Tuesday, September 18, 2007
20 years ago
Yugan 提醒了 Sabiy: 二十年前一個小女生剛學舞
20 years ago,
a little girl has started her journey of dancing...
# posted by Chao=Sabiy : 3:30 AM
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
new semester starts
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Saturday, September 01, 2007
2007 Senegal Cultural Exchange Workshop
My trip to Senegal was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful country, amazing birds and wildlife, and most of all the friendly people. The languages people spoke sound different from what I am used to hearing, their clothes are often different and more colorful, and they move differently.
Staying in Senegal also reminded me how much we depend on electricity, both in Boston and in Taipei. The electricity in Senegal is not always dependable, but people get along anyway. I was surprised that more vegetables are not planted. The climate and soil should be good for a lot of vegetables, but farmers don't plant as much as they could. This limits the foods people can eat. Also, the water supply worried me.
People in Senegal are much more direct than Asians. A little boy, about ten years old, said to me, "Je t'aime." A Chinese boy would be much too shy to say that. Senegalese will come right out and say what they think or want, but Chinese won't. We may say part of our intentions, and leave it to the other person to figure out the rest, or ignore it without making anyone lose face.
The people's love of music and dancing is wonderful. Chinese have almost no folk dances that everybody joins in. In Taiwan, only the Aborigines dance with the whole village participating, but that's a different culture. It is marvelous the way the whole village comes out to dance. Everybody sings along and everybody participates. Even the little children get to take the center, and everybody encourages them. They learn to dance without a teacher. Also, they are dancing in their own traditional style and singing in their own language, not imitating something they saw on television.
African dancing is hard for Chinese to learn, because our culture emphasizes being discreet and subtle, and not expressing yourself outright. It is hard for Asians to let loose and dance like Africans do, so our dances are more formal. Also the posture is different. Chinese dancers usually keep our heads up and spines upright, but African dancers stick out their rear ends. This is hard to imitate.
I admired the way that people keep their dignity, even if they are poor. On our last night in Ziguinchor everybody put on their good clothes to dance with us. Then a group even came to the airport to send us off with dances and music. That was unforgettable and very touching.
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Sabiy 口述, Yugan 代筆
August 2007, in Wulai
Staying in Senegal also reminded me how much we depend on electricity, both in Boston and in Taipei. The electricity in Senegal is not always dependable, but people get along anyway. I was surprised that more vegetables are not planted. The climate and soil should be good for a lot of vegetables, but farmers don't plant as much as they could. This limits the foods people can eat. Also, the water supply worried me.
People in Senegal are much more direct than Asians. A little boy, about ten years old, said to me, "Je t'aime." A Chinese boy would be much too shy to say that. Senegalese will come right out and say what they think or want, but Chinese won't. We may say part of our intentions, and leave it to the other person to figure out the rest, or ignore it without making anyone lose face.
The people's love of music and dancing is wonderful. Chinese have almost no folk dances that everybody joins in. In Taiwan, only the Aborigines dance with the whole village participating, but that's a different culture. It is marvelous the way the whole village comes out to dance. Everybody sings along and everybody participates. Even the little children get to take the center, and everybody encourages them. They learn to dance without a teacher. Also, they are dancing in their own traditional style and singing in their own language, not imitating something they saw on television.
African dancing is hard for Chinese to learn, because our culture emphasizes being discreet and subtle, and not expressing yourself outright. It is hard for Asians to let loose and dance like Africans do, so our dances are more formal. Also the posture is different. Chinese dancers usually keep our heads up and spines upright, but African dancers stick out their rear ends. This is hard to imitate.
I admired the way that people keep their dignity, even if they are poor. On our last night in Ziguinchor everybody put on their good clothes to dance with us. Then a group even came to the airport to send us off with dances and music. That was unforgettable and very touching.
----------
Sabiy 口述, Yugan 代筆
August 2007, in Wulai
# posted by Chao=Sabiy : 12:12 PM
