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to dance, and bringing me to tears. When a group of
five blind children took the stage with their homemade
wooden instruments, they played the sweetest, most
consonant music I had ever heard. People rose from their
seats and climbed onto the stage in a flurry of laughter
and cheers. The gifted young performers smiled.
An overnight thunderstorm flooded the stage and
damaged technical equipment, so that our second day
began with a challenge – but it was one that, together,
we could tackle. The Tennessee Children’s Dance
Ensemble hiked up their dresses, dropped to their knees,
and pushed puddles of rainwater off of the stage with
their bare hands. Malachi Sameday, a talented young
musician, selflessly offered his childhood drum set for
all of the festival’s children to play on. The courage of
children in the face of adversity is remarkable. From
them, we are encouraged to do the impossible in the
name of passion and for the sake of art, as art is a
universal language transcending linguistic and cultural
barriers alike.3

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