noramin_dd@yahoo.com
In a
French café replete with cultural texts and posters of arts events, quietly
tucked in the corner of Clermont Ferrand’s heartland, three dance researchers
with teacups in hand are completely absorb in lively discussion about
CHOREOMUNDUS.
Their
laughter and enthusiasm about topics ranging from sharing about life
experiences and perspectives on dance anthropology add to the sprightly
ambience of the meeting space: the palpable joy one gets from stimulating
intellectual discussions.
In attendance are Ipshita Rajesh, Bharatnatyam practitioner
and arts education advocate from Mumbai, India; Signa Schiavo-Campo, dance
therapy advocate and contemporary dance enthusiast from Milano, Italy; and Amin
Farid, the one from that overcrowded Island in Southeast Asia.
Truly it is a special moment for these seekers of knowledge
who, although strangers, embrace at first meet with such familiarity and found
instant comfort from the transaction of information between each other,
learning more about the world: its complexities, its endless possibilities and,
most important, its shared humanity.
They realise thereafter, although they might have already
known individually, that this shared love for dance and their believe in its
power to heal, educate and bring people together does exist away from
complicated academic jargon and overwhelming theories which serves only to
distract and mask the common man from something that, although admittedly can
be complex, should simply be enjoyable.
“The friendship I gained from this programme is truly
something that I treasure most.” says the bespectacled lady who is from the
senior cohort of the programme. Her two contemporaries nod in agreement and
start sharing about the fun times their cohort had performing in Norway during
the Orientation week.
“Honestly, I would not have imagine all of this,” shares the
Singaporean about the programme, “being here and the possibility of being in an
European café talking to my Italian senior about my perspectives on dance. I
feel that world has shrunk that I am able to just leave home to meet someone
who shares the same experience and engage in such exciting discussions for
hours on end”.
The petite lndian lady shares eagerly, “I feel even more
calm now knowing that our seniors have gone through similar paths as us”.
Truly, the experience of tearing one’s hair when thrown into
the sea of anthropology and the confusing concepts that hinders you from moving
forward is not something to be reckoned with: let alone the Eurocentric views
and examples that reminds one of a lingering colonised past.
Such is the experience a seeker of knowledge gets from a
meeting with like-minded, like-experience people at a café nestled in a quiet
street in the heartland of this French town.
Surely one cannot help but wonder of how it will be when
eventually individuals, steeped in experiences and influences reaped through
CHOREOMUNDUS, will meet one day in a gathering of sorts? A conference, maybe?
Hopefully it will be as lovely as this one.
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