ABOUT

LINDSAY RUST

Lindsay Rust is a multi-talented artist, musician, writer, and educator. She is co-founder, owner, and director of Dancing Drum.

Lindsay has worked as a writer, graphic designer, photographer, musician, and theatrical mask maker. Her mask work has been exhibited nationally and featured on the Discovery Channel and onstage by Dancing Drum and Boxtales Theatre Company. She shares her knowledge of masks through mask-making workshops for children and adults, as well as in the visual arts activities included in Dancing Drum's publications.

Lindsay is a talented percussionist who specializes in ballet-style djun-djuns, congas, djembe, and xylophone. She has traveled to many countries to study drumming, percussion, dance, and visual art traditions, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Guinea, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, and Thailand.

Lindsay graduated from Northwestern University in 1996 with a double major in Anthropology (B.S.) and Art Theory and Practice (B.A.) She continued her multi-cultural arts studies while serving 2 years in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. While living in Niger, she had the rare opportunity to apprentice for 6 months with Tuareg silversmiths at Niger's National Museum. She also designed, coordinated, and painted a prominent mural featured at Niger's only wildlife park, Parc W. While living in Niger, Lindsay learned to speak Songhai-Zarma fluently and French functionally. Upon returning to the United States, she worked for several years as Mamar Kassey's US representative, booking and managing tours through North American performing arts venues and world music festivals.