Dance Company Visits Taiwan in Cultural Exchange
Members of the Alma College Dance Company will complete the final chapter of an international exchange with Tainan University of Technology when they travel to Taiwan in May.
Thirty Taiwanese dancers spent 10 days at Alma College in September. They offered cultural presentations, dance workshops and a performance in the Remick Heritage Center while staying with host families and touring Michigan attractions.
Twelve Alma College dance company members, including instructors Carol Fike, Samantha Shelton and Kristen Bennett, will “bring a little bit of Alma to Taiwan” when the company visits Tainan University May 1-20. The group will spend the majority of its time in the university’s large 10-studio dance department.
Alma's dance troupe visits Taiwan in May.
“This is the first cultural exchange in the dance department of this magnitude,” says Fike, professor of dance. “It will be exciting to experience the culture.”
The dancers will take various classes in Taiwan, including ballet, modern and traditional Taiwanese dance. They also will present a concert in which they will perform various pieces from their spring concert.
In preparation for the trip, Chih-Ping Chen, associate professor of English, spoke with the participants about Taiwanese culture and customs.
“It’s going to be an experience of a lifetime,” explains Fike. “We will see things we’ve never seen before, taste foods we’ve never tasted before, hear things we’ve never heard before. It is opening a door into a whole new universe — a new world.”
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Posted: Thu, April 19th, 2012 at 8:11AM
