Trying to bridge the gap between the traditional Chinese educational system and the expression of dance, five Duke students traveled halfway around the world to work with youth.
During the summer, sophomores Maurice Dowell and Marisa Epstein, junior Ray Liu, senior Rebecca Pham and Bobby Lam, Pratt ‘13, spent six weeks in China teaching a dance summer camp to students, entitled “Growth through Dance: Motion Camp.” The experience taught Chinese students to immerse themselves in dance, which is often overlooked by the typical Chinese educational system.
“There was no guarantee that we wouldn’t fail,” Dowell said. “I think I appreciated the mystery and the adventure in the trip, in that we were the first to actually take on something like this.”
Dance and other art programs are not common in the Chinese school system, Dowell added. Although the American and Chinese students did not share a common language, they were able to communicate through their dance expression.
“More than anything the Chinese students gained both confidence and a new and more open-minded outlook on both life and other cultures,” Epstein said. “Many of them do not have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular arts-based activities so for them this was truly an opportunity to grow through dance.”
The program was the pilot trip—organized through duARTS and facilitated by the Initiate Development for Education and Service, a Chinese nonprofit organization. No faculty members accompanied the students, but Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts, helped organize the trip.
The Growth Through Dance program was conceived by Pham and Luou Zhang, Trinity ‘11, on past ventures to China together, including through the DukeEngage in Zuhai program, Dowell said.
After graduating, Zhang began working with IDEAS—which aims to “promote the social development of youth through the arts, service, and technology among other subject areas,” Pham said. Zhang has since become the CEO of the company.
“The goal of the program was not to create professional dancers but rather just to expose students to a creative space for personal expression, something that is rare in the stringent, score-based culture of Chinese education,” Pham said.
Epstein noted that a common love for dance, brought the five Duke students together. All of them had experience with dancing and felt this passion was important to pass on to others.
“I have been dancing since the age of three and have always been attracted to the power it has to both express emotion and connect others through a non-verbal form of communication,” Epstein said.
The students are not yet sure whether the program will run again in 2014 because IDEAS hosts different summer programs each year. Pham said, however, that they are looking to expand the program beyond IDEAS by utilizing Duke Kunshan University and the Durham community.
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