Performing as One!

From the looks of things, the group is having a great time working with the Mongolian perfomers and students. The photos tell the story.

Tom writes:

Hello there, 

The students are discovering that every place that we have been is quite different. Each has it's own personality. I think they were floored by the reception here in Hohhot. It was very warm and very different. The Mongolians are so proud of their heritage. The emotion that the ethnic Mongolians show when their music, dance, etc. is being played or displayed is riveting. I honestly find it difficult to describe. It is truly an emotional experience for me to be a part of it. 

Great to see old friends. You may recognize some of the kids in the shots taken yesterday -- Jin Long, the Horsehead fiddler, Langtengsudu, the singer and Zhao Mei, also a singer. Many of these students haven't seen Devin in two years. He was a little boy when we were here in '99. He now towers over most of them. Jenny, Dev and I are having lunch with Jin Long this afternoon and dinner with Mr. Zhang ( the man who stayed with us in Vermont) tonight. Tom
 

REPORT 15 -- Korin, April 14

Today was really interesting. It was our first time working with the kids from the Performing Arts College. The experience was unforgettable. We had two 2½-hour rehearsals, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning we worked on dancing. In the afternoon we worked on singing.

At the beginning we tried to learn a "simple" Mongolian scarf dance. It wasn't that simple for us. It took us well over an hour and a half to get to a point where we could limp through it with intensive instruction. Then we taught the Mongolians a square dance. It was amazing. They learned the whole thing in under an hour. Some of them ended up learning the dance better than we have, and we have been working on it for well over a month.

The singing was just as good. Most of them learned our songs very quickly, even though they don't speak that much English.

Working with the Mongolians is a lot of fun. The language barrier wasn't that much of a problem today since we all appreciated the performing arts of each side. It also created a lot of laughing and funny moments.

We would laugh when we couldn't think of the right words or when something that didn't make sense was said.

Even though we were all performers, it is a totally different situation. For us, we have to take the regular core courses of our comprehensive school. Performing arts are more of a side thing, after school or maybe taken as an elective class in school. The students here, though, are working on their performing arts four to six hours a day, five days a week, without having to worry about courses in literature, social studies, science or math. In spite of the differences in training and focus, we come together on common ground-and it works.
 

The next several days will be filled with performing and working with the Mongolian student/performers. This exchange is one of the key pieces of the journey.

We now hope to get a regular flow of reports and photos showing the activities and performances. I am sure I am speaking for most, if not all, of the parents when I say how thrilling it is to see pictures of the kids. Seeing these young people smiling and engaging in so many fascinating activities helps us to cope with their absence.

Oh the stories they will tell . . .