Ohlone College's Cultural Exchange with China through Dance
Ohlone dancers travel to China
By Inez Black, Staff writer.
Thursday, September 20, 2007 — Monitor.
Ohlone dancers pose for photo while touring Chinese city. Bottom row, from left: Morgan Lindstrom, Janessa Wong, Janel Tomblin-Brown, Adrian Rios, Michele Leonard; top row, left to right: Onel Higginbotham, Michelle Frye, Ashley Bogue, Danny Mendoza, Caroline Quindoy, RJ Navalta, Taylor Rivard, Wendy Chan, Kyle Meiers, Jasper Gong, Nicole Vandenburg, Sarah Aronson and Sergio Suarez. (View larger image.)
— Photo courtesy of Janele Tomblin-Brown.
Two of the four Ohlone dance companies traveled to China in May – Footnotes and Beatz n Pieces. Janel Tomblin-Brown’s cultural exchange dance group totaled 20 students – three theater technicians and three Beatz n Pieces dancers, with the rest coming from Footnotes.
Tomlin-Brown said, “We were in China for eight days. We met Dr. Treadway there. He was part of the exchange that invited my dancers and me to go as dancers, as dance has no language barrier. Dr. Treadway had previously invited the Shanghai Dance Troupe to come to Ohlone College and perform as part of the cultural exchange, and so, in May 2007, we reciprocated.”
She continued, “Included in Footnotes were jazz, lyrical, tap, contemporary, modern [dances]. The Beatz n Pieces are break dancers… First, the exchange dance was at the Shanghai Dance Academy, Shanghai, China. The second was at Hangzhou and it was so beautiful there. The companies were very well received, more so at the second arts college in Hangzhou, China.
“Our performance was very different from theirs. It excited the Chinese students and they were yelling and giggling. Their dance training was phenomenal – well beyond our level – but we were able to make something fun. We did a ‘Dream Girls’ dance, which I thought was a little cheesy, but they loved it, yelling and clapping…They were so appreciative and wanted our autographs.”
Tomblin-Brown explained that the difference between the Chinese troupe’s performance and atmosphere, and the Ohlone companies’ was as “the difference between attending an opera and a rock concert.”
“The food was great,” she continued. There was really no difference between breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it was all good. It wasn’t until the sixth day that the students went looking for McDonald’s. There was a McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut.
“Traveling to a developing country can be a culture shock for anybody and I think it gave our students a great sense of appreciation for all that we have here in our culture that we may otherwise take for granted,” she added.
She said that the exchange planted a seed that needs a lot of watering and nurturing, “I think that our dancers have a greater appreciation for the ability to dance at a level that affords them an opportunity for travel and cultural exchange. They were able to do this with dance being the language with no barriers. There are words to the music, but when [the audience] doesn’t understand the words, the performer really has to dig deep to further express a language with no barriers.
“We are trying to set up an exchange in the Philippines. The Beatz n Pieces just came back from their tour from Aug. 14 -28. The four performers had concerts in Manila, Thailand and Malaysia. They are looking at going back with Footnotes next August.”
Tomlin-Brown’s Footnotes are visiting nearby high schools for recruitment by performing and are targeting dance and PE programs.
Footnotes and Beatz n Pieces aren’t the only dance groups on campus; several other groups are planning events to take place at Ohlone this semester.
Bliss - a woman’s contemporary dance company - will be teaming up with Illusion for performance in the Nummi Theater on Nov. 29-30 and Dec. 1. Illusion is an all male contemporary dance company. Cassie Begley, artistic director for Bliss Dance Company, said, “Because we are a group of women dancing about women’s issues, it just feels right. The fact that every rehearsal we laugh and connect with each other is just an added bonus.”
