Benoit, Thibodeaux highlight NSU’s 11th annual Cajun/Zydeco Music & Dance Festival

Spring is in the air and, for Wayne Thibodeaux and Tab Benoit will headline the 11th annual Cajun/Zydeco Music and Dance Festival March 21 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.

The free event, which is part of NSU’s Jubilee Celebration, is presented by the Ellender Memorial Library and aims to celebrate and preserve the musical heritage and culture of the Cajun and Creole people of South Louisiana.

This year’s theme is “Louisiana Wetland.”

Exhibit coordinator Anke Tonn said when she came to NSU 11 years ago she wanted to do something to showcase the Cajun and Creole culture. She offered to start the display and after such an impressive souvenir display, her then-director Mark Daganaar wanted her to continue the event and open it up to the public.

“I was first introduced to Cajun/Zydeco music when I came to New Orleans.

Shortly afterward, I became involved in the Cajun French Music Association. Some of the members took that dancing all over Louisiana. I grew to loved Zydeco music,” she said.

At the first event 11 years ago, Tonn asked a local band to play at the display’s opening.

Each year, she’d write grants seeking funds for the cultural arts fest to the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Houma Arts Council and Louisiana Endowment for Humanities.

And the festival’s second year got an added boost: An identity. Patrick Banks, a Houma resident and NSU art student, designed a poster.

The artwork was used on festival invitations, and Tonn gifted special guests participating in the festival with Banks’ poster.

From there, the event has continued to grow Tonn said the main purpose of the event is to bring cultural awareness to students that are not from Southeast Louisiana. All the NSU student organizations participate in the event, which incorporates sounds from across the regionnfrom the Cajun community in New Orleans to the Triparishes.

“We do the festival during the week especially for the young students,” Tonn said.

“We try to preserve the culture. We build a good collection. Some of the professors bring in students to the lectures and they have to write essay pertaining the festival’s theme.”

Over the years, Tonn said professors have asked their students to write essays on topics such as the difference between Cajun and Zydeco dance.

Nicholls State Jubilee Festival coordinator Angela Hammerli said, “It is such an exciting evening to see so many people dancing and continuing our wonderful Cajun culture.”

Hammerli said described this year’s lineup as “fabulous.”

The event takes place this year as part of the ninth annual Jubilee: A Festival of the Arts and Humanities at NSU, which will be held from March 7 to April 28.