiful knowledge on one’s own heritage, current, and future life expectancies for the average home grown man or woman.
The struggles of Grant and Jefferson share a common theme, man’s search for meaning. Grant has the advantage of a college education, and while that may have provided some enlightenment, he remains in the same crossroads as Jefferson. Grant sees that regardless of what he does, the black students he teaches continue in the same jobs, the same poverty and same slave-like positions as their ancestors. Grant has no hope of making a difference and sees his life as meaningless. Though Jefferson’s conflict is more primal, it is the same as Grant’s struggle. Jefferson is searching for the most basic identity, whether he is man or animal. It is this conflict of meaning and identity that bring Grant and Jefferson together.
...eved this state of mind through the geography, history and traditions of the nation. Russia, although having geography, history and traditional values standing against it, has made a significant effort to preserve strong features of democracy through recent decades. Bibliography Grudzinska-Gross, Irena. The Scar of Revolution: Custine, Tocqueville, and the Romantic Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Gustafson, Thane, and Daniel Yergin. Russia 2010. New York: Random, 1993. Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideas and Concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. McDaniel, Tim. The Agony of the Russian Idea. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. Melvin, Neil. Russians Beyond Russians. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995. Rzhevsky, Nicholas. Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
The Chechen-Russian Wars were, and continue to be, a period of intense fighting within the state of Russia. Though the struggle is between Russia and Chechnya, only Russia is internationally recognized as a state. The wars themselves are historically divided into two periods, 1994-1996 and 1999 to present day. Yet, this has only been one war, one that lasted over a decade, where the only thing that changed is the ideologies of fighting.
By 1850, the institution of slavery was tearing the United States apart. The Republican Party began trying to stop the spread of slavery (Anderson 42). In 1856, Abraham Lincoln helped organize the Illinois branch of the new Republican Party. At that time, Lincoln was a political moderate who only wanted to ban slavery in the new territories, but at least the beginning of this party. He tolerated it in the South (Oakes 39). Both Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, who debated each other many times, were ambitious and wanted slavery to end (Oakes 5).
Grant's task is to affirm that Jefferson is not a hog, but a man. The mission is doubly difficult because Grant isn't sure he knows what a man is. Besides not knowing what a man is, Grant doesn’t feel that he, a well educated man, should have to go and make Jefferson believe that he is not a hog; which shows the amount of arrogance Grant has about himself. Eve...
Lawrence, John. A History of Russia: A Brilliant Chronicles of Russian History from its Ancient Beginning to the Present Day. New York: Penguin Books, 1993.
Tiersky, Ronald, Erik Jones, and Saskia Van. Genugten. "Russia." Europe Today: A Twenty-first Century Introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. 209-41. Print.
Grant Wiggins is a highly intelligent person. He is the person who helped Jefferson in becoming a man even though he thought it was hopeless. The first example is when Grant visited Jefferson; he put on a hog act which discourages Grant in helping him. Grant still kept going even though he did not want to. He made his first breakthrough to Jefferson. Grant was a happy that he went through to him. The second example is when he decided to spend 20 dollars on a radio for Jefferson. He borrowed money for Jefferson’s radio even though he could not even pay for his own food. He did this because he felt that if he did not get something, Jefferson will assume that he gave up on him. The last example of Grant is that he decided to buy a pen and a notepad for Jefferson. Consequently, Grant made Miss Emma, his aunt, and the minister wait for him but he did not want to give up on Jefferson because he knew if he gives up now, Jefferson will never become a true man.
Chechnya is situated in the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is surrounded by Dagestan to the east, Georgia and South Ossetia to the south, Russia to the north and North Ossetia in the west. Chechnya is rich in mineral oil and produced twenty million tons per year before the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created the opportunity for the Russian provinces to declare their independence. The Russian government managed to keep its control of all states apart from Chechnya, which, under the new president Dzhokhar Dudayev, declared independence in October 1991.
My core values will outline all of the decisions that I will come across in my personal life, as well in my career. Being true to my core vales will bring out my true character and keep me motivated. Understanding and living my core values will open the door to more inspiration in my life. Finally living up to my core values allows me, to get more of the right things done and enjoy the journey more.